kayhan retweeted
great long read from Paul about the honest version of most in-house brand jobs: you were hired to build a system and you spend your week making banners.
his piece argues ai can break that loop. hand off the repetitive output and designers move up a layer, writing the rules instead of executing against them. brand as software.
I love that.
my interest is the freelance end of it. i build an identity, hand over a brand kit, leave. it starts drifting within a quarter and that's nobody's fault. guidelines can't make decisions.
what i want to build instead is an intelligent layer that ships with the brand. it holds the logic, adapts as the product changes, keeps the thing coherent after i'm out of the room.
still early, but this feels like the new shape of the work of brand designers
4700 word labor of love. I've seen all the patterns and heard every story about in-house brand/creative studio teams.
This is my vision for where brand teams can go (and why I joined @tryramp).
Brand systems that behave like jazz. Brand as software.
kayhan retweeted
It's not that you can't make an accessible web component; it's that you can't make a web component accessible.
kayhan retweeted
The "UX designer" era was a bubble and AI popped it.
Not because UX doesn't matter. Because basic UX was always the easiest, most repeatable part of the job and AI handles basic UX just fine now.
Hard UX, the kind that takes thought instead of replication, is still rare because it's really hard to do. That's exactly the part AI can't do. It has no eye. No taste. No feel.
So look who's thriving right now. Designers who always treated UX as part of the job, not the job. If you can do UI + UX, you're probably having an ok time. If you can do UI + UX + direct + manage, you're crushing it. You were built for the AI world. And if you lead and only kinda design but you're eager to learn? You might be having the most fun of anyone.
If you can only do one part of the job at its most basic form, this is a rough season probably and I'm not going to pretend otherwise. But you still know more than most people ever will. The gap between you and "can't design at all" is massive and it's still your upper hand if you act on it. How? Build. Create. Direct. Manage. Market. That's the best way to learn and you can start all of it yourself like, right now.
Only doing part of the job was never really enough. The bubble just hid it and now it can't. Add one skill in the next few months and you're back in it. This is the best time to be a designer since the iPhone came out!
kayhan retweeted
Introducing a new Interfaces issue:
Accessibility as Craft
Accessibility is often overlooked, but it deserves the same care as every other part of an interface.
This issue goes in depth on how accessibility works on the web and covers best practices and useful tips.
kayhan retweeted
Photographer Austin Bell has captured 1,441 courts throughout NYC. This is just a sample of the ones with the Parks Department leaf logo at center court. Mesmerizing.
kayhan retweeted
Give Cursor it's own infinite canvas with the @MagicPathAI skill
kayhan retweeted
Went through all episodes of @joindiveclub, pulled out everything about portfolios, hiring, and what makes candidates stand out.
Distilled it into a skill that audits any product design portfolio.
Actually works:
npx skills add hey-stefan/portfolio-audit
kayhan retweeted
New York Public Library @nypl has some coool free use imagery on Unsplash: unsplash.com/@nypl
kayhan retweeted
I made the @figma logo wrong the first time😅. Had to make up for it with another little video.
~* Always be iterating. *~
(づ๑•ᴗ•๑)づ♡
It feels especially good to be home for the holidays this year.
I finally got around to assembling my
@figma Lego-like set from last year. I’m Looking forward to getting back to craft and making things in the new year.
♥️🧡
💜💙
💚
kayhan retweeted
From smartwatches to VR, Google Sans Flex intelligently adapts to any display. ⌚️✨
Our typeface gives you granular control over weight, width, and optical size. Plus, it’s now open-source! Ready to build clearer, more beautiful experiences?
Read more → bit.ly/4s1zYgW
