Office politics, good metaphors, trade wars and UX, clear AI interactions
Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.
“Interdepartmental collaboration doesn’t just magically improve — it takes effort. The real work isn’t just in the pixels; it’s in how we communicate, build trust, and create alignment. When designers take the lead in bridging gaps, office politics becomes less of a roadblock and more of an opportunity. At the core, it’s about bringing people together around a shared vision and making design a connector, not just another function working in isolation.”
Office politics: the skill they never taught us →
By Pascal Potvin
Editor picks
- How the trade war proves UX is everywhere →
Perspective from a Canadian UXer.
By Elvis Hsiao - Everything I know about UX I learned from my parents →
Craft and problem solving go much deeper.
By Patrick Neeman - A crisis of meaning in UX Design →
You’re not alone.
By James Harrison
The UX Collective is an independent design publication that elevates unheard design voices and helps designers think more critically about their work.
Make me think
- Vibe coding and the future of software engineering →
“There’s a new kind of coding I call “vibe coding”, where you fully give in to the vibes, embrace exponentials, and forget that the code even exists. It’s possible because the LLMs are getting too good. Also I just talk to Composer with SuperWhisper so I barely even touch the keyboard.” - The existential challenge of design system team morale →
“Burnout has become a rite of passage. It’s (sadly) become a problem to manage versus avoid. Every design system team I’ve worked on had these challenges. And I know my experience is not the exception. We’re all in good company. Or, maybe, bad company.” - Chat is a bad UI pattern for development tools →
“For decades we tried to fix this by making programming more human-friendly. Higher-level languages. Visual interfaces. Each step helped, but we were still translating human thoughts into computer instructions.”
Little gems this week
Why most products today are meh →
By Ed Orozco
The secret of good metaphors →
By Louis Charron
Tools and resources
- From designing things to designing change →
Designers as facilitators, protectors, and collaborators.
By Ida Persson - A content design approach for connecting with Gen Z →
It’s not about the words as much as designing for their values.
By Angelique Little - Designing clear AI interactions →
Users need more than a sparkle icon.
By Allie Paschal
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