Mindy Brooks

😮 This week I had the deep pleasure of chatting with Sebastian Löwe, a design leader whose career beautifully bridges academia, creativity, and applied AI. In our conversation, we explored his concept of the Empathic Web, a future where AI understands and responds to human emotion. What happens when machines can sense our joy or frustration and adjust in real time? What are the risks—and responsibilities—for designers? How do we design for ephemeral, agent-driven experiences? We dug into ethics, the blurry lines between helpful and harmful, and why digital empathy may be one of the most powerful forces shaping the future of human-computer interaction. 🎧 Listen here: https://lnkd.in/eq-GRrNc #AIandDesign #DigitalEmpathy #DesignLeadership #HumanComputerInteraction #FutureOfDesign #UXDesign #EmotionalAI #DesignEthics #AgentInterfaces #EmpathicWeb #AIinDesign #DesignConversation #AI #Design

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GV (Google Ventures) have a long history of hiring former designers and design leaders to support their portfolio companies. Folks like Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, Kate Aronowitz, Daniel Burka, Braden Kowitz, Vanessa Cho, and Tom Hulme. In my latests podcast interview, Kate Aronowitz explains why this is, and what designers bring to the table. Interestingly it's not about craft, but rather the way they see the world with a beginners mind.

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The secret most product designers miss about getting promoted? It's not about waiting to be recognized—it's about owning your career growth. I talked with Ran Liu about how to set clear goals with your manager, document wins, and consistently show next-level thinking. What career growth strategy has worked best for you? #ProductDesignCareer #UXLeadership https://lnkd.in/ggn4vMqk

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Design is changing fast. At Indeed, UXers are leading efforts to codify the context of design, content, and code so LLMs can effectively represent our design language. When we identified gaps in prototyping tooling, we took the initiative to build a better way. We're out in front, shaping how the company designs and builds with AI in a way that still feels uniquely "UX". Jenny Wen, who leads design at Anthropic, describes similar shifts on a recent Lenny podcast: the traditional design loop breaking down, design splitting into execution support and short-range visioning, work moving closer to code. In both cases, designers are solving specific problems within their organizations rather than adopting a universal new design approach. This is where UXers shine—people who understand systems, human behavior, and can identify patterns are well-positioned to understand what's needed and drive these discussions. That's not just true for UX. Subject matter expertise in your field positions you to identify where AI can help solve real problems—if you're willing to participate. Across disciplines, people actively shaping this change are having a fundamentally different experience than those waiting to see what happens. Matt Shumer's piece about how everything is about to change has been a topic of discussion over the past few weeks. It's urgent and alarming. He's right that the pace is accelerating faster than most realize. But there's something critical missing from his message: the future is unwritten, and we have agency to shape it by participating. Jenny Wen noted that early-career designers, without legacy processes or deeply ingrained ways of working, are often more adaptable and open to figuring out new approaches. This isn't solely something new designers can embrace. There's a divide: people who feel AI is happening to them tend to lose hope and motivation, clinging to how things are "meant" to be done. Meanwhile, people letting go of how they used to work, imagining something different, and embracing the ride with intention and curiosity are thriving in their work and emotional state. Participation leads to success, which creates energy, which fuels more participation. A virtuous cycle. What does participation look like? - Being curious and open—going with the flow while determining where you're uniquely positioned to add value - Not being afraid to take up space and lead where you might not have led before - Running experiments with peers, sharing what does and doesn't work - Staying oriented on problems and user needs, acknowledging the path to solutions might look different - Playing in adjacent disciplines - Exploring ways AI solves things important to your work, not forcing it where it doesn't make sense Matt's right that this is urgent. But the answer isn't just preparation—it's active engagement. We're co-authors of what comes next. What are you seeing? How are you participating?

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For years, design leadership has been rooted in a familiar rhythm: refine the interface, elevate the craft, ship the next iteration. But the ground is shifting under our feet. Alan Dye leaving Apple to lead Meta’s new AI-focused design studio is more than a career move. It’s a signal of where design leadership is headed next — from polished pixels to the orchestration of intelligent systems. And I think this shift has been building for a while. Design leaders are no longer stewards of screens alone. We’re becoming stewards of behavior. We’re shaping how intelligence shows up for real people in real workflows. That means expanding our craft: - Understanding how AI perceives, interprets, and responds. - Designing workflows where the interface becomes the smallest piece of the experience. - Thinking about failure modes, trust, escalation paths, and recovery states. It’s a new kind of design practice. One where interaction models stretch beyond UI and into environment, context, and intent. AI isn’t replacing design leadership. It’s redefining the battlefield. And the leaders who thrive will be the ones who think beyond surfaces and start designing the systems of intelligence that sit beneath them. https://lnkd.in/g35fcFiU #ProductDesign #DesignLeadership #AIXDesign #FutureOfWork

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The latest most-clicked articles from the UXDX newsletter dives into AI systems, research impact, and the art of smarter collaboration. Here’s what the community found most insightful this week: 🔹 Syed Balkhi on how structured techniques like affinity mapping and storytelling can turn raw qualitative data into insights that actually drive decisions: https://lnkd.in/eKTGZgXv 🔹 John Cutler on why not all helping helps, and how clarifying roles and collaboration patterns can turn well-intentioned support into real progress: https://lnkd.in/eCCADpBr 🔹 Paul Levchuk on how metric trees can guide strategy, but only if they’re regularly validated against real outcomes and evolving business goals: https://lnkd.in/eCjgjZpc 🔹 Julie Zhuo on designing conversational interfaces that feel natural and human by combining strong UX fundamentals with a deep grasp of dialogue: https://lnkd.in/eG_J483k 🔹 Rahul Suresh and Srini Penchikala on why scalable AI systems depend on modular architecture, clean interfaces, and robust evaluation loops: https://lnkd.in/dFrbXimP Lots here for teams balancing strategy, design, and systems thinking. Want to stay up-to-date on what is going on in the industry? Make sure to subscribe to our newsletter: https://lnkd.in/eDtCUdQ #UXDX #UX #ProductManagement #Leadership #AI #Design #Research

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