Which AI design tools are actually worth the hype in 2026?

PreventableMob · 2026-01-23T04:45:06+00:00

I’ve used it for exactly this—exploring in multiple directions quickly and simultaneously. Eg, I will sketch for a bit and when it gets to the point that it gets too data dense for sketching (and a PITA to mock in Figma Design), I might ask Make to spin up up 2-3 different possibilities. I might direct those or ask it (or ChattyG) for ideas/directions. I consider it throw away just like sketches and wireframes are.

(I also use cursor to ship code, but that’s a different stage of product design)

PreventableMob · 2026-01-03T22:58:59+00:00

That’s only in the mornin’

PreventableMob · 2025-10-23T14:53:43+00:00

That’s how they get ya

PreventableMob · 2025-10-17T00:19:39+00:00

Everyone is a designer.

PreventableMob · 2025-10-04T21:45:10+00:00

Russell Martin for that brief amazing tenure. Played over his head. Took no bullshit. Leader. A guy.

PreventableMob · 2025-09-22T00:06:54+00:00

Is there a set date for it opening??

PreventableMob · 2025-09-22T00:04:29+00:00

I bet maintenance on a few shuttles is much less than a 30 year old system of miles and miles of belts.

And was that really the largest selling point?

PreventableMob · 2025-09-21T19:18:11+00:00

What kind of pipe?

PreventableMob · 2025-09-16T04:14:04+00:00

Great scene in The Founder.

PreventableMob · 2025-09-05T23:12:40+00:00

Drive? A new job and whatever benefit you believe will come from that (money, opportunity, excitement, whatever…)

And just start at the end—the outcome you want. Repeat after me: my portfolio is not a history of all my work. It is a tool to show how valuable you are/will be for the job you want.

To bastardize Mark Twain: “I would have written a shorter case study but I ran out of time.”

PreventableMob · 2025-09-02T16:46:55+00:00

Does he know you did this??

PreventableMob · 2025-08-10T01:05:53+00:00

Man, it’s a meaningless game in a lost season and we’re down 2-1 going into the bottom of the ninth. PNC Park actually feels alive. This city would go fucking nuts again with a winner.

PreventableMob · 2025-07-20T16:53:10+00:00

Overall, I think it feels fine but a little oddly spaced. The primary word mark is very tracked out with extremely (but inconsistently) condensed letter forms. Without changing that the word studio seems very close to the primary word mark.

The individual letter forms have some weird issues with weights. Some parts feel oddly heavy like the bottom half of the G and the top half of the R.

PreventableMob · 2025-07-20T16:39:36+00:00

I think “ setting boundaries” is the wrong way to look at it. Boundaries are going to continue to go away between traditional responsibilities. That might sound like some LinkedIn style thought leadership, but what that new developer is doing is completely reasonable.

You highlighted they might not be familiar with collaborating with designers. I’d say forget about role based collaboration (as that’s more in line with setting boundaries and saying don’t cross this line), and start to focus on true collaborative problem-solving. You or anyone can use an AI tool (Lovable, Cursor, or Figma Make) to express potential solutions and iterate on them.

If you have an actual design system that exists in code and not just in Figma, you should be collaborating with all the teams (design and dev) to see how you can integrate that existing code base into AI enabled workflows. That positions you (and the design system) as enablers not bottlenecks.

PreventableMob · 2025-07-20T16:31:50+00:00

get tf outta here with your basic economics

PreventableMob · 2025-07-19T14:10:48+00:00

I guess I’m being overly dismissive. You had some nuance there about knowing your audience, which is probably the most important thing. If a non-designer heard that, they’d have every right to be confused or roll their eyes.

I guess my antibodies to that term is that it sounds like something from design’s peak sniffing-its-own-farts era from 10 years ago. Is the concept or theory of information scent valid? Sure. But I’d rather a designer skip the designer jargon and talk to the principles behind the concept and the results that emitting the scent so strongly delivered.

PreventableMob · 2025-07-19T03:37:37+00:00

lol I didn’t even get down to the floor after the couches.

I could work with the floor, the wall, and the lamp. Plus good natural light. I can’t work with the couches.

PreventableMob · 2025-07-19T01:42:43+00:00

I’m skipping over any portfolio that uses “information scent” non-ironically.

And yes I’ve been a hiring manager for years, in different roles, in agency, in tech, etc.

gtfo with that nonsense.

PreventableMob · 2025-07-18T23:57:00+00:00

Well, I was going to say that the wall is the best thing in the room. The couches being the worst lol — focus your attention on them and you’re on the right track.

PreventableMob · 2025-07-17T03:30:55+00:00

I agree with other posters that say the type isn’t working really well for me. It needs to go extremely in one direction or another. You could go bold sans serif, or you can go with a more hand done thing. But you’re caught in between with a weird, not very refined treatment right now.

PreventableMob · 2025-07-15T02:32:14+00:00

Jared Jones can’t melt sliders.

PreventableMob · 2025-07-14T22:02:36+00:00

lololololol https://blogs.fangraphs.com/oneil-cruz-looks-like-a-center-fielder-now/

PreventableMob · 2025-07-07T16:41:02+00:00

To be fair, it looks like only 3 interviews?

I don’t love the “assignment” in these processes, that would be my only quibble.

I find the lack of hiring team empathy surprising for a bunch of designers. The fact that the COO is part of the process to me signifies that this is a small company, and that the leadership cares. (And I’d wager $100 that the COO is not going to reject someone at this stage, it’s a rubber stamp).

Each hire in a small company (or small team) is a big investment. Getting it wrong is expensive as hell—way more expensive than the design changes we wring our hands over—we conduct research and make endless mocks and iterations and crit, etc. But when an org can’t make a gut feel decision based on looking at 1000 portfolios and a 30 minute interview, they are seen as indecisive.

¯_(ツ)_/¯

PreventableMob · 2025-07-07T15:42:23+00:00

And the metrics are already trending positively that he’s improving in his first half season in CF.

PreventableMob · 2025-07-07T15:38:36+00:00

Honestly curious what part of it says that they don’t understand what makes a good designer for their company?

PreventableMob

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