Designing for an idea before it exists
On empty seats, metaphors, and the useful parts that don’t quite fitContinue reading on UX Collective »
Tesler’s Law: complexity moved to a different part of the journey
The complexity never left the building. It changed hands, and nothing printed a receipt. AI assisted.AI did not remove the complexity of software. It removed the interface that told you where the complexity went, and who is now paying for it.Larry Tesler is the reason you can cut, copy, and paste. A
Are synthetic users (really) the future of UX research?
Human-centered design demands a limited use of AI-generated personas, if at allA big debate among UX researchers is whether to use synthetic users in their studies. There’s one group of researchers who consider it no less than an abomination, unethical to use an artificial persona to test a product
Synthetic users are making me rethink “imperfect research”
Why I’m reconsidering a principle I’ve believed for years.I’ve always believed that imperfect research is better than no research at all.Synthetic users have made me reconsider that. When synthetic responses are treated like findings from real users, they can create something far more dangerous than
AI-generated UI is fast design, not UX
The call for problem discovery, the freedom to wander, and craft in the age of AII grew up surrounded by 17th- and 18th-century architecture my stepfather salvaged from around the world. My mother had a knack for convincing him to put some of his salvaged pieces in our house, which meant I got to en
What the AI era owes you
A handloom weaver in 1820 could not have named a single job his trade would turn into. Neither can anyone today.No one is going to save your career from AI. That’s the most useful thing anyone can tell you about your job, and the sooner you believe it, the sooner you start building a version of your
AI: incidents by design
When safety is optional, and capability is urgent, incidents are not accidents. They are what we (consciously or not) designed and built for.AI makes headlines almost every day. And most days, they read like science fiction. Except they are not.Last year, in a simulation, Anthropic’s Claude learned
Bounded delegation: How much authority should AI have?
A practical model for deciding what AI can do, what humans must still own, and where product teams should draw the boundary.Image created by the author with OpenAI image generation.An AI tool clusters hundreds of customer comments and names the largest theme “pricing friction”. The label sounds plau
Beyond streaks and nudges: ethical gamification & AI design
On designing systems that inspire rather than manipulate.Continue reading on UX Collective »
Jev: How to use it for better, faster, and cheaper user decisions in UX
A judgment call, wired in like any other function.Typed answers at keystroke speed let the interface act, suggest, or ask. How UX designers can put a decision model to work today in their applications.On September 15, 2026, a San Francisco lab called TypeSafe AI shipped Jev, a classifier model. You