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. 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 …

Mig Reyes is the VP of Product Experience at Duolingo (and a design director at Instagram before that). 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 …

I talk to a lot of designers at the pinnacle of their career… 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 Corne…

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. 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…

There's a parallel I'm noticing between what's happening today with AI and what happened way back in 2013. 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 Fr…

Tuhin Kumar has designed at some of the most prolific companies in the world (early Facebook, Airbnb and Apple). 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 high…

There are two goals that designers almost always group together: 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 o…

Jack Brody joined Snapchat as one of the early designers where he spent 10 years and eventually became Head of Product. So this week’s episode features a lot of lessons learned from the early design team at Snap and an inside look at what makes their culture so special. But we also go deep into Jack’s new role as the Chief Product Officer at Suno w…

I’ve interviewed a lot of designers who have landed some pretty high profile roles and I’m starting to notice some trends 👀 So this video breaks down 6 portfolio tips that you can use to stand out.

Lovable has quickly become the go-to way I build my ideas with AI and this week we get to hear from their first designer Nad Chishtie. We go deep into what it takes to succeed as a founding designer and all of the ways AI is shaping modern product teams. Some highlights: Nad’s tips for collaborating creatively with AI tools How designers can be ena…

My #1 source of imposter syndrome is when I see designers prototyping beautiful interactions like this or even this. It’s one thing to create gorgeous interfaces, but crafting complex interactions from first principles is designing on expert mode. And it’s a big reason why Linear lists interactions as a requirement three separate times in their job…

I use Granola every single day and it’s quickly become a beloved product in the tech community. But it was a winding journey to get there… So in this episode their co-founder and designer, Sam Stephenson, gives a behind-the-scenes of what it was like going 0 → 1 with Granola: How to navigate the idea maze for an AI product What Sam has learned abou…

I’ve spent a lot of time studying how the best design teams operate and two of my favorites are Ramp and Plaid. So this episode shines a light on specific practices they put in place to create a culture of craft 👇

What do Raycast, Daylight, Amo, The Browser Co, and Mainframe all have in common? They all hired Ellis Hamburger to help tell their story. So this episode is a bit different... We're going to get away from the pixels and go deep into how you can use language to tell a compelling story about your product. Some highlights: How to tell a story that pe…

AI introduces an opportunity for all kinds of novel interaction patterns. But it creates a whole new category of design challenges too… And this episode breaks down the biggest challenge of all. Colin Dunn (Founder and Designer of Visual Electric) Maheen Sohail (Gen-AI designer at Meta) Tyler Angert (Founder of Patina Systems) Maggie Appleton (Desi…

This week’s episode is with Alejandro Matamala Ortiz, the cofounder and Chief Design Officer at Runway—one of the leading generative AI companies in the world today. The way they work is incredibly unique. So a big focus of this interview is digging into how AI is shifting the way products get built and what it all means for designers: How the line…

Most designers fall into the same trap when presenting their ideas. So this ~5 min episode breaks down how to pitch your designs like a pro. Chris Abad Gabe Valdivia

This week’s episode is with Christophe Tauziet who is the Head of Design at Plaid—one of today’s leading fintech companies. We go deep into the ways he’s building a culture of craft and the rituals they’ve evolved to consistently sweat the details. There are a lot of practical processes and ideas in this episode. Some highlights: Keys to a great as…

You can have the greatest design concepts in the world, but none of that matters if they don't make it into production. So this episode is all about how to create an aura of inevitability around your ideas. It features stories from early Facebook, Webflow, and Figma 👇 Vincent van der Meulen (Design engineer at Figma) Soleio pt. 1 / pt. 2 (second de…

Palantir is one of the most powerful products in existence today. It provides critical government and enterprise infrastructure from the factory floors to the front lines. You can literally build your own Airbnb on top of their development platform. But with great power comes lots of complexity… So in this week’s episode, Design Lead Aashman Goghar…

When comes to brand design, Mike and Cara from Smith & Diction are pretty much top of the game (you might recognize them as the ones who did the brand identity for Perplexity). During our interview, it didn't take me long to realize that these two have more hacks and mental models for creativity than just about anyone I’ve met. So here are a few of…

If you asked me “who has the best taste in design right now?” one of the first people I’d mention is Thiago Costa. His product Fey is in the S-tier of design and I’ve studied his visual techniques for many years. Finally, after over a 12 months of pestering he agreed to share his secrets in a interview 🙌 We go deep into: Mastering the finer details…

Today we get to hear from Ammaar Reshi who is the Head of Design at ElevenLabs—the AI audio platform that has come up multiple times in past episodes. So a big focus of this conversation is learning what it's like designing an AI-native product. We go deep into topics like: The backstory of Ammaar’s viral AI experiments Predictions for the future o…

How do designers from today’s top teams collaborate with engineers? After many interviews I'm starting to notice a trend… The highest functioning product teams throw away a lot of code and it’s a good model for what the new “handoff” process will look like. So this video highlights how it works at teams like Figma, Vercel, Perplexity, Airbnb, and m…

This week's episode is with Chris Abad who has led design teams at companies like Google, Square and Dropbox so needless to say he's given a lot of design presentations over his 20+ year career. So this conversation is a deep dive into storytelling and everything you can do as a designer to effectively share your vision and persuade stakeholders. H…

Systems thinking is often mentioned as the #1 trait teams are looking for in designers. But what does it look like to be great at it? This episode answers that question by highlighting stories from Notion, Anthropic, and more 👇

This week's episode is with Anthony Menecola who is a longtime staff product designer at Shopify so we’re going to do a deep dive into ways you can make a bigger impact at your company as an IC. One of the big themes of this episode is Anthony’s journey becoming more technical and contributing to the Shopify code base so if you’re interested in bui…

When I say high stakes design project, what comes to mind? How about Ryan Scott redesigning the Airbnb checkout flow right before a  $3.5 billion IPO? Now THAT is a big time project… So this episode is all about tactics you can use to make big ideas happen at your company (even as an IC). And if you want to go even deeper you can use these links to…

What does it take to create a product worthy of winning Mac app of the year? I interviewed the founder of Craft Docs, Balint Orosz, to find out… So this episode is a deep dive into how they work and what it takes to achieve this level of design excellence, including: What Balint looks for in systems thinkers Craft’s plan to differentiate with perso…

I’ve interviewed a lot of staff designers to figure out what it takes to have real influence at companies like Shopify, Github, Airbnb, etc. One thing is clear… if you want to make strategic impact as a designer then you have to get to a place of altitude that allows you to see the bigger picture. This episode is designed to help you do just that. …

How do the best staff designers influence and lead as individual contributors? I interviewed Catt Small to answer that question and it turned into one of the most practical episodes yet. She pulls from her 14+ years of experience designing products like Etsy, Asana, and Soundcloud to share techniques you can use to level up your influence and scale…

What are the best teams looking for in design candidates? That’s become one of my favorite questions to ask so this episode shines a light on some of those traits and what you can do to stand out. It includes insights from: Diego Zaks (VP of Design at Ramp) Soleio (2nd designer at Facebook) Pranathi Peri (designing v0 at Vercel) Maheen Sohail (Gen …

This week’s episode is with Tyler Angert who was the first design hire at Replit. So we get a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like designing for a hyper growth startup. However in early 2024, Tyler left to pursue a startup of his own, so a good chunk of this discussion focuses on his vision for Patina and the future of “spontaneous software”. S…

I’m designing a new product and a few months ago I would’ve confidently said it’s not an AI product. But I was wrong. This new technology creates endless opportunities… we just have to be able to see what AI makes possible. And that’s what this episode is all about. Maggie Appleton (former design lead at Elicit) Joel Lewenstein (head of product des…

I’ve followed Mike Smith ever since he designed the Perplexity brand identity and quickly realized he’s one of the most creative designers I’ve ever seen. Turns out his wife Chara is a positioning mastermind too so it makes sense why Smith & Diction is one of the hottest agencies in the game today. So this week’s episode is a deep dive into brand s…

Being able to think like an engineer helps you collaborate with developers more effectively, design UIs that make sense, and empowers you to build your ideas with AI tools like v0, Claude, etc. So this video is going to break down a few traits of designers who I believe are already doing this at a high level. It includes insights from: Mariana Cast…

We've heard a lot on this show about designers becoming builders using tools like v0 and today we get to do a deep dive with Pranathi Peri who is leading the design of v0 at Vercel. We discuss: Growing your taste and intuition quickly How Pran thinks about the design language of v0 Pran’s personal experiments using 3D and physics Why Pran wants to …

Craft is so much more than a shimmering landing page or micro animation… It’s sweating all of the tiny details and having a thorough understanding of the edge cases in your product. But there’s one detail most designers miss… 👀 So this episode highlights one of my favorite ideas ever shared on the show from Raphael Schaad (founder of Cron and now t…

This week's episode is with Sam Peitz who quickly became one of my favorite designers to follow in 2024. He regularly shares experiments like TextOS, his scribble running app, and assorted letter prototypes. So this conversation is a deep dive into his creative process and how he’s redefined his career path over the past ~10 months. We go deep into…

Designers have become servants of “the process” so this episode features stories of people who are breaking the mold in the way they explore and prototype ideas. It includes insights from: Gabe Valdivia (Fractional design leader): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/gabe-valdivia Dennis Muller (Designer + founder of Amie): https://www.dive.club/deep-d…

Did you know that the very first interface designer at Adobe was also the first designer to work on Figma? 🤯 His name is Andrei Herasimchuk and he knows a lot about design tooling… So this week’s episode is jam-packed with stories about designing the earliest interfaces for Illustrator and Photoshop, as well as what it was like seeing the original …

Many of my favorite episodes are when we get to hear from the earliest designers at companies like Linear, Perplexity, Ramp, Facebook, etc. So this episode pulls out the key insights so you can learn what it takes to thrive as a startup designer: Nate Parrott (Founding designer of Arc): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/nate-parrott Adrien Griveau (…

Imagine joining an early stage startup as the first senior designer and within a few years, it becomes the fastest growing company ever. Well… that's the story of Diego Zaks who is now the VP of design at Ramp. This week’s episode is all about how they were able to win with design and what makes their culture so special. We go deep into: Why veloci…

Imagine you’re asked to lead the design of a new project. It’s complex, open-ended, and full of interconnected problems… How do you attack that ambiguity and get momentum quickly? This episode is an attempt to answer that question by unpacking tactics used by designers like: Jenny Wen (Original designer of Figjam): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/…

2024 was the year the Perplexity brand took over the design community. And a big reason why is because of Phi Hoang. So this week’s episode is a deep dive into brand experience design and creativity with AI tools. We get an inside look at: Phi’s creative process with Midjourney Why Perplexity thinks of the brand in “seasons” Phi’s tool stack for cr…

It doesn’t matter how good your designs are if they never get built. So this episode breaks down specific tactics you can use to become a better storyteller and get people excited to build your ideas. Michael Wandelmaier (former Head of Design at Metalab): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/michael-wandelmaier Gavin Nelson (designing the Linear mobil…

A little over a year ago, Joey Banks and I were DM’ing each other in Slack about leaving our W-2 jobs and going independent. So this week’s episode is a reflection on his journey working for himself and it’s as human and relatable as any conversation I’ve ever had on this show. We go deep into: Managing your pipeline of clients Creating a personal …

The pendulum has swung too far with design systems. Somehow they’ve become synonymous with scale. But I believe they’re the perfect first step for startups. So this episode looks at stories from Perplexity and Cron to reframe design systems as the key to speed in the early days. Henry Modisett (Head of Design at Perplexity): https://www.dive.club/d…

After writing a viral article called “The Missing Tool” I was fortunate to meet Gab and Nim who are the co-founders of a startup called Dessn. Dessn is a new way to ship design changes without having to write code. Their extension overlays a Figma-like interface on your live web app so designers can easily make changes. Their AI then writes the cod…

Over the last few months, I’ve interviewed the people designing cutting edge AI products like Perplexity, Claude, Dot, Humane, Visual Electric, and more… During that time I’ve created a running list of all the metaphors and mental models they’ve used to explain what it’s like. So this episode breaks down 7 mental models for designing AI products. M…