Weekly curated resources for designers — thinkers and makers.

“That question didn’t exist not that long ago; and now, it’s becoming less obvious to answer (at least in some cases). As consumers, we evaluated creative work on its quality and the overall outcome. We have rarely been given access to the work’s process or “behind the scenes” knowledge.

But can you blame people (myself included)? Now that we’re in a world where almost anything can be generated by AI, we are naturally redefining what we value and trust about creative work.”

Wait, who made this? →
By Allie Paschal

On trial: Is AI accelerating research or flattening insight? →
[Sponsored] Good research lives in what you observe. But when AI does the listening, does depth survive? Two research leaders. One debate. July 22. If you’ve looked at a summary & wondered “Is that really the whole story?” — this one’s for you. Register now.

Editor picks

• The crisis of the what →
  AI took the how. Now it’s coming for the what.
  By Francisco Barrera Aros
• Designing excuses →
  Perhaps it is the market that draws the norm into the open.
  By Hiroshi Sato
• Losing the spark in their eyes →
  What we lose when we use AI every day.
  By Frota

The UX Collective is an independent design publication that elevates unheard design voices and helps designers think more critically about their work.

Paper Shaders: ultra-fast zero-dependency shaders for your designs →

Make me think

• What is product craft in the age of AI and design systems? →
  “Ask a design system team how they’ll raise the quality of the products they support, and you’ll usually hear one of two options. The first is to make better components, perhaps with more opinionated defaults. The second is to tighten up the quality gates: give the DS team the authority to approve quality, not just the aspiration to improve it.”
• What design engineering is, how it’s changed, and where it’s going →
  “Historically, design engineers often sat between design and engineering. They prototyped ideas, built design systems, preserved interaction details, and helped reduce the translation loss between intent and production. Design engineering is less about sitting between functions and more about combining the parts of those functions that let one person ship beautiful product.”
• Understanding is the new bottleneck →
  “Aren’t we supposed to be taking ourselves out of the loop now, and letting the agents loop themselves? As the agents get smarter, doesn’t it become less important for us to be in the details? I think many people — even those who are pro-understanding — have a slightly incorrect answer to this question!”

Little gems this week

Never mind the prompts, here’s the thinking →
By Dan Maccarone

Should you really aim to be the best? →
By Dora Czerna

The promotion that didn’t take →
By Vlad Derdeicea

Tools and resources

• DesignOps in the age of AI →
  When governance becomes orchestration.
  By Luis Hermosilla
• The spaghetti table protocol challenge →
  The 15-minute AI stress test every designer can run.
  By Peter (Zak) Zakrzewski
• Designing in regulated industries →
  When the legal team has as much say as the user.
  By Andy Bhattacharyya

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Who made this, Designing excuses, DesignOps in the age of AI was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.