The hottest Design Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Culture Topics

#70 Design illusions

Design Lobster • 139 implied HN points • 31 May 21
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Design can deceive our eyes through various techniques like overshooting in type design and visual illusions in architecture.
  2. Human visual perception quirks are important to consider in design to create effective and impactful visuals.
  3. Context and wit can be leveraged in design to playfully interact with surroundings, adding depth and interest to the design.

#57 The smallest car in the world

Design Lobster • 159 implied HN points • 01 Mar 21
🪑 Design Design
  1. Design is not always a straightforward problem-solving process. The definition of a problem can change and evolve as designers work on it, leading to different outcomes.
  2. Consider the possibility of making designs smaller. The world's smallest car, the Peel P50, was a response to fuel shortages and offers a unique perspective on transportation needs.
  3. Love for users can be reflected in designs. Building a connection with users can lead to creating designs that they will love.

How I think about product at Ribbon

ML / Genomics / Deep Tech • 38 implied HN points • 16 Sep 24
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Separate your product ideas into imperatives and experiments. Imperatives are must-have features from customer needs, while experiments are guesswork that may or may not succeed.
  2. Plan for the future by assuming your AI tools will improve. Be ready to adapt as technology gets better and make use of advancements in AI.
  3. Don't fear deleting unwanted features or code. It’s a normal part of refining your product and helps you focus on what really matters.

Rabbit Holes 🕳️ #101

Creative Destruction • 28 implied HN points • 18 Dec 24
🎭️ Culture Design
  1. Our culture often encourages constant consumption instead of creative thinking. This focus on consuming information can limit our ability to produce and solve problems.
  2. We have created a divide between age groups, leading to 'age apartheid.' This separation makes society more isolated and misses opportunities for different generations to connect and support each other.
  3. The trend towards 'cozy tech' might feel comforting, but it can also promote isolation. Instead of fostering genuine connections, it encourages us to retreat into our own comfortable spaces.

How to design a CLI

CodeFaster • 108 implied HN points • 09 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Write CLI output to stdout for easy filtering
  2. Include only necessary information in CLI headers
  3. Use precise timestamps in easily parsable formats for data analysis
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

Links in Progress: We can still build beautifully

The Works in Progress Newsletter • 23 implied HN points • 31 Jan 25
🎭️ Culture Design
  1. Many new buildings over the last two decades show that creativity and beauty in design are still very much possible. These structures challenge the common idea of what homes or offices should look like.
  2. It's important to consider how new developments can fit into existing communities while respecting their character. Good design can enhance neighborhoods without losing their unique charm.
  3. Recent architecture demonstrates that we can create functional spaces that are also beautiful and inviting. This could inspire more people to support new projects in their areas.

Perfect Days.

The Future Does Not Fit In The Containers Of The Past • 66 implied HN points • 25 Feb 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. The movie 'Perfect Days' explores finding beauty in the everyday moments, emphasizing the importance of living in the present and appreciating the small details around us.
  2. Creativity is about connecting dots in new ways, as showcased in the process behind the film and how it surprises in an AI-driven world.
  3. The film highlights the contrast between modern digital life and traditional analog elements like cameras, film, and cassette tapes, urging a deeper connection with the present moment and our surroundings.

Joe Iovino: Rivelino Hyper-Vigilance Apparatus

Do Not Research • 39 implied HN points • 15 Oct 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. The Rivelino Hyper-Vigilance Apparatus provides real-time information on your stance angle, indicating strength or weakness.
  2. The apparatus uses an LED strip and accelerometer to communicate your stance's security to friends.
  3. There is no need for post-processing green lines with this cumbersome but effective invention.

The Psychology of Apple's Packaging

SatPost by Trung Phan • 69 implied HN points • 27 Jan 24
🎭️ Culture Design
  1. Apple prioritizes packaging as a form of theater to create memorable unboxing experiences.
  2. The design of Apple packaging is deeply rooted in human psychology, focusing on creating a luxury, multi-sensory experience.
  3. Apple's packaging reflects the company's commitment to perfection and attention to detail, reflecting their dedication to creating a high-quality product.

#73 Constraints are beautiful

Design Lobster • 119 implied HN points • 21 Jun 21
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Constraints can lead to beautiful designs, as seen in the architecture of Alberto Ponis and graphic design of Willem Sandberg.
  2. Embracing constraints can bring about unique and surprising solutions in design.
  3. Constraints, rather than hindering, can actually be keys to solving design problems effectively.

#86 Design in balance

Design Lobster • 99 implied HN points • 20 Sep 21
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Design often involves making trade-offs to maintain balance in your work.
  2. In design, creating sculptural elements that are both functional and visually pleasing is essential.
  3. Design can be seen as the art of bringing different elements together to achieve a better outcome through balance.

10 Proteases for the Price of One

The False Consensus Effect • 19 implied HN points • 15 Jan 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. The artist painted microscopic proteases for a chemistry lab, creating Pacman-like images that were well-received by the lab founder.
  2. The artist, though not a graphic designer, was able to produce paintings that impressed the lab founder and received positive feedback.
  3. The artist's journey into writing and art reflects his desire for originality and recognition in the creative world, drawing inspiration from historical figures and personal experiences.

#82 Sit down design

Design Lobster • 99 implied HN points • 23 Aug 21
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Design is not just about functionality, but also about the symbolic power designs hold over us.
  2. Comfort is a culturally determined concept, not universally defined, which impacts design decisions.
  3. Inspiration for design can come from unusual sources, like the impression left in snow leading to the creation of the Karuselli chair.

Don't lie to the computer

Sunday Letters • 79 implied HN points • 21 Feb 22
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Lying to computers can lead to big problems. Computers take everything at face value and won't understand when you're not being honest.
  2. This can happen in many areas, like bug reporting or software design. For example, making up a fake bug level instead of addressing real issues is misleading.
  3. It's easy to want to cut corners to save time, but being dishonest can cause issues down the line. Just like in personal relationships, honesty is usually the best policy.

Erasing at the blackboard

Type Classes • 100 implied HN points • 19 Apr 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Old math professors have a habit of erasing their work and then apologizing for it immediately.
  2. Teachers often erase at the blackboard to free up space.
  3. Subscribe to Type Classes for access to more content and a 7-day free trial.

Understanding, explaining and simplicity

Sunday Letters • 79 implied HN points • 31 Jan 22
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Explaining something to someone else helps you see how well you really understand it. If you can break it down clearly, then you know it well.
  2. Simplicity is important in design and communication. To simplify, you need to break things down to their basic parts and only keep what is essential.
  3. Before adding more to a design or an idea, try taking things away first. This helps in understanding the core of the problem and making things simpler.

AI Scaling Laws 4 & 5: More Engineers and Designers

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 17 implied HN points • 07 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Design
  1. AI will get smarter and better with more talented engineers and designers working on it. The more skilled people we have, the more breakthroughs we'll see in AI technology.
  2. Improving how people interact with AI is crucial. Making AI easier to use will greatly increase its value, so more effort should go into user experience and design.
  3. As AI technology advances, we will likely see more AI systems improving themselves, leading to rapid growth in AI capabilities and applications over the coming decades.

Sculpting ourselves

SatPost by Trung Phan • 63 implied HN points • 28 Oct 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. La Sagrada Família in Barcelona is a remarkable architectural masterpiece under construction for 141 years.
  2. The story of Etsuro Sotoo highlights the idea of becoming the 'right tool' for a project or passion.
  3. Choosing the ideas and paths that influence us is crucial as we become molded into the 'right tool' for our work.

#48 Putting a bang in Christmas 💥

Design Lobster • 119 implied HN points • 28 Dec 20
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Combining ideas from different disciplines can lead to innovative design, like the evolution of the Christmas cracker incorporating elements of confectionery and pyrotechnics.
  2. Adding elements of shock or surprise can enhance the emotional impact of a design, similar to the intentional surprises in Christmas crackers.
  3. Finding connections between unrelated ideas is a valuable design skill, as seen in the Milton Glaser Christmas card that creatively combines typography elements to form a Christmas tree.

10 extremely expensive items on Etsy

escape the algorithm • 39 implied HN points • 03 Aug 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. The prices for some items on Etsy can go extremely high, ranging from unique collections to mysterious boxes
  2. The listings on Etsy include a variety of unusual and unconventional items, such as mentorship programs from witches and immersive escape room experiences
  3. There are sellers on Etsy offering unique and controversial items, like lifetime mentorship under a witch and an inflatable erotic bouncy castle

#46 Design that improves nature

Design Lobster • 119 implied HN points • 14 Dec 20
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Design can work with nature to enhance it rather than detract from it.
  2. Consider if the people involved in making a design take pride in their work - it can impact the outcome positively.
  3. Good design solutions often stem from deeply understanding the content of the project.

Psychological time and UX

UX Psychology • 59 implied HN points • 07 Oct 21
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Psychological time, influenced by factors like anxiety and cultural background, affects how we perceive waiting time.
  2. Changing passive wait time to active engagement can significantly improve user experience in various scenarios.
  3. To enhance user experience, minimizing traditional wait times and engaging users with activities can create a more enjoyable waiting experience.

UX Roundup: Outpacing Human Aging | Animating Paintings | Domain-Specific UX | Bad AI Video | Top Avatars Vary by Platform | Search Research | o3-mini

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 15 implied HN points • 03 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Technology, especially in healthcare, is advancing faster than many people age. This means tools like hearing aids are improving rapidly, helping users hear better than before.
  2. AI is starting to transform the design industry. It's becoming crucial for UX professionals to specialize in specific fields, like healthcare, because AI will handle many basic design tasks in the future.
  3. Students are increasingly using AI for schoolwork, and this trend is doubling yearly. Instead of seeing this as cheating, education should embrace AI as a valuable tool for learning.

Designing in a Post-Taste world

Design Lobster • 2 HN points • 27 May 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. In the post-taste world of design, there is a shift towards embracing ugliness and authenticity over traditional aesthetics.
  2. The concept of 'ugly design' challenges the boundaries of good taste and encourages a more real and genuine connection with audiences.
  3. It's important for designers to balance experimentation with ugliness while ensuring usability is not sacrificed in pursuit of aesthetics.

Runway Project

De Novo • 66 implied HN points • 27 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Runway Project is a combat tournament and art show based in Kerbal Space Program
  2. Craft design in Runway Project requires balancing firepower, thrust, maneuverability, resilience, and artistic potential
  3. Important design tips for Runway Project include considering round rules, incorporating art into craft design, testing designs, ensuring craft resilience, and tuning AI

Pandemic prayers

Austin Kleon • 79 implied HN points • 27 Aug 21
🎭️ Culture Design
  1. Creativity can come from personal expressions like blackout poetry. It’s a fun way to process thoughts and emotions, especially during tough times.
  2. Reading books that connect well can enhance understanding. Mixing different topics can spark new ideas and insights.
  3. Listening to interesting conversations or podcasts can offer valuable perspectives. They can deepen knowledge and inspire new ways of thinking.

Composable Architectures and Lego

Polymathic Being • 56 implied HN points • 27 Aug 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Composability is a powerful capability in design allowing modular parts to be combined and recombined.
  2. Lego demonstrates the concept of modularity and reusability, showcasing fantastic opportunities for leveraging existing efforts.
  3. Balancing composability is key, requiring intentional design and identifying natural limits to adapt and pivot effectively.

Who gets to define illustration ?

On Looking • 39 implied HN points • 09 Apr 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Illustrators should define illustration, not let others limit their creative space
  2. Definitions have power, and it's important for illustrators to reclaim that power in defining their roles
  3. Historical definitions of artists and illustrators are inaccurate; illustrators encode complex meanings in their work

Flower Power

CTOrly • 19 implied HN points • 22 Sep 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. The act of recreating something isn't just imitation; it can be a way to continue the essence of the original.
  2. Documenting decisions and actions may not fully replicate the original intention, but it keeps the essence alive.
  3. Utilize tools and methods that support your work effectively, like Linear for workflow management, to avoid unnecessary challenges.

Terms of Engagement

Cybernetic Forests • 39 implied HN points • 20 Feb 22
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Communication requires good transmission and reception; without care on either end, hurt can result.
  2. Play and playfulness emerge from safety and shared agreement; the absence of play can lead to authoritarianism and fear.
  3. Social media structures can breed algorithmic indifference, filtering out personal content and hindering meaningful communication.

Trust is a design issue

Sunday Letters • 59 implied HN points • 06 Dec 21
🕹 Technology Design
  1. When creating software, you're making promises to users about reliability and performance. If users can't trust your software to work well, they feel let down.
  2. Over time, adding too many features can slow down software and make it complicated. It's important for teams to keep user experience and performance in mind as they grow.
  3. Strong teams think carefully about the promises they make with each new feature. They aim to keep users happy and avoid feeling like they've broken that trust.

a virtual space of one's own

visa's voltaic verses ⚡️ • 6 implied HN points • 08 Jun 25
🎭️ Culture Design
  1. Feeling frustrated with the world changing is normal, but instead of blaming others, it's better to look at our own thoughts and feelings about those changes.
  2. Our personal virtual space can reflect our mental state, and organizing this space can lead to a clearer mind and more productivity.
  3. Mistakes are part of learning; instead of beating ourselves up over them, we should try to understand and learn from them, making room for improvement.

5-second tests: Measuring first impressions

UX Psychology • 39 implied HN points • 29 Nov 21
🕹 Technology Design
  1. The 5-second test is a form of usability testing to measure users' first impressions of a design by showing them a fixed interface for a short time.
  2. Aesthetic elements influence users' first impressions, which form quickly within the first few seconds of viewing a design. Designers have a limited time to make a good first impression.
  3. The 5-second test is effective for assessing perceived usability and initial reactions to an interface, but it does not measure actual usability or comprehension of complex information.

Ion Torrent Proton Chip Manifold

ASeq Newsletter • 14 implied HN points • 09 Dec 24
🕹 Technology Design
  1. The Ion Torrent Proton uses a unique chip manifold design that is quite intricate and beautiful. It seems it can't be made from a single piece; instead, it might need to be made in two parts and then joined together.
  2. The chip manifold's complexity showcases advanced engineering in its design and fabrication process. This attention to detail highlights the innovation in developing such technology.
  3. The information shared is for paid subscribers, indicating that there are exclusive insights available for those who support the content. It's a way to provide deeper knowledge to interested readers.

The Cobus Quadrant™ Of Conversation Design Capabilities

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 19 implied HN points • 09 Feb 23
🕹 Technology Design
  1. Conversation design focuses on creating the flow of dialogue between users and AI. It’s about defining how users interact and how responses are managed.
  2. Different AI platforms offer unique features for conversation design, like dialog flow management or visual design tools. Some tools are easier to use while others provide more advanced capabilities.
  3. Keeping the user experience in mind is crucial for successful conversation design. Understanding what the user needs helps to create smoother and more effective interactions.

Stay inconvenienced

sémaphore • 1 implied HN point • 28 Nov 25
🎭️ Culture Design
  1. Some spaces and tools offer a steady, nonjudgmental presence that lets you speak freely and feel seen without requiring anything in return.
  2. Real human empathy involves a cost: people are changed, inconvenienced, and carry the burden of others’ pain, and that willingness to be altered is what makes relationships meaningful.
  3. Perfect listeners can meet the need to be heard, but they also highlight that to truly matter you need someone who risks being changed by you, which is what keeps human connection irreplaceable.

Brick Lane Cybernetics

Cybernetic Forests • 39 implied HN points • 27 Dec 21
🎨 Art & Illustration Design
  1. Annetta Pedretti was a cybernetic linguist known for fostering conversations about conversations, emphasizing the importance of writing and communicating consciously.
  2. Language is a complex system that reflects history and meaning, requiring active listening, questioning, and response to understand its nuances.
  3. Cybernetics is about relationships between complex systems, such as language and architecture, and involves navigating boundaries, challenging clichés, and engaging in curious, slow-building conversations.