I’ve crossed Mount Stupid
Dead ends in vibe coding
Vibe coding is dead
AI is more than just hype.
The best compliment I've ever received
It's satisfying to see an expert use a tool well.
No more slide decks
Alignment docs should be rich with context.
Be first, be smarter, or cheat.
Don't cheat.
AI forgets
Stateful agents are the future.
Noise
The web sucks.
I’m not a designer
I'm a builder.
Potholes
Experience beyond software
Become unfireable
Be like water.
What would you do if you had $100 million?
Design is life.
Ambient Intelligence
The best tech does the job quietly and then gets out of the way.
I want quiet tech
Think legos, not apps.
Informal copywriting
It's like, friendlier.
Make phones smart again
The future of design is multimodal.
Design’s future feels scary. It’s not.
Action is the antidote to anxiety.
LinkedIn is cringe
My learnings from one year of writing
2024 Year in Review
This year's theme: Scattered
Resume Candy
Leveling yourself up is better than having FAANG on your resume
The ugly truth: design is optional
Nobody needs rectangle makers
How companies die
A company needs to be strong in all of its three functions: Sales, Operations, and Finance.
The best UI: talking to people
Form fields are a primitve method of transferring information
'This design still kinda sucks.'
Success is increasing your rate of failure
What is your favorite font?
It better not be a system default.
Burn it all down
Fire isn't always bad.
Design = painkillers 💊
Business has a fever, and the only prescription, is more design.
Visual design is the most important part of design.
Great design not only works well, but also communicates well.
What the heck is design?
Design should serve your team, not the users
I'm going to die
Life is short. Avoid BS.
Good design = 💰💰💰
Sell good design, because good design sells
Writing makes you a better designer
Clear writing exposes sloppy thinking
I completed my MBA
Teaching myself how to business
How I took down a billion-dollar trading platform
Don't let designers push to prod
Design is in a rude awakening
We're caught between tooling vs thinking
Debt is leverage
Design debt isn't always a bad thing
How to maximize your luck
Create serendipity vehicles
Luxury is boring
Experiences > Things
Good enough
Ideal design inspires
Nobody likes Switzerland
Avoid ruinous empathy
I don't feel like writing
But I must be consistent
I'm opening a bakery
Cake slices > Atomic Design
Indian mangoes are better than Pakistani mangoes.
Create memorable experiences.
Figma has peaked
We're turning into pixel pushers again.
Your life is scrolling by
Infinite scroll is a nefarious UX pattern.
The Messy Middle
Dreams are cheap.
White skin matters.
Desis are mad racist.
I bankrupted my multimillion dollar business.
Operating the first escape rooms in North Jersey.
Catnip for Builders
Tinder for knowledge.
I don’t want my designs to accidentally kill people.
Building digitally is a lot less stressful
I don't hang out with poor people.
And that’s a problem. It makes me less grateful.
Design has an identity crisis.
Our primary job is to visualize possibilities
Working in-person has its benefits.
Plan in person, execute remotely.
Let me feel insignificant, dammit.
Solar eclipse 2024
Scale is a dirty word.
If it only benefits a few.
It's ok to slip.
As long as you get back on track.
Why I write publicly.
Confronting my two biggest fears.
The design process is broken.
Map it out.
Can you retire with $90,000?
Yes. Live small.