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#13 Peak designer, AI, uncertainty and what’s next | Andy Budd
"As soon as tools exist that don’t require Figma’s learning curve, a very large number of designers will find themselves out of work"
Summary
Today I’m sharing a wide-open, deeply honest conversation with Andy Budd — designer, founder, conference creator, coach, investor, and one of the most quietly influential forces behind the UK design and product community. If you’ve worked in UX anytime in the last two decades, you’ve almost certainly felt Andy’s impact: Clearleft, UX London, dConstruct, Leading Design, CSS Mastery, the Brighton Digital Festival… the list is long for a reason.
In this episode, we dig into the questions so many designers are quietly wrestling with; Have we already passed “peak designer”? And what does a meaningful, sustainable design career look like on the other side?
We explore why 2020–21 marked the high-water point for UX hiring, how AI and automation are reshaping the work, and why “Figma operator culture” was always a dead end. Andy maps the design chaos from identity crisis many designers are feeling, the discomfort of reinvention, and why embracing uncertainty is now a core skill. We also journey through his experiences with the early web, Clearleft, building communities, leadership — and the ongoing search for new personal S-curves.
If you’re feeling energised, anxious, confused, optimistic (or all of the above) about where design is heading, this one will resonate deeply.
Guest
Andy Budd
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/andybudd/
Website – https://andybudd.com/
Book – https://andybudd.com/book
Website – https://seedcamp.com/
Host
Danny Hearn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannyhearn/
Website – www.dannyhearn.me
Podcast – www.deeplyhumandesign.com
Chapters
00:00 Have We Reached “Peak Designer”? The Hiring Boom and Slowdown
01:08 Introducing Andy — Designer, Founder, Investor, Pilot, Diver, “Shark Wrangler”
01:42 Origin Story — Geeky Kid, Early Web, and Falling in Love with the Internet
04:35 From Dive Instructor in Asia to Self-Taught Web Designer
07:26 Discovering UX and Helping Bring User Experience Design to the UK
10:34 Meeting Rich and Jeremy, Web Standards, and the Birth of Clearleft
18:43 Inside Clearleft — Culture, Community, and a Different Way to Run an Agency
22:15 Burberry, “Hyper-Alignment,” and How Clearleft Actually Worked Day to Day
32:24 UX London, Leading Design, and the “Accidental Design Leader”
47:16 Broken Web, AI, the Future of Design — S-Curves, Uncertainty, and Learning to Flow
View all episodes
By Danny Hearn"As soon as tools exist that don’t require Figma’s learning curve, a very large number of designers will find themselves out of work"
Summary
Today I’m sharing a wide-open, deeply honest conversation with Andy Budd — designer, founder, conference creator, coach, investor, and one of the most quietly influential forces behind the UK design and product community. If you’ve worked in UX anytime in the last two decades, you’ve almost certainly felt Andy’s impact: Clearleft, UX London, dConstruct, Leading Design, CSS Mastery, the Brighton Digital Festival… the list is long for a reason.
In this episode, we dig into the questions so many designers are quietly wrestling with; Have we already passed “peak designer”? And what does a meaningful, sustainable design career look like on the other side?
We explore why 2020–21 marked the high-water point for UX hiring, how AI and automation are reshaping the work, and why “Figma operator culture” was always a dead end. Andy maps the design chaos from identity crisis many designers are feeling, the discomfort of reinvention, and why embracing uncertainty is now a core skill. We also journey through his experiences with the early web, Clearleft, building communities, leadership — and the ongoing search for new personal S-curves.
If you’re feeling energised, anxious, confused, optimistic (or all of the above) about where design is heading, this one will resonate deeply.
Guest
Andy Budd
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/andybudd/
Website – https://andybudd.com/
Book – https://andybudd.com/book
Website – https://seedcamp.com/
Host
Danny Hearn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannyhearn/
Website – www.dannyhearn.me
Podcast – www.deeplyhumandesign.com
Chapters
00:00 Have We Reached “Peak Designer”? The Hiring Boom and Slowdown
01:08 Introducing Andy — Designer, Founder, Investor, Pilot, Diver, “Shark Wrangler”
01:42 Origin Story — Geeky Kid, Early Web, and Falling in Love with the Internet
04:35 From Dive Instructor in Asia to Self-Taught Web Designer
07:26 Discovering UX and Helping Bring User Experience Design to the UK
10:34 Meeting Rich and Jeremy, Web Standards, and the Birth of Clearleft
18:43 Inside Clearleft — Culture, Community, and a Different Way to Run an Agency
22:15 Burberry, “Hyper-Alignment,” and How Clearleft Actually Worked Day to Day
32:24 UX London, Leading Design, and the “Accidental Design Leader”
47:16 Broken Web, AI, the Future of Design — S-Curves, Uncertainty, and Learning to Flow