Issue #725: Friction by design
How I do web design, Scroll percent, A sharp tool can still ruin the cut, Introducing CSS Grid Lanes and more.
Highlights of the week
- Friction by design - What gets lost when everything is effortless? - Carl Barenbrug
- A sharp tool can still ruin the cut - When AI answers before you understand. - José Torre
Read all week, picked once. The best design links — every Tuesday.
Product design, UX/UI and PM
- How I do web design - Seven years ago, I started writing down the things that actually helped me as a designer. - Koos Looijesteijn
Design engineering
- Introducing CSS Grid Lanes - It’s here, the future of masonry layouts on the web. - Jen Simmons, Brandon Stewart, Elika Etemad
- The cost of consistency - Avoiding design system bottlenecks. - Omid Farhang
- Scroll percent - Calculating how far the user has scrolled can be useful for creating sophiscated UX. - Brad Woods
- A minimal CSS starter - I don’t use resets. - Jens Oliver Meiert
Artificial intelligence
- 8 predictions for 2026. What comes next in AI? - 2025 was such a pivotal year for AI and myself that I feel compelled to look ahead. - Philipp Schmid
Inspiration and creativity
- The non-shared baseline - Before you jump into the next debate, know where you're standing. And where the opposing opinion is standing. - Matt D. Smith
- This was the biggest debate in design this year (video) - This debate perfectly captures both sides of what's happening in software design right now. - Tommy Geoco
Last but not least
- The disappearing middle of software work - I think the center of software work is moving. - Karri Saarinen