Would you rather work for a company known for great design (think Apple, Airbnb, Linear, etc) or one where you can shape the design and leave a mark? To me, it's the latter. Working on my side project thegistof.me, where I have full control, is a joy.

Do designers hate Canva because of the product or the idea of non-designers designing?

Once AI takes over most of my processes, I'll leave the industry simply because I won't be challenged anymore. I fell in love with the challenges and difficulties of my profession. We designers are problem solvers. There is no satisfaction and reward without a challenge, and I'll seek it elsewhere.

Typography skills are the best indicator of visual design skills. It's a core visual and functional element of almost every design, yet I've seen designers with years of experience with incredibly poor typography skills. 🫠

We need more tech companies selling cool swag like this. Notion or Linear would be pretty cool.

It's been a few weeks since Config, and I don't see anyone posting about their new products. What's going on?

I don't need an incredible portfolio because I have shipped products users use and pay for. No need to hard-sell that through my portfolio. I can simply point to the products. Everyone can check thegistof.me, griddyicons.com or mimo.org to see my work. Simple as that.

Had companies already figured out what we should do while waiting between the prompts? Seems suspiciously inefficient in the era of efficiency. The total time I need to wait for the AI response gradually increases, and I haven't found a good way to fill the slots. How do you deal with it?

I was off Bluesky for a month. Just tell me, is Design dead already? Trying to keep up.

Looking back, Config 2024 was a bit of a flop. Figma tried to be innovative with the AI, but misdelivered. This time it seems to be different. Instead of introducing new concepts, they go with what they know is working. There are already established patterns, there is a need, and there is money.

Another year, another Config I am not at. 🥲 Enjoy!

Designers need to dare to be wrong more. If everyone agrees with what you do and how you do it, your work is most likely mediocre. Visionaries were often misunderstood or laughed at until they weren't, and the public caught up. Don't get discouraged if someone's pushing against your vision.

A, B, or C? The devil's in the details. Also, what do you see in the symbol?

Awesome replacement for Figma mockup plugins that can generate both images and videos. Try it out -> contentcore.xyz

The reason I still don't like to use AI for creative work is because it forces its own vision of my idea. When it comes to design direction, I usually have a good idea of how it should look and feel and the skills to execute it.

Imagine all those AI-generated action figure images hand-crafted by humans in the Philippines 😅

Client: All designs approved. Designers:

Little sneak peek of what we are cooking at Mimo. 🪄 Illustrations handcrafted by me with the OG AI (Adobe Illustrator) and animated in Rive by Dmytro Ruban.

Can't just AI figure out what model I should use based on the prompt? 🫠This is getting ridiculous. Confession: I never change it, and the descriptions are not helpful.

Are you even a designer if you don't own one of these? ✍️ Every time I have a chance to visit the Muji store, I stock up on those.

Startups are user-oriented until they aren't. Exits leave users behind. Founders win, and users lose. Users are losing trust in small products because they are left behind. Products they love and cherish ditched them.

Too many side projects end up forgotten in the drawer. If you don't want yours to be left in the dust, dedicate the best hour of your day to it. You only have an hour, give it your best. Commit to it, and see where it takes you. That's how we built thegistof.me Slowly but steadily.

As bad as it seems right now, AI is not replacing creative work. It's replacing execution. Ghiblifying your photo is not creative. Non-creative people will use AI to create something mediocre at best, but creatives can use the tool to make something incredible. True creatives will thrive.

Design goes beyond digital. Once AI fully takes over my work, I'll shift to designing physical products. If you love the craft, there always will be something to design. Here is the selection of random, beautiful objects. In the meantime, I'll keep having fun building thegistof.me

Ever since I posted a job offer, I cannot stop thinking about the opportunity everyone missed. No one linked their thegistof.me page - The product I am building. If they looked at my profile, they would know. I am biased. Not saying this would get them the job, but they would get bonus point.

Annotations in design mode are all cool until you realize everyone who wants to use them needs a subscription 🫠 Full Seat → Create and view Dev Seat → View only Viewer → Paywall 🥲 So don't jump on creating annotations too fast because the people you work with might hit the paywall.

I wonder how many people have heard about Studio Ghibli for the first time.

New Apple device was not on my buying list this year. Until today 😅

I am working on thegistof.me gallery to highlight the creatives and inspire others. Going through all your sites and reading your stories is what I enjoy the most. It's amazing how creative you all are. If you want to be featured, share your gist here in the comments.

I see what you did there, IKEA. Love how they capitalize on huge cultural moments. Smart. The other company that has done it successfully for years is Duolingo. Their take on Severence is also brilliant 😅 Watch -> www.youtube.com/watch?v=yolD...

The new Swiss passport is insane. Switzerland is known for its good design, but this is next level. Every time I see a redesign like that, it makes me a little bit mad because Slovakia's passport redesign was embarrassing 🥲 Well done, studio RETINAA 👏

Me reading the new Dribbble Terms of Service. If something is dead, then it's Dribbble. Insane that this was once an exclusive community I couldn't get into 🫠

After the vacation, we are back in full force, and with that, our first bigger release - Analytics. 📊 Our supporters now can see how many people visited their thegistof.me site, where they came from, and what device they used. Now, on to the next thing -> read.cv profile import. #buildinpublic

I got three out of four jobs thanks to the connections and relationships I’ve built. People are biased towards people they know. Is it fair? No. But that’s the game you’re in. You might be better off spending your time and energy on building relationships than perfecting your portfolio.

Playing around with Rive to bring some flare into thegistof.me ✨ I was always reluctant to do animations, because of the overly complicated Adobe AE UI. But with Rive, it's doable. Thinking about using this as a loader with a success state at the end. What do you think? #buildinpublic

If you focus on trends and build your product around it, it will die along with it 🪦 thegistof.me is sometimes being compared to Bento, and I admit we took some inspiration from it. We are building a long-lasting product with a strong focus on typography, simplicity, and storytelling.

I could spend hours going through the Rive community and playing around with the designs. What the designers are creating these days is insane. It feels like we are living in the most creative times in our industry. The tools are enabling us to be as creative as ever before. Love it. 🖤

Anyone with a "the customer is always right" mentality probably never worked in design. Sure, we can make the logo bigger. 🫠

It's validating to see someone recognize my effort and copywriting skills as a designer. The headline I wrote for thegistof.me was listed in H1 Gallery - a curated selection of great headlines. Reading the book Microcopy: The Complete Guide and sharing my thoughts for two years paid off.

Next level of icon design - variable icons 🔥 Zed Icons have a variety of weights, optical sizes, and visual styles, which makes them incredibly versatile. As an icon designer myself, I applaud the creators 👏

This little detail 🤌 Imagine working for a company that allows you or even encourages you to design this. Dream.

Although we are taking a longer vacation, thegistof.me continues to grow 🔥 More than 500 users snatched their username and have already created their sites. I am looking forward to getting back to a creator mode and building it further. But for now, we continue to explore Japan. #buildinpublic

There was a demand for cute animals, so here you go. Cute little deers from Nara 🇯🇵. Bonus: Funny warning sign illustrations. Luckily, they behaved and didn’t kick our asses.

In Japan, more is more 😅 It’s so fascinating to observe cultural differences in design here. Would be interesting to design something for this market. Completely out of my comfort zone.

For the next 3 weeks, my posts will be full of cute storefront sign designs from Japan 🇯🇵 It’s one huge bowl of eye candy here.

I love how powerful designers will become in the future. We will no longer depend on developers and ship the products on our own 🔥 Webflow and Framer unlocked website creation, and now there are so many exciting tools unlocking product building.

We shouldn't judge designers by live projects. We have full control over the designs but limited control over the final implementation. Every company has different leadership and priorities. We designers obsess over details, but the reality is that we rarely have a chance to polish the product.

I love how the industry changed from "No designer can do UX and UI" to "We need you to deliver UX, UI, code with AI, and write microcopy." And there are bonus points if you have experience with marketing and leadership and know how to animate. Not complaining. Generalists ftw. #design

Raise your hand if you got caught in this cycle. It happened to me too many times. 🫠 Breaking the circle with thegistof.me is one of my last year's biggest achievements. Now, I just need to stay focused and not get distracted by other ideas. #buildinpublic

Is Figma getting too comfortable? 🤔 I feel like they are not reacting quickly enough to an AI's impact on our industry. It seems like without the pressure from the competitors, they don't innovate as much as they used to. We need more competition in the space.