Designer–engineer here. After 15 years building products [1] ,from
scrappy side projects to multibillion-dollar platforms, I’ve found the most productive way to think about design is as a growth accelerant. The OP reaches a similar insight but keeps it in the realm of product development. That framing is precisely where the friction between engineering and design tends to arise. Design isn’t about making the code look nicer... it’s the bridge between engineering execution and business growth.
Take Dropbox’s much-debated rebrand. Many on HN dismissed it as superficial. What they missed is that Dropbox’s growth had plateaued. The new visual language wasn’t meant to "improve the product" for existing power users. it was engineered to make the product feel approachable to an audience the company had never reached. It worked.
When designers focus on the measurable business impact of their work—and engineers stop treating design as a decorative afterthought—cross-functional frictions fade and growth compounds.
> When designers focus on the measurable business impact of their work—and engineers stop treating design as a decorative afterthought—cross-functional frictions fade and growth compounds.
Measurable business impact -> The dashboard becomes a battlefield and every team wants a modal for their feature release. Dark patterns come hand-in-hand.
I think the world would be better if individual designers focused less on business growth metrics and more on holistic User Experience.
Thanks for the feedback. Yes $50 = 1 logo (the one you end up liking/wanting to download). Im still figuring out the best business model that is the most fair while limiting potential abuse.
Makerspaces are fantastic. I've spent a bunch of time in a few in Amsterdam. The only thing that would make them better is a tiny more focus on the business side of making. I've seen amazing things being built, but if there's zero thinking spent on getting it in the hands of people, nobody can benefit from the amazing work that happens within those walls.
It's easy to seem like you have clarity of thought when you ignore all nuance. How far do you recurse this principle? Down the the level of 5 year old children in a household?
Wow this is really beautiful. Is there an algorithm (not api, but available calc method) that can calculate the full year based on a few variables? Like long+lat?
Standing desk with threadmill was/is a winner for me. May not be a fit for everyone but I feel like the constant walking functions as a fidget toy for me. Huge boost in productivity, creativity and I’m getting my steps in. Good amount of water and electrolytes are also part of it.
Even cheaper and I like it a lot : a balance board [0].
It allows me to have my muscle to work even when I’m standing still. It’s in fact pretty pleasant.
I also tried roller skates (detachable [1]) and it’s also pretty nice. More stable than the balance board but your legs are still more free than just standing.
What a lot of people miss is that it's not replacing Google. It's creating a different way of interacting with the web. For example, I spent last night brainstorming a random business idea that involved international logistics. Because of this realtime Search feature, at some point in that conversation (so it didn't start as a 'let's search some web stuff', just organically happened) The topic of warehousing came up. So I asked it to find me suitable warehouses in 2 different countries and compare pricing. In a heartbeat, I was looking at something very specific, tangible and available. So a 'classical ai chat' became tangible because of this feature. I've had a similar experience a few more times with this feature. So 'searching the web' wasn't even a concept in my head, I was just deep in a conversation and ChatGPT basically went 'Let me find you X' and it just presented it. Google, or any classical search based engine, requires me to have that conversation in my head - then get to a point where my intent is clearly articulated - then I go and insert any search term.
Well the classic route for electronics manufacturing is chips get fabricated in Taiwan/Japan/SK/America -> the PCB and other mechanical elements get integrated in China -> the finished product gets exported to the West. So you could certainly have the explosives adding process be done in step 2 regardless of if step 2 occurs in Europe or China.
Take Dropbox’s much-debated rebrand. Many on HN dismissed it as superficial. What they missed is that Dropbox’s growth had plateaued. The new visual language wasn’t meant to "improve the product" for existing power users. it was engineered to make the product feel approachable to an audience the company had never reached. It worked.
When designers focus on the measurable business impact of their work—and engineers stop treating design as a decorative afterthought—cross-functional frictions fade and growth compounds.
[1] https://fairpixels.pro