If I told you someone had a background as a senior designer at companies like Uber, Dropbox, Apple, and Patreon then you'd be pretty impressed, right?Same.But Adam Noffsinger walked away from all of that to start Alma (which you might remember from the Smith+Diction episode).So this episode is a deep dive into what it really looks like to go 0→1 as a design founder.Adam even walks us through his Figma file for Alma so if you’re interesting in startups or designing something from nothing, then I think you’ll really enjoy this conversation 👇

This week’s episode is with Pietro Schirano who is the founder of the new design tool MagicPath and one of the true forward thinkers on AI. We go deep into the future of prototyping, design workflows, and what it takes to catalyze your career with AI.Some highlights:How design workflows will evolveUsing AI as a collaborator not just a toolHow Pietro was able to build influence at AnthropicWhy interactive prototypes are becoming table stakesWhat designers need to understand to master the modelsWhy design architects will be the highest paid role in the futurea lot moreDesignerGPT (5 million users)TweakCNOrigami (Facebook’s prototyping tool)Figma.ai domain purchase

This week I got an inside look at Figma Make while talking to Holly and Nikolas all about the future of prototyping…We get into real world use cases for different kinds of prototypes and how our workflow is evolving as designers.One thing is abundantly clear, things aren’t so linear anymore.Some highlights:How Figma Make fits into your workflowRethinking what “high fidelity” means for a prototypeHow code is the glue and what it means for collaborationWhat are the less obvious use cases for prototyping with AIMeta prototyping with interactive playgrounds and inspect panelsa lot moreFigma Make - AI-powered prototyping tool within FigmaVariables in FigmaAdvanced Prototyping in Figma

Last month we did the ultimate Raycast Deep Dive, but there's a lot in there… so this week I want to highlight just the segment from the product design team.We go deep into how they collaborate, why they’ve started shipping more code, and what it takes to build a culture obsessed with craft.Don’t forget to use code DIVE20YT to get 20% off your first purchase of any Lovable plan ❤️ Valid until August 21, 2025. Go to dive.club/lovable to start creatingFull Raycast episode - The Raycast Deep Dive

This week, Gunnar Gray (Product Design Lead at Perplexity) dives into the art of designing AI-native experiences.He shares lessons from shaping Voice Mode and how prototyping with AI is changing the design process at Perplexity.Some highlights:Why Perplexity is racing to get ideas into codeWhat it’s like designing at a hyper growth startupWhat it’s like designing dynamic voice experiencesGunnar’s journey learning metal shaders with CursorHow Gunnar strategically invests in his design skillseta lot morePerplexity - AI-powered search and discovery platformCursor - AI-powered code editorParticle News app

Cursor is easily one of the most impactful companies in all of tech…And this week's episode is with their Head of Design, Ryo Lu.You might've heard of Ryo in this episode back when we talked about early Notion and systems design.So this week we're going to get an inside look at how design operates at Cursor and all of Ryo's experiments with AI 👀Some highlights:What Ryo believes about the future of HCIHow Ryo handles a barrage of user feedbackHow Ryo approaches systems thinking at CursorHow Ryo unified the core primitives of Cursor’s systemLaying the foundation for the future of Cursor’s system designInside Ryo’s design process and how he knows what to pursueWhy Ryo thinks specialization will matter less in an AI-enabled futureWhy Ryo believes the future of interfaces will match how people thinka lot more

This week's episode is with Julian Lehr who is the storytelling lead at LinearSo we're going to step out of the pixels for this conversation and focus more on how you can get people excited about what you're designing.Because in the age of AI, stories are what makes your product defensible.So we're going to go deep into Julian's creative process and how he kinda thinks of his role more as packaging.Some highlights:Julian’s sources of inspirationUnderstanding Julian’s creative processThe new analogy that Julian is working on for LinearLinear’s strategy for storytelling for their “Agents” releaseThe importance of visual design in copywriting and marketingHow Linear’s in-house creative studio collaborates on storytellingHow Linear evolved from using “opinionated” to “purpose-built” over 3 yearsa lot moreAntimetal websiteArena for inspirationJulian’s websiteLinear’s hands of god visual for Agents release

You probably know Intercom… but did you know they recently incubated a new startup called Fin that has already surpassed the core business?They’ve pulled off a massive transition to an AI-native product and design org so today we’re going behind-the-scenes with their VP of Design Emmet Connolly.Some highlights:Why Emmett believes designers will own the frontendThe opportunity for design systems in an AI-first worldWhat Emmett looks for when hiring designers in the AI eraWhy liquid glass represents the wrong direction for designHow Intercom’s AI product Fin overtook their core businessWhy the start of an S-curve is the best time to be a designerHow AI is flipping the traditional product development processa lot morePlato’s cave analogyOpenAI’s forward deployed engineer roleApple’s liquid glass designFons Mans helped on the design of Fin

In last week’s episode, the Head of Design at The Browser Company shared a totally new way to think about your portfolio.He says one of the most valuable things you can demonstrate today is the ability to solve real problems with code (no matter how small).I’m literally doing this with a side project right now and I’ve learned a lot so I decided to share my new playbook for vibe coding 👇Teo Connor (VP of Design at Airbnb): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/air-bnbAlex Schleifer (former Chief Design Offer at Airbnb): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/alex-schleiferJanum Trivedi (prototyping specialist at Airbnb): https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/janum-trivedi

Dia from The Browser Company has completely taken over the internet. We’re finally seeing what an AI-native browser can be and it’s pretty exciting :)So this episode is a behind-the-scenes with their Head of Design, Dustin Senos.Some highlights:How to build a product strategy around AIHow The Browser Co approaches prototypingDustin’s perspective on MCP and agentic designHow their definition of “good” evolved from Arc to DiaTheir process for exploring patterns for interacting with AIThe #1 piece of advice Dustin would give younger designersa lot moreWe mentioned Nate Parrott’s episode who was the first design hire at The Browser Company