design
insights on good design + anything else related to design
Jilber Najem and
design
The Laws of Simplicity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)
John Maeda • 3 highlights
amazon.com
we’d argue that if you produce something iconic, you can create a cultural moment that ripples through people’s crowded psyches and impacts them deeply. And if you’re culturally and commercially successful, it paves the way for future experiments: it becomes easier to both sell tickets and sell ideas to potential clients.
Olivia Squire • 7 Ways To Make An Iconic Experience In 2024 — WXO
Absolutely excellent piece.
Throughout history, new technologies have opened new fields of expression and expanded what's possible. Every time a new technology came in, at least half were left behind loving the old craft or worrying about the future. Those who embrace the discomfort, understand how the tool can be wielded will continue to create novel ideas and change culture, With the printing press, those who mastered textual literacy created profound societal impact. In those early days, this literacy was an essential differentiator.
Just as the printing press democratized knowledge creation, AI is commoditizing access to intelligence and with it redefining technical execution. This is now widely accepted. AI can generate endless ‘perfect’ outputs, and its reasoning capabilities will only expand. Design’s tools will change but design’s essence remains distinctly human: creation guided by feeling & relationships rather than pure logic, and the judgment to know what’s worth creating.
Design literacy—combining curiosity, studied curation, personal conviction, and craft—will become as vital as verbal literacy.
This way of seeing and thinking becomes a new differentiator. It’s a new type of intelligence and design that will separate those who thrive from those who fade into the noise. I see this type of design everywhere in my work with founders, engineers, salespeople, and investors—they are all designers in their own right. It is innate—it just needs to be unlocked.
The best founders already understand this. In a world where anyone can build, they know what to build, who it’s for, and why it must exist.
Figma isn’t just design software: it’s a collaboration platform for making software. I call it the OS for design. That, by extension, means that Figma is much better positioned than it might seem for AI: instead of an agent making everything, agents will work alongside humans, with Figma as the coordination layer.
Ben Thompson • 2025.31: How to Think About Figma
really great read from.a former Instagram designer on the dysfunction of today’s largest tech companies.
This Brand Strategy Can Make Your Startup Look Bigger Than It Is
First Round Capitalreview.firstround.com
Your success as a designer depends equally on your relationships as it does on your design talent . The powerful people you need as allies will likely know little about design and you will have to teach and persuade them. Your amazing ideas and concepts can’t help the world if they are never built by your organization. Your ability to explain your... See more