Wix Releases Wixel: The AI Design Tool That Wants to Do It All (But Can It?) (3 minute read)
Wix has launched Wixel, an AI design tool for non-designers to create professional visuals quickly. Wixel blends image editing, layout design, and AI content in one platform with background removal, image generation, and brand styling features. There is a free tier and a Pro plan for small businesses and creators. While handy, it feels like a version 1 that may trade originality for ease.
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Demand for Freelancers Explodes, Thanks to Agentic AI (3 minute read)
Companies are rapidly hiring freelancers for AI agent implementation, with global search interest up 18,347% and 19,033% in Germany. This boom reflects growing interest in agentic AI despite limited in-house skills. At the same time, the demand for freelancers to “humanize” AI content is up by 641%. Workflow tools like Go High Level and Substack also see rising demand, up 1,489% and 2,028%.
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Watch out Amazon, there's a new smile logo in town (3 minute read)
NABS, a century-old charity supporting mental wellness in advertising, media, and marketing, has unveiled a vibrant new identity by agency Nice and Serious to enhance its visibility and impact. Centered on the theme of "The Unstoppable Ally," the rebrand features accessible typography, bold visuals, and a hands-on, compassionate tone to communicate its mission better and reach a broader audience during a growing mental health crisis.
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Design in the age of vibes (10 minute read)
AI design tools like Bolt, Lovable, and Figma Make are speeding up software prototyping, cutting reliance on traditional workflows. This shift redefines designers' and developers' roles to focus more on system thinking and adaptability than experience. As UI work commodifies, real value lies in strategy, collaboration, and crafting unique experiences beyond AI's reach.
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Figma Sites: innovation or exploitation? (4 minute read)
Figma Sites promises to let designers publish interactive websites directly from Figma, but it currently produces cluttered, non-semantic code that lacks accessibility and SEO best practices. Despite being marketed as a production-ready tool, the output quality suggests it's more suited for prototyping than real-world deployment. Designers should critically assess such tools and advocate for solutions, prioritizing clean, maintainable, and standards-compliant code.
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In Defense of Screens (5 minute read)
Screens act as vital memory aids, much like chalkboards for Einstein, freeing our brains by holding information. Instead of eliminating screens, we should improve them and rethink the content and business models behind them. Screens enable fast visual processing and offer lasting reference, something voice interfaces can't match, making them powerful cognitive tools.
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CodeDesign (Website)
CodeDesign.ai makes it easy to build websites with AI-generated pages, responsive design, and tools to host, publish, or export.
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Organizing a Design System Via Folksonomy (6 minute read)
Design systems often rely on rigid hierarchies that clash with users' mental models, limiting adoption. A better approach is using folksonomies—user-created tags like Gmail labels or hashtags—which allow flexible, intuitive organization. This encourages collaboration and discovery, though it needs identity, moderation, and curation. Unlike AI classifiers, folksonomies reflect human intent and meaning.
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Figma's Hidden Costs (15 minute read)
Figma's monetization hurts trust and defies product-led growth. Upgrading from free is confusing, with misleading formulas, hidden settings, and unclear pricing. It can auto-add seats without notice, doubling costs and penalizing collaboration—its key feature. Canva, by contrast, offers more straightforward pricing and a more collaboration-friendly setup.
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