The hottest Product Design Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
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Top Technology Topics

Designing for a single purpose

Product Identity • 118 implied HN points • 07 May 24
🪑 Design Product Design User Experience Branding Software Design Cultural critique
  1. Focusing on one clear purpose can make products stand out and be more appreciated. For example, stores or brands that specialize in a single item often attract loyal customers.
  2. In tech, many products have become complex and cluttered by trying to do too much. This often leads to products losing their original charm and purpose.
  3. Going back to basics and simplifying can bring more joy to experiences, like reading on a Kindle without distractions. It helps us focus on what truly matters.

From 0 to 2M Users in Generative AI

Startup Pirate by Alex Alexakis • 235 implied HN points • 12 Jan 24
🕹 Technology AI Product Design Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Tech Innovation
  1. Uizard has over 2 million users and enables fast product design creation with AI and an intuitive editor.
  2. Their technology includes deep learning, computer vision, and natural language processing to power their platform.
  3. Product market fit for Uizard was achieved by shifting focus to non-experts and iterating based on user feedback.

Crafting something beautiful ♥️

André Casal's Substack • 19 implied HN points • 01 Aug 24
🕹 Technology Software Development Product Design User Experience Entrepreneurship Programming
  1. Improving customer access made it easier for users to start using LaunchFast. Instead of multiple steps, they can now just run one command.
  2. A conversation with Neeraj from BigBinary led to important changes in pricing and marketing strategy for LaunchFast. These adjustments should help clarify its value and appeal more to potential users.
  3. Learning about deploying an NPM package simplified the process of launching LaunchFast. This helped create an efficient script that sets everything up quickly.
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Landing page improvements

André Casal's Substack • 19 implied HN points • 29 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Web Development User Experience Product Design Market Strategy Analytics
  1. Improving color contrast on a landing page helps make it more accessible for users. Clearer visuals can attract more visitors and keep them engaged.
  2. Adding logos and use-case sections to a landing page can help communicate what the product is about. It makes it easier for potential customers to understand if the product fits their needs.
  3. Getting feedback on a landing page and iterating on it is essential for creating a successful product. Regular updates based on user input help build trust and improve overall user experience.

My End of 2024 Update

Human Programming • 77 implied HN points • 03 Jan 25
🕹 Technology AI Software Product Design Research Entrepreneurship
  1. Human programming research is shifting focus to work with AI models instead of humans. This means developing systems that help AI operate more efficiently.
  2. The author has been involved in several software projects, including a consulting role where they created tools to enhance AI and web products. These experiences allowed them to explore different collaborative environments.
  3. They plan to take some time for exploration and research in AI, particularly focusing on self-modifying programs. This will allow them to deepen their understanding of both AI concepts and practical product development.

What is a good designer?

Elizabeth Laraki • 219 implied HN points • 04 Dec 23
🪑 Design Product Design User Experience Visual Design Collaboration Design process
  1. A good designer focuses on understanding the product's goals, audience, and use cases. They clarify what the product should achieve and for whom it’s meant.
  2. User experience is key for a designer, ensuring the product is easy and natural to use. They organize content and tasks logically, making navigation simple for everyone.
  3. Visual design is about making the product look polished and high quality. Good designers pay attention to details like colors, fonts, and alignment to connect with users effectively.

Jony Ive: The Complete Objectified Interview

Chance Operations • 515 implied HN points • 15 May 23
🪑 Design Product Design Interview
  1. Jonathan Ive's design work at Apple has been highly influential, shaping products like the iMac, iPod, iPhone, and more.
  2. After leaving Apple in 2019, Ive co-founded LoveFrom, a creative collective that has worked with companies like Ferrari and Apple.
  3. The full transcript of the interview with Jony Ive is split into two parts and provides insight into his creative process and collaborations.

How to talk to someone who doesn't trust AI

The AI Frontier • 59 implied HN points • 25 Apr 24
🕹 Technology AI Machine Learning Software Development User Experience Product Design
  1. Many people doubt AI tools because they believe they only look good in demos but don't perform well in real life. Trying out LLMs like ChatGPT can often change that opinion for the better.
  2. Some skeptics challenge AI by asking tricky questions that the AI can't answer. It's important to remember that AI has limitations and not every mistake means it's useless.
  3. People notice that AI responses can seem similar, making it hard to trust their accuracy. Customizing answers and improving quality can help address this issue.

Feeling the Design

UX Psychology • 238 implied HN points • 05 Jun 23
🪑 Design Emotion Attention Product Design User Experience Aesthetics
  1. Emotions significantly impact user attention and decision-making. We can design products that resonate with users by considering their emotional states.
  2. Balancing functionality and aesthetics is crucial in design. Negative emotions may lead users to focus on functionality, while positive emotions may draw them to aesthetics.
  3. Design strategies that consider emotional mapping, create emotional peaks, and provide feedback can enhance user experience and engagement.

the first one's the bad one!

vrk loves paper • 199 implied HN points • 05 Oct 23
🪑 Design Graphic design Product Design User Experience Illustration Creative Process
  1. When working on goals, it's better to focus on whether the problems that come with them are interesting and fulfilling for you. Every goal has challenges, so choose the ones you want to tackle.
  2. In design, it's important to sketch many different ideas, even if they seem odd or wrong at first. Your first attempt is usually not your best, so keep exploring different options.
  3. Using references that resonate with you can make the design process easier and more enjoyable. It's fine to start with things you're familiar with before branching out to more complex inspirations.

#127 Sick of design 🤢

Design Lobster • 339 implied HN points • 06 Feb 23
🪑 Design Architecture Product Design Quotes
  1. Good design can promote health: Architectural design, like in sanatoriums, can aid in patient recovery by providing optimal conditions like sunlight and fresh air.
  2. Design for comfort: SEETROËN glasses use innovative design to combat travel sickness, but the attention-grabbing appearance can deter people from using them.
  3. Design as a solution: Better design can be the answer to various problems, bringing functionality and aesthetics together.

I HAVE IMPROVED AT DESIGN 😤

vrk loves paper • 159 implied HN points • 08 Nov 23
🪑 Design Graphic design Product Design Fashion & Design Interior design Web Design
  1. Design skills can improve over time with practice. The recent work showed noticeable growth compared to earlier projects.
  2. A recent event, the Receipt Printer Meetup, was a success with many attendees enjoying the chaos and fun of printing stickers together.
  3. New creative projects, like the 'Dogs of Fate,' are exciting and can be made quickly, inspiring continued exploration and development of ideas.

#130 Put your feet up

Design Lobster • 239 implied HN points • 03 Apr 23
🪑 Design Product Design
  1. Early experiments explored foot-controlled computer interfaces in the 1980s, but they weren't widely adopted due to a steep learning curve compared to hand-controlled interfaces.
  2. Engaging more of the user's body in design could enhance interaction, especially in augmented and virtual reality applications.
  3. Small design changes, like adding whimsical elements such as unique feet to furniture, can bring lightness and freshness to the overall aesthetic.

The thermodynamics of user laziness

Sunday Letters • 159 implied HN points • 04 Sep 23
🕹 Technology User Behavior Product Design Generative AI Thermodynamics
  1. Users are often seen as lazy, but that's because they are busy and don’t have time to adjust to new things unless it’s really worth it.
  2. For people to adopt a new habit or product, the benefit must be significantly greater than the effort it takes to change, often needing to be ten times better or solve an existing problem.
  3. When creating products, it's crucial to understand the user's total experience and ensure the solution truly simplifies their life, or they simply won’t bother adapting.

#116 Sh*t design

Design Lobster • 419 implied HN points • 22 Aug 22
🪑 Design Product Design Typography
  1. Design choices can have long-lasting effects, leading to path dependency that constrains future options.
  2. Simple design changes, like a square-cored toilet roll, can lead to clever outcomes by encouraging efficiency and mindful usage.
  3. Questioning design briefs and challenging the necessity of elements can be a mark of a great designer.

#117 It's a blow out

Design Lobster • 399 implied HN points • 05 Sep 22
🪑 Design Product Design Graphic design
  1. Designing with air can lead to innovative products like the Dyson Airwrap that uses the Coanda Effect to create curls without excessive heat, showcasing the importance of understanding and utilizing physics in design.
  2. Consider emotional and symbolic factors in design, as seen in the case of the IKEA inflatable furniture series from the 1990s that faced practical issues and failed to provide a comfortable user experience.
  3. Whitespace, like air, is essential for design to breathe. Remember the significance of negative space in layouts and compositions when things feel cluttered.

Google Maps UX: The India Conundrum

Elizabeth Laraki • 2 HN points • 05 Sep 24
🕹 Technology User Experience Product Design
  1. Google Maps struggled in India because people didn't use street names for navigation. They relied on landmarks instead.
  2. The team did hands-on research to understand how locals used landmarks for directions. This included talking to people and observing their navigation.
  3. By focusing on landmarks, Google Maps improved its directions to better fit India's needs, making it a popular navigation tool over time.

Elon Musk Book Review (Part 2 of 2): Operations Excellence

Mike Talks AI • 58 implied HN points • 05 Feb 24
💼 Business Operations Supply Chain Efficiency Product Design Cost reduction
  1. Operations excellence is key: Musk focused on improving efficiency and revolutionizing industries through operational excellence.
  2. Design the right factory: Musk emphasized the importance of well-designed factories and involvement of design engineers in manufacturing processes.
  3. The Algorithm for operations excellence: Musk's framework involves questioning requirements, deleting parts/processes, simplifying, accelerating cycle time, and automating last.

Big impact can be small

Sunday Letters • 39 implied HN points • 24 Mar 24
🕹 Technology AI User Experience Software Development Innovation Product Design
  1. Small actions can have a big impact over time. Just think how turning on a light used to be a big hassle, but now it's super easy.
  2. Making tasks easier leads to wider use. If a product is simple to use, more people will adopt it without thinking twice.
  3. Focus on common problems and make solutions accessible. Like how we turned on lights without much thought, your solutions should be just as easy for everyone to use.

The Future of Programming: Copilots vs. Agents (Part I)

East Wind • 11 implied HN points • 12 Nov 24
🕹 Technology AI Development Software Engineering Tech industry Product Design
  1. The competition to create better AI coding tools is intense. Companies are racing to attract developers and dominate a huge market.
  2. AI coding tools can be divided into three types: copilots, agents, and custom models. Each type has its own approach to helping programmers finish their work.
  3. User experience is very important for these tools. Small differences in how they function can greatly affect how easy they are to use.

5 learnings from making UX less annoying for 20M+ users

CommandBlogue • 19 implied HN points • 28 May 24
🕹 Technology User Experience Product Design Data Analysis Software Development Customer Engagement
  1. Users don't easily forget bad experiences, like annoying pop-ups. Once trust is lost, it's hard to regain, so it's important to be careful with how you present information to them.
  2. Beautiful design attracts users and keeps them engaged. Nowadays, a nice look matters just as much as solving a problem, since many products are similar.
  3. Users prefer having multiple options. If they feel like they don't need help at first, they might still end up needing it later, so providing a way for them to revisit guides is key.

The Big Question: What Comes After Right-to-Repair?

Fight to Repair • 78 implied HN points • 16 Nov 23
🕹 Technology Legal Advocacy Repair Product Design
  1. Several states have been passing comprehensive right-to-repair laws, indicating that the movement is gaining traction and popularity.
  2. The concept of the Overton window helps understand how companies like Apple are adjusting their stance on repair due to legislative and consumer pressure.
  3. The focus is shifting towards challenges beyond just access to parts and information, with emerging concerns surrounding software restrictions and product design in the right-to-repair movement.

Toasts and Theming

Pine • 19 implied HN points • 23 May 24
🕹 Technology User Interface Product Design Software Development User Experience
  1. Pine now gives you fun little toast messages when you keep a daily streak or reach card milestones. This helps give positive encouragement while you work.
  2. You can now customize the appearance of each deck with different themes and styles. This makes it visually unique and easier to switch between decks.
  3. Many improvements have been made to the user experience to make using Pine more enjoyable overall. This should enhance how you create and review your cards.

Inflection AI Is A Sleeping Giant

Teaching computers how to talk • 73 implied HN points • 13 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Artificial Intelligence Tech Companies Product Design AI Ethics User Experience
  1. Inflection AI announced Inflection-2.5, a competitive upgrade to their large language model.
  2. Despite having a smaller team than tech giants like Google and Microsoft, Inflection AI focuses on emotional intelligence and safety in their AI products.
  3. Pi, Inflection AI's personal assistant, stands out with its warm, engaging, and empathetic design, making it an underrated gem in the AI space.

How 15 famous brands got their names

Jon’s Newsletter • 99 implied HN points • 21 May 23
💼 Business Branding Marketing History Product Design Consumer behavior
  1. Many brand names have personal or fun stories behind them, like Android being named after a co-founder's nickname. It's cool how these names can connect to the people or experiences involved in their creation.
  2. Some brands, like Band-Aid and Life Savers, have names that describe exactly what they do. These names help customers understand what to expect from the product.
  3. The origins of brand names can reflect cultural or geographical influences, such as Lego meaning 'play well' in Danish. It's neat to see how language and culture shape these popular names.

Kosmik Year in Review

Kosmik’s Newsletter • 39 implied HN points • 26 Dec 23
🕹 Technology Software Web Development Funding Team Management Product Design
  1. Kosmik 2.0 aims to be a desktop in the cloud, providing an environment where users can organize files and tools in a more visual and collaborative way.
  2. The concept of a digital desktop is changing, with a shift towards cloud-based storage and a need for a more flexible and fluid way to organize files and assets.
  3. Kosmik is evolving as a product, with a focus on web technologies to improve speed, product quality, and roadmap, along with securing funding to ensure long-term growth and development.

#6 Twitter: What's My *Name* Again?

Product Identity • 19 implied HN points • 28 Mar 24
🕹 Technology Social media Product Design User Experience Digital Identity Tech Culture
  1. Twitter, now called X, is facing an identity crisis after Elon Musk's takeover. Users feel confused about the platform's direction and branding changes.
  2. Despite its challenges, Twitter remains a unique place for short-form content and discussions. Its text-first approach has fostered a special community culture.
  3. The introduction of long-form tweets has changed Twitter's essence, moving it away from its original character limit that defined its identity. This could impact the way users engage with content.

👨‍💻👩‍💻 Product Management vs. Product Marketing vs. Project Management: A Guide to Choosing Your Career Path

The Product Channel By Sid Saladi • 6 implied HN points • 03 Nov 24
💼 Business Career development Management Marketing Product Design
  1. Product management is about creating a product that meets customer needs and involves strategy and teamwork. If you like big-picture thinking and technology, this role might be for you.
  2. Product marketing focuses on promoting and selling a product through messaging and campaigns. If you enjoy creativity and connecting with customers, product marketing could be a good fit.
  3. Project management is all about making sure projects run smoothly on time and within budget. If you have strong organizational skills and like leading teams, project management may be your best path.

The rise and fall of the iPod

Jon’s Newsletter • 119 implied HN points • 23 Oct 22
🕹 Technology Consumer Electronics Product Design Digital Media Innovation Business strategy
  1. The iPod was a game-changer for Apple, helping them emerge as a major player in the music industry and aiding in the company's recovery from financial struggles.
  2. Apple's focus on design and simplicity helped the iPod stand out, making it appealing and easy to use compared to other MP3 players at the time.
  3. Over time, the iPhone replaced the iPod, showing how one successful product can lead to the rise and fall of another, and the iPod's legacy continues in Apple's current offerings.

Portfolio secrets for product designer

A Generalist newsletter • 8 implied HN points • 04 Jan 25
🪑 Design Product Design Visual Design User Experience Branding
  1. Have your own website instead of just using platforms like Behance. It makes you stand out and shows you're serious about your brand.
  2. Show only a few of your best projects in your portfolio. Focus on what you did in each project so employers can see your skills clearly.
  3. Let your personality shine in your portfolio. Share interesting things about yourself that make you unique and memorable.

Can our tech calm down?

New Things with Eric Athas • 3 HN points • 07 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Tech Ethics Product Design
  1. Amber Case discusses our cyborg nature and how we have been cyborgs since the first tool, enhancing ourselves with external components.
  2. Examining our relationship with technology is crucial for improving design and ensuring that products work alongside us without overwhelming us.
  3. Designing products with cues and interfaces that inform without overburdening can improve user experience and help us relax, unlike many modern technologies that demand constant attention.