"Design tools come and go. People's habits evolve. New devices are born. The way we designed interfaces five years ago is very different from how we do it now. The only common thread in our work is understanding people. Everything else is just a vehicle for that."
"Thinking in terms of legibility and illegibility explains so many of the things that are confusing about large software companies. It explains why companies do many things that seem obviously counter-productive, why the rules in practice are so often out of sync with the rules as written, and why companies are surprisingly willing to tolerate rule-breaking in some contexts."
"But I am more than a critic: I am a hater. I am not here to make a careful comprehensive argument, because people have already done that. If you're pushing slop or eating it, you wouldn't read it anyway. You'd ask a bot for a summary and forget what it told you, then proceed with your day, unchanged by words you did not read and ideas you did not consider."
Design tools change constantly; people's habits and devices evolve, and interface practices have shifted over five years. Understanding people is the enduring principle guiding design work, while tools serve as vehicles. The newsletter curates resources and editor picks, highlighting UX Collective and pieces on connection, multi-modality, and self-expression. Analysis of software companies frames behavior through legibility and illegibility, explaining practical rule-breaking and misaligned written rules. Critical perspectives on AI warn about integrated propaganda, assumptions of inevitable LLM progress, variability that harms productivity and quality, and outspoken rejection of careless adoption. Options for supporting the newsletter are provided.
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