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226 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Designer's toolkit for Claude Code
7 januari 2026 · 48 min
Kyle Zantos is leading the new UX Tools Labs where he's responsible for figuring out what matters for new design tools and workflows. Lees meer
As a result, he's pretty quickly become my go-to source as I transition into more of a builder with AI.
So this conversation is a deep dive into very specific tactics you can use on your own design engineering journey.
We'll go through recommended tools, workflows, and Kyle's process for building a design engineering "Skill" using Claude Code.
Kyle’s portfolio site: https://zantos.co
Leva control panel: https://threejsresources.com/tool/leva
Compound Engineering plugin: https://github.com/EveryInc/compound-engineering-plugin
Jhey Tompkins: https://x.com/jh3yy
Derek Briggs: https://x.com/PixelJanitor
Will King: https://x.com/willking
Emil Kowalski: https://x.com/emilkowalski
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The trick to AI prototyping with your design system
2 januari 2026 · 53 min
We talk a lot about using AI at startups… Lees meer
But what are more established companies doing to scale AI prototyping?
What are the best ways to use AI to prototype with your design system?
That's what today's episode is all about because we're talking with Lewis Healey (https://x.com/Lewishealey) and Kylor Hall (https://www.linkedin.com/in/kylorhall/) about how they scaled AI prototyping at Atlassian.
Some highlights 👇
- Their vision for a truly AI-native design system
- What's worked to scale AI prototyping adoption
- Tips for reducing hallucinations when prototyping
- ways to help AI make sense of your design system
- Their novel approach to prototyping with “templates”
- How the role of design system designers is changing with AI
- + a lot more
- Atlassian Design System (https://atlassian.design/)
- Figma Make (https://www.figma.com/make/?gad_campaignid=23356954992&gbraid=0AAAABCTX0ItGAe7RZBBeUOUindISLe0Un) (AI prototyping tool)
- AI Builders Week (Atlassian internal program) (https://www.atlassian.com/blog/inside-atlassian/ai-product-builders-week)
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Enrico Tartarotti - How did one person design and build all of this?
29 december 2025 · 49 min
Today's episode goes deep into all of the design details in a new video collaboration tool called Flask. Lees meer
But the reason I’m so inspired by this product goes far beyond the UI/UX…
Flask is designed and built by one person—Enrico Tartarotti—who was a PM before this so his journey is the perfect example of what it looks like to thrive as a generalist builder.
So this episode tells the story of what it took to build a well-crafted product and all of the lessons that he learned along the way.
Enrico references the Mom Test for user research and the episode with the Supercut Founders
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Nad Chishtie - How to get hired as a designer at Lovable
19 december 2025 · 59 min
As one of the fastest growing companies in the world, Lovable is scaling their design team by tapping into the [Dive Talent Network](https://www.dive.club/talent-network). Lees meer
So I interviewed their Head of Design, [Nad Chishtie](https://x.com/nadonomy), to learn everything I can about how to get hired as a designer at Lovable.
Some highlights:
- A breakdown of a recent design hire’s portfolio
- How to avoid getting your portfolio screened out
- How to crush the later stages of the hiring process
- How you can win Nad over with side projects alone
- What to do if you’re not confident in your visual skills
- The 2 things Nad cares most about when hiring designers
- Spotify’s cross-functional squad model (https://medium.com/found-ation/agile-team-organization-a-deep-dive-on-the-spotify-model-f5b32dfc37dd)
- Matt’s portfolio (designer hired through Dive Talent Network) (https://www.lfs.gd/)
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Roman Tesliuk - From side projects to leading web design at Eleven Labs
15 december 2025 · 55 min
What does it look like to own web design for one of the fastest growing AI companies in the world? Lees meer
And how do you get that opportunity if you don’t have companies like Apple or Airbnb on your resumé?
That’s what this episode with [Roman Tesliuk](https://x.com/RomaTesla) is all about.
He walks us through the Eleven Labs Figma and talks about the tiniest of design decisions all the way to how he’s building a scalable website system.
We also go deep into Roman's side projects and all of the ways he's becoming a builder with AI 💪
Roman’s App Stacks project - https://appstacks.club/ and portfolio site - https://pixelwrld.co/
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Sneak peek of MDS’s creative process
8 december 2025 · 48 min
I’ve probably learned more about visual design from MDS than anyone in the design community. Lees meer
So I wanted to go deep into the creative process behind the all-new Shift Nudge website to see how he explores visual ideas.
He takes us through his Figma file that is full of very good ideas that didn't ship.
And he even shows us how he built his own Mosaic tool in v0 which became the core motif of the site.
So if you're interested in seeing the windy creative process behind one of the truly great designers today then I think you're going to enjoy this one.
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Steve Ruiz - Is the canvas the future for AI?
1 december 2025 · 1 uur 3 min
I get shown a lot of tool demos and one thing is clear… Lees meer
Canvas-based UX will play a pivotal role in how we interface with AI.
It’s a big reason why Figma just bought Weavy 👀
So I interviewed Steve Ruiz who is the founder of tldraw where he's spent over 3 years and $5 million dollars building the perfect canvas (which powers many of the startups that we've studied on this show).
Some highlights:
Why he’s been obsessing over fairies
Steve’s principles for good tool design
How he was able to learn to code so quickly
What Steve’s learned through his AI experiments
How he’s thinking about the future of agentic design
a lot more
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Emily Campbell - AI UX Deep Dive
24 november 2025 · 43 min
In one of the most popular episodes yet, Vitaly Friedman talked about what’s next for AI design patterns (https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/vitaly-friedman). Lees meer
In that episode he frequently referenced Shape of AIl (https://www.shapeof.ai/) which is an incredible database of AI design patterns.
So I wanted to get to the source and go deep with the creator Emily Campbell (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmiecampbell/) to learn how to design great AI experiences. Because she’s studied AI products more than just about anyone I’ve ever seen 👀
Some of my favorite highlights:
- Ways to build trust in agentic products
- Her favorite patterns for enhancing prompts
- The traits she looks for when hiring AI designers
- + a lot more
- Shape of AI (https://www.shapeof.ai/) (her database of patterns)
- Poke app (https://x.com/interaction/status/1965093198482866317/video/1) from Interaction
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Geoffrey Litt - The Future of Malleable Software
14 november 2025 · 57 min
AI is fundamentally shifting the way we think about digital products and the core deliverables that we're bringing to the table as designers. Lees meer
So I asked Geoffrey Litt (https://x.com/geoffreylitt) (Design Engineer at Notion) to share his vision for the future of malleable software and AI system design.
Here’s some highlights:
- The keys to effective system design
- Geoffrey’s workflow for “working like a surgeon”
- Why too many products become “nightmare bicycles”
- The principles of malleable software vs. disposable software
- Why version control is the most important AI interaction problem
- Inside Geoffrey’s malleable software experiments at Ink & Switch
- + a lot more
-[Ink & Switch is the research lab (https://www.inkandswitch.com/)
- Changing Minds by Seymour Papert (https://worrydream.com/refs/Papert_1980_-_Mindstorms,_1st_ed.pdf)
- Geoffrey’s nightmare bicycle article (https://www.geoffreylitt.com/2025/03/03/the-nightmare-bicycle)
- Don Norman’s Living with Complexity (https://www.amazon.com/Living-Complexity-Press-Donald-Norman/dp/0262014866)
- Spell Burst by Tyler Angert (https://spellburstllm.github.io/)
- A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander (https://www.amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Construction-Environmental/dp/0195019199)
- Patchwork - Geoffrey’s collaboration environment at Ink & Switch (https://www.inkandswitch.com/patchwork/notebook/)
⭐️ You can use the code DIVECLUB to get 20% off your first month of Lovable Pro 1!
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Ryan Scott - The skills that get designers promoted
7 november 2025 · 58 min
Craft gets you hired. Lees meer
But business impact gets you promoted.
So this week’s episode with [Ryan Scott](https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanscottcreative/) is a deep dive into how designers can think strategically about their career.
He shares a ton of lessons from his [PM Masterclass for designers](https://join.dive.club/ryan-scott-pm-masterclass-affiliate):
- What it looks like to grow your product muscles
- The right (and wrong) ways to get buy-in for your ideas
- Strategies for making data a part of your design practice
- Ways to spot new strategic opportunities for your company
- How to position your work to be compelling to a business leader
- What Ryan learned making big ideas happen at Airbnb and Doordash
- + a lot more
⭐️ Get $100 off Ryan’s course when you us the code DIVECLUB
- Andy Budd’s talk in Berlin (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eYH6Z3LmhU)
- Builder.io (http://builder.io/) mentioned as AI tool for engineers
- booking.com (http://booking.com/) vs Airbnb competitive positioning example
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Designing the first ever tabletop game console
31 oktober 2025 · 41 min
Board (https://board.fun/) has taken over social social media (and for good reason). Lees meer
It’s one of the most obvious yet innovative products I’ve ever seen.
So as soon as Kevin Twohy (https://x.com/kevintwohy) shared a preview with me I knew we had to do an interview to get the behind-the-scenes (spoiler: I did buy it lol).
So this episode is a deep dive into his design process for the first ever tabletop game console:
- What he learned about prototyping hardware products
- How they figured out the “brand moves” for Board
- How Kevin makes the most of AI tools
- + a lot more
Kevin referenced Mike and Chara Smith’s episode talking about “brand moves” multiple times - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jhxx6yK2J08&t=392s
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How AI is Changing Design Workflows
29 oktober 2025 · 49 min
AI is reshaping how we design and build software, creating huge opportunities for designers who experiment, adapt, and help define what the practice looks like next. This session is your opportunity to learn directly from some of the best in the industry. Lees meer
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Drew Wilson - How designers become builders and the future of tooling
24 oktober 2025 · 59 min
Imagine a world where handoff no longer exists and designers are moving fluidly in code… Lees meer
[Drew Wilson](https://x.com/drewwilson) is one of the people pulling that future into the present so this week’s episode is a deep dive into his vision for the new design tool [Opacity](https://opacity.app/).
Some highlights:
- How team structures are changing
- How to stand out when everyone is a builder
- What design’s “Github moment” will look like
- The fracturing of the market for design talent
- How Drew is approaching this startup differently
- Where the new technical threshold is for designers
- + a lot more
Drew is also building his new IDE called Loop - https://loupe.build/
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Keys to craft: Supercut’s playbook for design excellence
17 oktober 2025 · 55 min
Over the last few months one product has risen to the top of my inspiration list… ツSupercut (https://supercut.ai/) Lees meer
The point of this episode is to figure out what it takes to consistently reach that level of excellence.
How do you maintain that level of attention to detail while preserving the speed that you need to hit when going 0 -> 1 on a new product?
This week's episode is with David (https://x.com/okuiux?lang=en) and [Neil](https://x.com/neiltak) the cofounders of Supercut which has quickly become one of my favorite pieces of software in my stack.
So we're going deep into how they work, how they think about product, and all of the little decisions they make that together create a truly excellent user experience. 👇
- When design works in Figma vs. in code
- How AI + small teams changes the design process
- Supercut’s playbook for achieving design excellence
- Strategies for weaving AI into the fabric of a product
- Specific examples of how they sweat the details with animations
- Float (https://float.build/)
- Supercut (https://supercut.ai/)
- Soleio (https://x.com/soleio)
- Typeform (https://www.typeform.com/try/typeformbrand?&tf_campaign=US_CA-Brand-Core-English-Combined+Exact-Negs-US_23072929907&tf_source=google&tf_medium=paid&tf_content=187015558460_712286961333&tf_term=typeform&tf_dv=c&tf_matchtype=e&tf_location=9191275&gad_campaignid=23072929907&gbraid=0AAAAADLdz00gdIHfhkPP72sgfJ9L3UUg_)
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Rooz Mahdavian - Designing frontier interfaces at Neuralink and Apple
3 oktober 2025 · 56 min
We’re talking about craft in B2B SaaS... but what is it like designing for frontier interfaces like the Apple watch or even neural interfaces? Lees meer
We find out in this week’s episode with Rooz Mahdavian. (https://x.com/roozm)
He’s the design engineer at Neuralink so we're about to get pretty nerdy and talk about what it’s like designing an experience that allows someone to use a computer with just their mind.
The level of detail and first-principles design thinking is truly impressive.
Some highlights:
- What it looks like to design for delight in neural interfaces
- What Neuralink is looking for in their 2nd design engineer role
- What it takes to design frontier interfaces at Apple and Neuralink
- The evolution from Apple Watch Siri face to brain-computer interfaces
- Rooz’s vision for “daydreaming with computers” and direct visual imagery transfer
- Reimagining a cursor for a neural interface - from color-based feedback to circular reticles
- + a lot more
- Apple Watch Faces team (https://www.youtube.com/embed/oaqHdULqet0?start=585&end=705&autoplay=1&controls=0)
- Siri Watch Face (intern project that shipped) (https://www.youtube.com/embed/oaqHdULqet0?start=585&end=705&autoplay=1&controls=0)
- Neuralink (https://neuralink.com/) - brain computer interface company
- Blindside - Neuralink’s vision restoration project (https://neuralink.com/trials/visual-prosthesis/)
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Escha Vera - Designing Perplexity’s Comet and Using AI Like an Artist
26 september 2025 · 58 min
Imagine it’s your first day as a designer at Perplexity... and the VP of Design hands you the keys for their all-new AI browser, [Comet](https://www.perplexity.ai/comet). Lees meer
That’s the story for [Escha Vera](https://x.com/eschadiol).
So this week’s episode is a deep dive into her design process and what it looks like to use AI like an artist.
- How she designed Comet onboarding experience
- Creating generative invite codes using multiple AI tools
- How she created the Perplexity design system from scratch
- How she productized AI without leading with chat interfaces or prompts
- What are her principles for designing AI experiences that prioritize usability
- + a lot more
- [Soleio](https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/soleio-2) sent the intro to [Henry Modisett](https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/henry-modisett)
- She worked at [Descript](https://x.com/descriptapp) before joining [Perplexity](https://x.com/perplexity_ai)
- Previously worked on [Daylight Computer](https://x.com/daylightco) and Motif
- Collaborating with [Phi Hong](https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/phi-hoang) on branding at Perplexity
- Uses [Suno](https://suno.com/home?wpsrc=Google%20AdWords&wpcid=22042553892&wpscid=173890219393&wpcrid=726251362516&wpkwid=kwd-2827037661&wpkwn=suno&wpkmatch=e&wpsnetn=g&gad_campaignid=22042553892&gbraid=0AAAAA9pWpduFan7icL90FczgyQploCsYi) for music generation and remixing
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Carl Rivera - Shopify’s big bet on design and craft as the differentiator
19 september 2025 · 51 min
What does the perfect e-commerce platform look like in an AI era? Lees meer
That’s the question Shopify’s Chief Design Officer Carl Rivera has set out to answer so this week’s episode is all about Shopify’s big bet on design and craft as the ultimate differentiator.
We go deep into:
- What happens when AI makes everyone a 7/10 designer
- What most design teams get wrong when casting vision
- How design can lead the creation of truly native AI experiences
- Why every designer at Shopify is learning to ship to production
- Carl’s thesis for why designers are severely undervalued in the market
- Why Shopify acquired Molly Studio and what it means for how the org works
- + a lot more
https://www.molly.studio/ - design studio acquired by Shopify
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Catt Small - How staff designers build influence and lead as ICs
12 september 2025 · 57 min
Only a select few have multiple episodes on Dive Club and today Catt Small joins the ranks. Lees meer
She has a gift for turning messy ideas into practical next steps so it’s no wonder her Staff Designer course is one of the top-rated on Maven.
In this episode we go deep into all of the ways you can make an impact by building influence on your team and effectively casting vision for your product.
Some highlights:
The 2 ways to measure your influence
Strategies for getting distribution for your ideas
How to select the ideal format for casting a vision
Storytelling tactics used by the best staff designers
How to strategically invest in workplace relationships
What Catt learned while interviewing staff designers for her new book
⭐ Get $100 off Catt’s course: Staff Designer: Influence & Lead as an Individual Contributor
⭐ Get 15% off pre-orders for her new book: The Staff Designer
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Sara Vienna - Taste, Meaning, and How to Stand Out in an AI world
6 september 2025 · 1 uur 3 min
What does it take to make people feel something with design...? Lees meer
This week's guest is kind of an expert on the question.
Sara Vienna (https://x.com/sravienna?lang=en) , the Chief Design Officer at Metalab, talks about the responsibility that designers have to shape this AI world that we're entering without losing the heartbeat of a brand.
We don't hold back on the current state of the industry and what it feels like to be a designer today.
Some highlights:
- How to not get swept up in current design trends
- How Metalab has adopted AI workflows internally
- Strategies for leveraging AI to understand research data
- What it takes to put meaning at the heart of a brand/product
- How Metalab invests in the collective taste of the design org
- Where Sara derives signals and how she filters out the noise
- Being late on a trend is bad taste even more so than ugly design
- + a lot more
- Windsurf https://windsurf.com/) and [Suno](https://suno.com/home?wpsrc=Google%20AdWords&wpcid=22042553892&wpscid=173890219393&wpcrid=726251362516&wpkwid=kwd-2827037661&wpkwn=suno&wpkmatch=e&wpsnetn=g&gad_campaignid=22042553892&gbraid=0AAAAA9pWpduFan7icL90FczgyQploCsYi) rebrands
- Jony Ive’s Stripe Sessions talk (https://stripe.com/sessions/2025/a-conversation-with-sir-jony-ive)
- Erica Hall’s book “Just Enough Research” (https://www.mulebooks.com/just-enough-research)
- Anthropic’s Machines of Loving Grace paper (https://www.darioamodei.com/essay/machines-of-loving-grace)
- Blok for focus (https://blok.so/)
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Gabe Valdivia - How to Thrive as an Independent Designer
29 augustus 2025 · 58 min
I think we're entering a world where the market for fractional design is about to explode… Lees meer
So this week's episode is with one of my favorite people in the industry, Gabe Valdivia.
We're going to explore his independent journey → how he made the jump, how he's evolved the practice in year two, and all of the lessons he's learned along the way.
Some highlights:
Gabe’s three-phase client model
How to sell a client on fractional design
Gabe’s rules of thumb for pricing himself
How Gabe’s new apprenticeship program works
How Gabe vibe-coded his personal Freelance OS
How he has redefined success from year 1 to year 2
Gabe’s journey to figure out how to position himself as an independent
a lot more
Charlie Sutton who he worked with on VR team at Facebook
Team Human book by Douglas Rushkoff
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Behind the scenes of the Inflight startup pitch💡
27 augustus 2025 · 10 min
Too much of designing a startup happens behind closed doors Lees meer
So I want to work with the garage door open while building Inflight (https://www.inflight.co/) as much as possible.
You already saw a bunch of the nitty gritty UI details (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D39Dv9MSlhs)…
But when you’re going 0 to 1 on something, the storytelling piece is often the hardest part.
So this episode is a sneak peek of a recent presentation we gave in SF (and some behind-the-scenes commentary to go along with it).
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Dan Winer - How to become more strategic and advance your career
22 augustus 2025 · 1 uur
What does it look like to advance your career in the age of AI? Lees meer
That’s what this week’s episode with Dan Winer (Director of Product Design at Kit) is all about.
He shares insights from his top-rated Maven course "Strategy and Influence for Product Designers" (https://join.dive.club/dan-winer-course)
So if you want to learn how to go from pixel pusher to strategic partner then this is the episode for you 💪
Some highlights:
- Dan’s strategies for effective storytelling
- How to shine a light on the value of your work
- Tactics for building alignment across key stakeholders
- The 8 skills that Dan is evaluating in the hiring process
- Why design systems are becoming more important than ever
- Harsh truths designers don’t want to hear about their portfolio
- What to do if you don’t have data to prove the impact of your work
- + a lot more
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Andy Zhang - From early Figma to design engineer at Windsurf
15 augustus 2025 · 50 min
This week's episode is with Andy Zhang who was the lead design engineer at Windsurf. So we're going to shine a light on all of the ways you can make an impact as a design engineer including: Lees meer
Owning more of the frontend polish
Thinking through design patterns and packaging features
Bridging the gap between technical features and intuitive UX
Saying “no” to features to preserve the simplicity of the system
He also shares some great stories and advice including:
What it was like working as an intern at Figma with <10 people
How designers can start to get more comfortable with code
How he taps into his experience as a PM at Uber while selecting the right design process
a lot more
Rasmus Andersson (https://x.com/rsms) - Designer/engineer at Figma, mentor to Andy
Kevin Hou (https://x.com/kevinhou22?lang=en) - Lead product engineering at Windsurf, Andy’s basketball teammate who helped him get the job
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Vitaly Friedman - Beyond Chat: What's Next for AI Design Patterns
8 augustus 2025 · 57 min
I’d bet real money that you have been on Smashing Magazine at some point in the last 18 years… Lees meer
Good news is, this week I got to interview the founder, Vitaly Friedman, who is also one of the leading thinkers in UX right now.
In this episode we go deep into how AI is changing the way we interact with digital products and how our patterns and processes are evolving as a result.
Some highlights:
The use case for dynamic interfaces with AI
How to design a less painful refinement journey
The best AI design patterns to use for inspiration
When to use quiet AI vs. visible AI in your interfaces
Why more products should be “AI-second” not “AI-first”
Why we need to slow users down when designing AI products
How designers can establish trust when users interact with AI
a lot more
Consensus
Elicit
aiuxpatterns.com
Episode with the Gamma Head of Design
exa.ai
Perplexity
ChatGPT
Gemini
Norman Nielsen Group
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From Uber to Apple to new design founder 💡
6 augustus 2025 · 22 min
If I told you someone had a background as a senior designer at companies like Uber, Dropbox, Apple, and Patreon then you'd be pretty impressed, right? Lees meer
Same.
But Adam Noffsinger walked away from all of that to start Alma (which you might remember from the Smith+Diction episode).
So this episode is a deep dive into what it really looks like to go 0→1 as a design founder.
Adam even walks us through his Figma file for Alma so if you’re interesting in startups or designing something from nothing, then I think you’ll really enjoy this conversation 👇
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Pietro Schirano - AI just gave designers a promotion
1 augustus 2025 · 1 uur 1 min
This week’s episode is with Pietro Schirano who is the founder of the new design tool MagicPath and one of the true forward thinkers on AI. We go deep into the future of prototyping, design workflows, and what it takes to catalyze your career with AI. Lees meer
Some highlights:
How design workflows will evolve
Using AI as a collaborator not just a tool
How Pietro was able to build influence at Anthropic
Why interactive prototypes are becoming table stakes
What designers need to understand to master the models
Why design architects will be the highest paid role in the future
a lot more
DesignerGPT (5 million users)
TweakCN
Origami (Facebook’s prototyping tool)
Figma.ai domain purchase
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Why AI has changed prototyping forever
25 juli 2025 · 51 min
This week I got an inside look at Figma Make while talking to Holly and Nikolas all about the future of prototyping… Lees meer
We get into real world use cases for different kinds of prototypes and how our workflow is evolving as designers.
One thing is abundantly clear, things aren’t so linear anymore.
Some highlights:
How Figma Make fits into your workflow
Rethinking what “high fidelity” means for a prototype
How code is the glue and what it means for collaboration
What are the less obvious use cases for prototyping with AI
Meta prototyping with interactive playgrounds and inspect panels
a lot more
Figma Make - AI-powered prototyping tool within Figma
Variables in Figma
Advanced Prototyping in Figma
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How product design works at Raycast 💡
23 juli 2025 · 28 min
Last month we did the ultimate Raycast Deep Dive, but there's a lot in there… so this week I want to highlight just the segment from the product design team. Lees meer
We go deep into how they collaborate, why they’ve started shipping more code, and what it takes to build a culture obsessed with craft.
Don’t forget to use code DIVE20YT to get 20% off your first purchase of any Lovable plan ❤️ Valid until August 21, 2025. Go to dive.club/lovable to start creating
Full Raycast episode - The Raycast Deep Dive
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Gunnar Gray - Designing Perplexity, shaders, and voice interfaces
18 juli 2025 · 54 min
This week, Gunnar Gray (Product Design Lead at Perplexity) dives into the art of designing AI-native experiences. Lees meer
He shares lessons from shaping Voice Mode and how prototyping with AI is changing the design process at Perplexity.
Some highlights:
Why Perplexity is racing to get ideas into code
What it’s like designing at a hyper growth startup
What it’s like designing dynamic voice experiences
Gunnar’s journey learning metal shaders with Cursor
How Gunnar strategically invests in his design skillset
a lot more
Perplexity - AI-powered search and discovery platform
Cursor - AI-powered code editor
Particle News app
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Ryo Lu - Designing the future of Cursor
11 juli 2025 · 57 min
Cursor is easily one of the most impactful companies in all of tech… Lees meer
And this week's episode is with their Head of Design, Ryo Lu.
You might've heard of Ryo in this episode back when we talked about early Notion and systems design.
So this week we're going to get an inside look at how design operates at Cursor and all of Ryo's experiments with AI 👀
Some highlights:
What Ryo believes about the future of HCI
How Ryo handles a barrage of user feedback
How Ryo approaches systems thinking at Cursor
How Ryo unified the core primitives of Cursor’s system
Laying the foundation for the future of Cursor’s system design
Inside Ryo’s design process and how he knows what to pursue
Why Ryo thinks specialization will matter less in an AI-enabled future
Why Ryo believes the future of interfaces will match how people think
a lot more
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Julian Lehr - How storytelling works at Linear
2 juli 2025 · 51 min
This week's episode is with Julian Lehr who is the storytelling lead at Linear Lees meer
So we're going to step out of the pixels for this conversation and focus more on how you can get people excited about what you're designing.
Because in the age of AI, stories are what makes your product defensible.
So we're going to go deep into Julian's creative process and how he kinda thinks of his role more as packaging.
Some highlights:
Julian’s sources of inspiration
Understanding Julian’s creative process
The new analogy that Julian is working on for Linear
Linear’s strategy for storytelling for their “Agents” release
The importance of visual design in copywriting and marketing
How Linear’s in-house creative studio collaborates on storytelling
How Linear evolved from using “opinionated” to “purpose-built” over 3 years
a lot more
Antimetal website
Arena for inspiration
Julian’s website
Linear’s hands of god visual for Agents release
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Emmet Connolly - Transitioning into the next era of design
27 juni 2025 · 1 uur 4 min
You probably know Intercom… but did you know they recently incubated a new startup called Fin that has already surpassed the core business? Lees meer
They’ve pulled off a massive transition to an AI-native product and design org so today we’re going behind-the-scenes with their VP of Design Emmet Connolly.
Some highlights:
Why Emmett believes designers will own the frontend
The opportunity for design systems in an AI-first world
What Emmett looks for when hiring designers in the AI era
Why liquid glass represents the wrong direction for design
How Intercom’s AI product Fin overtook their core business
Why the start of an S-curve is the best time to be a designer
How AI is flipping the traditional product development process
a lot more
Plato’s cave analogy
OpenAI’s forward deployed engineer role
Apple’s liquid glass design
Fons Mans helped on the design of Fin
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My playbook for vibe coding💡
25 juni 2025 · 9 min
In last week’s episode, the Head of Design at The Browser Company shared a totally new way to think about your portfolio. Lees meer
He says one of the most valuable things you can demonstrate today is the ability to solve real problems with code (no matter how small).
I’m literally doing this with a side project right now and I’ve learned a lot so I decided to share my new playbook for vibe coding 👇
Teo Connor (VP of Design at Airbnb): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/air-bnb
Alex Schleifer (former Chief Design Offer at Airbnb): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/alex-schleifer
Janum Trivedi (prototyping specialist at Airbnb): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/janum-trivedi
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Dustin Senos - Designing Dia (the AI-native web browser)
20 juni 2025 · 58 min
Dia from The Browser Company has completely taken over the internet. We’re finally seeing what an AI-native browser can be and it’s pretty exciting :) Lees meer
So this episode is a behind-the-scenes with their Head of Design, Dustin Senos.
Some highlights:
How to build a product strategy around AI
How The Browser Co approaches prototyping
Dustin’s perspective on MCP and agentic design
How their definition of “good” evolved from Arc to Dia
Their process for exploring patterns for interacting with AI
The #1 piece of advice Dustin would give younger designers
a lot more
We mentioned Nate Parrott’s episode who was the first design hire at The Browser Company
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The Ultimate Raycast Deep Dive (craft, AI, hype, & more)
16 juni 2025 · 2 uur 3 min
This week’s episode is a first of its kind because we’re doing the ultimate deep dive into one of my favorite products: Raycast Lees meer
We’ll here from the founders, design team, and even the hype team and go deep into all kinds of topics:
The hilarious story of Raycast’s YC application
3 weekly rituals that are perfect for remote teams
What they’ve learned about designing AI experiences
What we can learn from how their hype team operates
How the design team has changed the way they collab with engineers
a lot more
This is easily the most in-depth episode I’ve ever made so I hope you enjoy it :)
Thomas and Petr (Raycast founders)
Roy can Rooijen (Designing AI)
Jordan Amblin (Designing mobile)
Alexander Antonov (Designing windows + DS)
Pedro Duarte (Hype lead)
Inga Hampton (Designer + Illustrator)
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Behind the scenes of my design founder journey
11 juni 2025 · 13 min
The last two weeks with Inflight have been the most exhilarating of my entire career… Lees meer
So I want to use Dive Club to provide unprecedented levels of access to life as a design founder.
I’m talking about the messy behind-the-scenes, hideous Figma concepts, and all of the winding turns that we've taken to get where we're at today.
This is gonna be as raw as it gets.
And hopefully by shining a light on some of the things I'm learning, it turns into a video series that you want to keep watching ✈️
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Darrin Henein - The new bar for design excellence at Shopify
6 juni 2025 · 1 uur 3 min
This week's episode is with Darrin Henein who is the VP of Design at Shopify. We talk about how they create a culture of excellence and how AI is influencing the way they practice the design. Lees meer
Some highlights:
What makes for a great design critique culture
Darrin’s expectation for how designers prototype
How Shopify’s new AI mandate impacts designers
Traits Darrin notices in promising younger designers
What designers can learn from the best communicators at Shopify
Why Darrin believes designers need to think beyond static prototypes
a lot more
GKIII’s Cost of Craft article
Frenzy drop sales product
Astronaut video game that Darrin released
Red Dot Design Award won by Shopify’s POS hardware
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Vibe designing with Subframe
4 juni 2025 · 38 min
There’s a new design tool called Subframe that’s officially caught my eye 👀 Lees meer
So I asked their co-founder Filip Skrzesinksi to give us a demo and talk through their vision.
I found some of their AI interaction patterns fascinating (especially the way they approach prototyping and contextual edits).
If you’re interested in the future of design tooling then I think you’ll like this episode and you can use the code DIVECLUB to get your first month free 👌
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Ioana Teleanu - The right (and wrong) ways to design AI into your product
30 mei 2025 · 1 uur 4 min
There are two types of companies today: Lees meer
Startups birthed out of AI
Existing companies figuring out how to adapt to AI
This week’s episode is all about #2 because we get to hear from Ioana Teleanu who was the first AI designer at Miro and is now a dedicated AI+Design consultant.
So a big theme of this conversation is how to identify the right opportunities to design AI into a product that’s already working. Ioana shares a bunch of stories and lessons learned from her time at Miro as well as a refreshing perspective on AI and design as whole that i think will resonate with a lot of you.
Some highlights:
What to do if you’re already feeling AI fatigue
Why invisible AI is the future of product design
How you measure the success of integrating AI
Examples of good and bad implementations of AI
How the value prop of design shifts in an AI world
Ways to invest in your product skills as a designer
a lot more
Before Miro Ioana designed Clipboard AI which won Times Magazine best invention of 2023
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Jesse Kulp - Designing the Future of AI at Google
23 mei 2025 · 58 min
This week we get to hear from Jesse Kulp who is the original designer for Google AI Studio. Lees meer
He shares what it was like going 0→1 as the sole designer and his ideas for where AI design is headed next
I think we're gonna look back in a couple years, the kind of silly stuff we're doing today and say it looks like child's play… Jesse Kulp
some highlights:
How Jesse transformed into the ultimate generalist
What Jesse learned about managing lots of stakeholders
Exploring different interaction modalities for AI in the future
How to handle ambiguity while working in a new problem space
How Jesse figured out the initial product strategy for AI Studio
a lot more
Google AI Studio
Vertex AI Studio
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Stephen Haney - Paper's vision for the future of design tooling
16 mei 2025 · 55 min
Stephen previously co-founded Modulz which created Radix UI, now used by Vercel, Linear, and Jetsi. Lees meer
Now he’s the founder of the most influential design tool on the market — Paper.
In this episode, Stephen gives us a look at how Paper is fundamentally changing the speed of traditional design flows.
Some highlights:
How to drive alignment as a company
How Stephen cultivates empathy in designers
How Stephen views the traditional design role
How Paper is paving the way for modern design tools
How Paper is bringing creativity back to design tools through shaders
a lot more
David Hoang Strategy is Compressing article
Stephen posted on DeviantArt in early days
Created Radix UI at Modulz
Paper’s Liquid logo release on Twitter
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The untapped opportunity for design tools💡
13 mei 2025 · 11 min
A year ago, it felt like AI-generated UI was about to have its moment. But now the landscape looks a LOT different than what people expected. Lees meer
So this episode answers the question "what's next?"
Because there's still an untapped opportunity that I believe will become very real soon...
Kyle Turman (Designer at Anthropic) https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/kyle-turman
Nad Chishtie (1st designer at Lovable) https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/nad-chishtie
Zach Leach (Head of Design at Gamma) https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/zach-leach
Jordan Singer (AI at Figma) https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/jordan-singer
Pranathi Peri (Product designer at Vercel) https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/pranathi-peri
Alex Schleifer (Former Chief Design Officer at Airbnb) https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/alex-schleifer
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Zach Leach - Principles for designing a great AI product
9 mei 2025 · 46 min
This week, Zach Leach (Head of Design at Gamma) gives a behind-the-scenes of what it’s like designing one of the hottest AI products in the world today. Lees meer
He shares a ton of techniques and lessons learned from working with LLMs—including some ways to make AI fun again :) And we also learn what makes design at Gamma a bit unorthodox in all the best ways.
Some highlights:
What makes Gamma a team of “AI Pioneers”
How Gamma designers prototype ideas in code
How Zach has iterated on interaction patterns for AI
How to think about AI functionality at the system level
How Zach imagines his design role in the coming years
What Zach has learned about designing AI-powered flows
a lot more **
The core team came over together from Optimizely
We talked about prototyping in Bolt and Lovable
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The new era of design leadership💡
6 mei 2025 · 8 min
The more I study today's top design teams, the more clear it’s becoming that we're entering the era of a new type of design leader— one with taste and the skills necessary to uphold craft. Lees meer
So this episode studies this new archetype of leader by highlighting clips from design leaders at Airbnb, Ramp, Duolingo, and more…
Alex Schleifer (Former Chief Design Officer at Airbnb)
Mig Reyes (VP of Product Experience at Duolingo)
Derek Briggs (Design + Code at Hypermode)
Teo Connor (VP of Design at Airbnb)
Diego Zaks (VP of Design at Ramp)
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Mig Reyes - Harsh truths that designers need to hear
2 mei 2025 · 1 uur 1 min
Mig Reyes is the VP of Product Experience at Duolingo (and a design director at Instagram before that). Lees meer
In this episode he shared a behind-the-scenes of how design operates at Duolingo (as well as some harsh truths designers need to hear).
Common portfolio review mistakes
How communication skills build influence
Mig’s strategy behind hiring junior designers
How to succeed in executive product reviews
Mig’s mandate to raise the design bar at Duolingo
How Mig revamped design management at Duolingo
Why Duolingo changed from “UX” to “Product Experience”
a lot more
Jacob Nielsen (commented on LinkedIn post)
Brett Westervelt (VP of Design at Instagram)
Ryan Sims (Chief Design Officer at Duolingo)
Luis (CEO of Duolingo)
Companies mentioned: Instagram, Airbnb, Coinbase, Meta, OpenAI, Figma
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How experienced designers drive alignment💡
29 april 2025 · 9 min
I talk to a lot of designers at the pinnacle of their career… Lees meer
So I’m always trying to figure out how they’ve evolved the way they practice design over the years.
Once I hear the same answer from a few different people I start to pay attention 👀
So here are a few trends I’m noticing for how the best designers get alignment on their teams.
Alex Cornell (Gen AI at Meta)
Yuan Wang (Head of Design at Maven)
Rich Arnold (Design Manager at Coinbase)
Michael Wandelmaier (Principal Designer at Dropbox)
Aashman Goghari (Design Lead at Palantir)
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Kyle Turman - Designing Claude and collaborating with AI
25 april 2025 · 1 uur 2 min
Anthropic has quickly become a category-defining company and in this episode Kyle Turman (their first full-time designer) shares a behind-the-scenes of what it was like designing Claude. Lees meer
If you’re interested in startups, AI products, or the art of prompting then this conversation will be right up your alley.
Some highlights:
Kyle’s story of wearing every hat for Claude
What it’s like designing conversational UX flows
How Kyle uses Claude in his personal design process
Why Kyle only half-finished his Claude designs in Figma
How Kyle thinks about designing for emotion and feeling
How Kyle thinks about the future of design as a discipline
Kyle’s thoughts on whether chat should the dominant pattern for AI
a lot me
We mentioned Tuhin Kumar’s episode (Head of Design at Luma AI)
We mentioned Julius Tarng
We talked about the Sesame conversational AI demo
Machines of Loving Grace by the Anthropic CEO Dario
Recommended Episode:
George Kedenburg III (former designer lead at Humane)
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The window of opportunity for designers
22 april 2025 · 9 min
There's a parallel I'm noticing between what's happening today with AI and what happened way back in 2013. Lees meer
So this episode studies the early days of Snapchat, the emergence of high-fidelity prototyping tools, and answers the question “what does it look like to have agency in 2025?”
Jack Brody (Chief Product Officer at Suno)
Jorn van Dijk (CEO of Framer)
Julius Tarng (Research engineer at Anthropic)
Tuhin Kumar (Head of Design at Luma AI)
Maheen Sohail (Gen AI at Meta)
Meng To (Founder of Design+Code)
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Tuhin Kumar - From Airbnb to Apple to designing with AI
19 april 2025 · 1 uur 6 min
Tuhin Kumar has designed at some of the most prolific companies in the world (early Facebook, Airbnb and Apple). Lees meer
But everything’s changing in his new role…
Because now he’s the Head of Design at Luma AI which is one of the companies leading the charge on generative AI.
So this episode goes deep on how the value prop of design is shifting.
Some highlights:
The #1 trait of craft-oriented companies
Why you can’t think of AI products as just a tool
How to invest in the right skills as a designer today
What created Tuhin’s career tipping point at Airbnb
What Tuhin is pulling from Apple and Airbnb’s culture
How working with AI as a material is changing everything
The biggest lesson Tuhin learned while writing system prompts
a lot more
Tuhin mentioned Maheen Sohail’s “Unprompted” podcast with AI
Ammaar Reshi (former Head of Design at Eleven Labs)
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The strategy I’m stealing from Granola💡
15 april 2025 · 6 min
There are two goals that designers almost always group together: Lees meer
Make a useful product
Make it easy to understand
But my interview with Sam Stephenson changed my thinking completely 👀
So this episode breaks down Granola’s go-to-market strategy and why I’m copying it for my own startup.
Sam Stephenson (Co-founder of Granola)
Colin Dunn (Co-founder of Visual Electric)