HeyDesigner — Hand-picked Design Links, Daily

Thursday | February 12, 2026

Design principles for future AI by Dan Saffer

The central question is no longer whether a system can perform a task, but how that performance affects human agency and cognition.
What design leaders must unlearn to lead in an AI-first world by Arin Bhowmick

The path to designing for AI is in questioning the fundamentals of what design stands for.
14 more lessons from 14 years at Google by Addy Osmani

I hope a few of them save you a scar or two.
The CSS selection by Bart Veneman

The state of real-world CSS usage, 2026 edition.

Tuesday | February 10, 2026

Claude Code for designers: A practical guide by Tommaso Nervegna

A step-by-step guide to designing and shipping with Claude Code
Figma variables still don’t understand systems by Josh Cusick

They’re great at holding values, but terrible at explaining how those values are derived.
Shades of halftone by Maxime Heckel

An interactive deep dive into building halftone shaders in GLSL.
The return of the intuitive designer in the age of AI by James Harrison

Stay relevant by honing your intuition, not your process.

Monday | February 9, 2026

NotebookLM for Product Designers by Nick Babich

NotebookLM is one of the most interesting yet often overlooked free AI tools from Google.
Why designers can no longer trust the design process (video) by Jenny Wen, Hatch Conference

With AI accelerating prototyping, smaller teams doing more, and craft becoming a key differentiator, rigid processes are failing designers.
Design the machine by John Maeda

The real investment isn’t in systems that generate more output. It’s in systems that make output compound.
How design systems offer creative safety for product teams by Ben Callahan

Does your design system create “sameness” in the products that have adopted it?

Thursday | February 5, 2026

The decision before the work by Christopher Butler

What happens when the most consequential design decision is made before you even get started?
Typographic scales and technical pens by Rob Weychert

A flexible system for consistent stroke widths across type sizes
Drawing connections with CSS anchor positioning by Roland Franke

The idea is deceptively simple: let one element position itself relative to another, without JavaScript.
Agentic engineering by Addy Osmani

Vibe coding = YOLO. Agentic engineering = AI does the implementation, human owns the architecture, quality, and correctness.

Wednesday | February 4, 2026

The state of buttons by Liam Spradlin

The button's complexity is a result of how flexible the concept of a button really is.
Combobox vs. multiselect vs. listbox by Vitaly Friedman

How to choose the right one
The too early breakpoint by Ahmad Shadeed

An opinion on why we shouldn't switch to the smallest design too early.
Introduction to the new HTML element: geolocation by Manuel Matuzović

There is a new HTML element called geolocation. I checked it out and here's what I learned.

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