The hottest Design Strategy Substack posts right now

Menswear has experienced significant growth and innovation in the past decade, focusing on sophistication, luxury leisurewear, and reimagined workwear.
The global men's apparel market generated $555.3 billion revenue in 2023, with casualwear like knitwear and sneakers driving much of the growth.
Developing a strong menswear strategy involves aligning with brand vision, defining wear scenarios, and owning specific aesthetic pillars for the brand.

AI has become the interface. Design now focuses less on pixels and more on defining goals, constraints, guardrails, and when humans should intervene.
Agency is the new professional currency. Careers shift from titles and craft to the ability to frame problems, set intent, and steer AI systems under uncertainty.
Research, creativity, and distribution are refashioned by AI. User research runs at machine speed, visual creation is democratized, and UX must handle time, prompt literacy, and AI‑mediated discovery.

AI automated much of the hand-crafted UX production, shifting value toward senior designers who guide strategy and causing many entry-level production roles to vanish.
AI works best as a co-pilot: it boosts productivity and automates routine work but still needs human judgment and core usability principles to keep interfaces usable and trustworthy.
Practical AI services scaled fast because they deliver clear economic value — for example, ambient scribes cut doctors' paperwork and burnout — so continuous learning and business-focused design skills are now essential.

AI makes it easy for anyone to create products and experiences, so standing out will depend on clear intent, a strong mission, and high product quality.
The design of AI output is its own challenge — you must decide if AI is the product or a feature and intentionally design for differentiation, trust, and taste.
Putting humans at the centre matters more than ever, because genuine stories, authenticity, and human delight will command a premium in AI-driven experiences.

A research service is focusing on the intersection of technology, business, and creativity to help professionals make sense of rapid change. It targets marketers, designers, strategists, innovators and other knowledge workers who need clear foresight.
The central challenge is crafting an AI-powered future that’s worth living in, not just more capable systems. Decades of design experience suggest feeling, relevance, and human consequences will matter more than technical capability alone.
The approach is to explore these questions through deep essays and conversations so ideas become practical insight. Those resources aim to help people see what’s coming and do work that matters.

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A new podcast called Full Moon has launched as a research service exploring the intersection of technology, business, and creativity.
The first episode focuses on design — saying it’s a crucial moment, that we’re all designers now, and drawing lessons from early digital days to help design in the age of AI.
Listeners are invited to watch and sign up, with paid members getting the next essay on the January full moon, hinting at a regular, member-focused release rhythm.