Design Details

464: AI Grab Bag

This week, we talk about Open AI's GPTs-as-apps strategy, FigJam's AI tools, and our dreams for a future Jarvis-like experience.

463: Design Medley, Vol. 1

This week, we talk about the delicate art of using animation in interface design, how to use button sizes, and managing margins in type styles.

462: Refactoring a Design System

This week, Marshall breaks down his process, tips, and tricks to redesign a design system in Figma.

461: Config and WWDC 2023

This week, we supply some cold (but thoughtful!) takes on everything released during last month's WWDC and Config 2023.

460: Arc Boosts ft. Gabriel Valdivia

This week, we dissect the recently-launched Arc Boosts to try and understand what they're for and where they're going.

459: What Is Humane?

458: How Do You Simplify a UI?

This week, we share non-obvious tips and tricks for simplifying a UI.

457: How to Find Focus

This week, we talk about finding focus when there are infinite things to learn to become a better designer.

456: Should Designers Name Their Layers?

This week, we fight about whether designers should name their layers (without saying "it depends").

455: Shift Happens ft. Marcin Wichary

This week, we talked with Marcin Wichary about Shift Happens, a book about keyboards. We dive into the details of the book, its publication, website, and more.

454: Is UI Design Actually That Important?

This week, we answer a crucial question: is UI design actually that important? Our answer may shock you

453: Building a Type Stack

This week, we discuss strategies for building an excellent type stack in your designs.

452: Design Trends for 2023

This week, we discuss current visual design trends and how the web will look in 2023.

451: The Whole Twitter Thing

This week, we talk about the whole Twitter thing, and how we'd handle the verified badge design debacle.

450: Designing Hefty Interfaces

This week, we talk about what gives software the feeling of heft and the effect of that feeling on how customers perceive the value of a tool.

449: Google Pixel 7 Event

This week, we recap Google's Pixel 7 Event and dig into our favorite design details of the new Pixel phone, tablet, and watch.

448: News Desk, Vol. 5

This week, we break down new Figma features, dissect the Live Activities HIG, and share our cool-takes on the Adobe + Figma acquisition.

447: Stranded on Dynamic Island

This week, we share our hot takes and first impressions of the new Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro.

446: Grab Bag, Vol. 3

This week, we share our preferred naming convention for design files and react to the new Gmail redesign.

445: Designing the Perfect Desk

This week, we talk about a surprising new "smart desk" being shared online, and we talk about what our dream desk would look like. In the Sidebar, Marshall shares his tips and tricks for keeping his Figma files squeaky clean.

444: Writing Effective Self-Reviews

This week, we share our tips for writing better self-reviews during performance review season.

443: Design Systems Interviews

This week, we talk about interviewing for roles in design systems, what to prepare, and how many different kinds of skills are relevant in the field.

442: It Doesn't Have to Be Right

This week, we share stories and lessons from some of our most memorable mentors.

441: WWDC 2022

This week, we recap all of our favorite...design details...announced at this week's WWDC.

440: Don’t Call It a Design Critique

This week, we talk about how to make design critiques more fun, and how to encourage teams to share their work-in-progress more often.

439: Config 2022

This week, we cover all of the exciting new releases from Config 2022, and do a deep dive into the new version of Auto Layout.

438: Dissecting Substack’s Podcast Player

This week, we dissect Substack’s new podcast player design, talking about both the pixels and the strategic advantage of sharing craft-specific content on Twitter. In the Sidebar, we talk about the nature and risks of critiquing software as podcasters and...

437: Scaling Design Critique

This week, we talk about methods to scale design critiques with a growing team. In the Sidebar, we dig into the...details...of Figma's latest UI changes which adds file type icons to file tabs.

436: Reclaiming Your Focus

This week, we share our tips and strategies for reclaiming our focus to do deep design work. In the Sidebar, we revisit last week's conversation about the value of ideas and finding the right time to share an idea with...

435: New Feature Launch Checklist

This week, we share the checklist that we use when launching new features to make sure we’re not missing certain states, flows, or edge cases. In the Sidebar, we talk about working in public and the risk of people stealing...

434: News Desk, Vol. 4

This week, we talk about enhancing the performance of design teams, a more efficient developer handoff process, and how to develop strong opinions.

433: Making a Case for Icons

This week, we make the case for designing product icons and discuss what to do if your team doesn’t want to invest in great iconography. In the Sidebar, we talk about how to incorporate default typefaces into your design system.

432: Traits of a Good Manager

This week, we spent more time exploring the traits of a good designer manager. In the Sidebar, we talk about the design details of Apple’s Studio Display and Mac Studio.

431: Transitioning from Industrial to Digital Design

This week, we talk about transitioning industries and how to bridge the quality gap in a new field. In the Sidebar, we talk about storytelling and the surprising insights that can be found in engagement data.

430: Design File Sanity and Breaking Navigation Patterns

This week, we talk about design file sources of truth, Snapchat's evolution, and the qualities of great managers. In the Sidebar, we talk about building a YouTube channel from scratch, the opportunity for designers on YouTube, and ways to de-risk...

429: Better Remote Onboarding

This week, we talk about the messy nature of remote onboarding and share our tips to make it suck just a little less. In the Sidebar, we talk about the visual design for the heads up display used in televised...

428: Teaching vs Micromanaging

This week, we talk about teaching versus micromanaging, or how to give feedback as a manager in a productive and growth-oriented way. In the Sidebar, Marshall shares his tips and tricks for organizing icon systems in Figma.

427: Tools for Thought ft. Mark McGranaghan and Adam Wiggins

This week, we sat down with Mark McGranaghan and Adam Wiggins to talk about building creative tools, designing across devices and platforms, creating career capital, starting design podcasts, and more.

426: Senior++ Designer Expectations

This week, we share some (hopefully) non-obvious paths to level up at work and exceed the expectations for a senior++ product designer. In the Sidebar, we talk about the importance of giving blunt feedback, and share ways to do it...

425: Overengineering Variants

This week, we share tips for crafting component variants to avoid the dreaded variant-explosion problem. In the Sidebar, we talk about Tesla’s latest UI refresh, where we see auto interfaces going in the future, and share some of our favorite...

424: The Art of Unsolicited Redesigns

This week, we talk about the art of creating unsolicited redesigns at work — how to approach them, how to wrangle complexity and rabbit holes, and what to do when you have something worth sharing. In the Sidebar, we share...

423: What We Learned in 2021

This week, we recap how we grew, and the things we learned, in 2021. In The Sidebar, we look forward to 2022 and talk about some of our personal and professional goals for the new year.

422: The Complainisode

This week, we were invited to have a rant session about the little things in modern software that drive us nuts. A complainisode! In the Sidebar, we share our strategies for having a successful design challenge interview loop.

421: The Future of Remote Design Teams

This week, we talk about the pros and cons of working on a remote design team, and what we think the future of design organizations will look like in a post-pandemic world. In The Sidebar, we talk about how to...

420: The Pointer Cursor Debate

This week, we discuss the humble cursor and its role in affording interactivity in software design. In The Sidebar, we talk about the long term impact of the features we build, the importance of smart defaults, and the value of...

419: Teaching Design at Work

This week, we share our strategies and motivations for teaching design at work. In The Sidebar, we talk about the shape of software, how we visualize the tools we build, and what it means for software to feel like something...

418: Fictional User Interfaces

This week, we talk about the weird and beautiful world of fictional user interfaces: why do futuristic UIs look so cool? And why aren't they usable? Is the future really going to look like this? In The Sidebar, we share...

417: The Side Project Prophecy

This week, we reflect on why it is that talking about building a side project can often reduce your motivation to actually finish the project. We dig into our latest side project progress and share tips for maintaining momentum. In...

416: UI Reviews and QA

This week, we talk about our processes for reviewing UI and making sure that things are shipping as close to spec as possible. In The Sidebar, we recap Apple’s Unleashed event, sharing our favorite moments and spicy takes.

415: News Desk, Vol. 3

This week, we talk about the new Stripe Press website, pasting behavior in Figma, the latest tvOS UI, and the importance of using fake data in placeholder copy. In The Sidebar, we share our tools and strategies for remembering the...