Dive Club 🤿

Board (https://board.fun/) has taken over social social media (and for good reason).

It’s one of the most obvious yet innovative products I’ve ever seen.

So as soon as Kevin Twohy (https://x.com/kevintwohy) shared a preview with me I knew we had to do an interview to get the behind-the-scenes (spoiler: I did buy it lol).

So this episode is a deep dive into his design process for the first ever tabletop game console:

- What he learned about prototyping hardware products

- Ho...

AI is reshaping how we design and build software, creating huge opportunities for designers who experiment, adapt, and help define what the practice looks like next. This session is your opportunity to learn directly from some of the best in the industry.

Imagine a world where handoff no longer exists and designers are moving fluidly in code…

[Drew Wilson](https://x.com/drewwilson) is one of the people pulling that future into the present so this week’s episode is a deep dive into his vision for the new design tool [Opacity](https://opacity.app/).

Some highlights:

- How team structures are changing

- How to stand out when everyone is a builder

- What design’s “Github moment” will look like

- The fracturing of the market for design tal...

Over the last few months one product has risen to the top of my inspiration list… ツSupercut (https://supercut.ai/)

The point of this episode is to figure out what it takes to consistently reach that level of excellence.

How do you maintain that level of attention to detail while preserving the speed that you need to hit when going 0 -> 1 on a new product?

This week's episode is with David (https://x.com/okuiux?lang=en) and [Neil](https://x.com/neiltak) the cofounders of Supercut which has quickly become one of my f...

We’re talking about craft in B2B SaaS... but what is it like designing for frontier interfaces like the Apple watch or even neural interfaces?

We find out in this week’s episode with Rooz Mahdavian. (https://x.com/roozm)

He’s the design engineer at Neuralink so we're about to get pretty nerdy and talk about what it’s like designing an experience that allows someone to use a computer with just their mind.

The level of detail and first-principles design thinking is truly impressive.

Some highlights:

- What i...

Imagine it’s your first day as a designer at Perplexity... and the VP of Design hands you the keys for their all-new AI browser, [Comet](https://www.perplexity.ai/comet).

That’s the story for [Escha Vera](https://x.com/eschadiol).

So this week’s episode is a deep dive into her design process and what it looks like to use AI like an artist.

- How she designed Comet onboarding experience

- Creating generative invite codes using multiple AI tools

- How she created the Perplexity design system...

What does the perfect e-commerce platform look like in an AI era?

That’s the question Shopify’s Chief Design Officer Carl Rivera has set out to answer so this week’s episode is all about Shopify’s big bet on design and craft as the ultimate differentiator.

We go deep into:

- What happens when AI makes everyone a 7/10 designer

- What most design teams get wrong when casting vision

- How design can lead the creation of truly native AI experiences

- Why every designer at Shopi...

Only a select few have multiple episodes on Dive Club and today Catt Small joins the ranks.

She has a gift for turning messy ideas into practical next steps so it’s no wonder her Staff Designer course is one of the top-rated on Maven.

In this episode we go deep into all of the ways you can make an impact by building influence on your team and effectively casting vision for your product.

Some highlights:

What does it take to make people feel something with design...?

This week's guest is kind of an expert on the question.

Sara Vienna (https://x.com/sravienna?lang=en) , the Chief Design Officer at Metalab, talks about the responsibility that designers have to shape this AI world that we're entering without losing the heartbeat of a brand.

We don't hold back on the current state of the industry and what it feels like to be a designer today.

Some highlights:

- How to not get swept up in...

I think we're entering a world where the market for fractional design is about to explode…

So this week's episode is with one of my favorite people in the industry, Gabe Valdivia.

We're going to explore his independent journey → how he made the jump, how he's evolved the practice in year two, and all of the lessons he's learned along the way.

Some highlights:

Too much of designing a startup happens behind closed doors

So I want to work with the garage door open while building Inflight (https://www.inflight.co/) as much as possible.

You already saw a bunch of the nitty gritty UI details (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D39Dv9MSlhs)…

But when you’re going 0 to 1 on something, the storytelling piece is often the hardest part.

So this episode is a sneak peek of a recent presentation we gave in SF (and some behind-the-scenes commentary to go along with it).

What does it look like to advance your career in the age of AI?

That’s what this week’s episode with Dan Winer (Director of Product Design at Kit) is all about.

He shares insights from his top-rated Maven course "Strategy and Influence for Product Designers" (https://join.dive.club/dan-winer-course)

So if you want to learn how to go from pixel pusher to strategic partner then this is the episode for you 💪

Some highlights:

- Dan’s strategies for effective storytelling

- How to shine a light o...

This week's episode is with Andy Zhang who was the lead design engineer at Windsurf. So we're going to shine a light on all of the ways you can make an impact as a design engineer including:

He also shares some great stories and advice including:

I’d bet real money that you have been on Smashing Magazine at some point in the last 18 years…

Good news is, this week I got to interview the founder, Vitaly Friedman, who is also one of the leading thinkers in UX right now.

In this episode we go deep into how AI is changing the way we interact with digital products and how our patterns and processes are evolving as a result.

Some highlights:

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 thin...

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:

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:

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 creating

Full 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:

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:

This week's episode is with Julian Lehr who is the storytelling lead at Linear

So 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:

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:

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-bnb

Alex Schl...

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:

We mentioned Nate Parrott’s...

This week’s episode is a first of its kind because we’re doing the ultimate deep dive into one of my favorite products: Raycast

We’ll here from the founders, design team, and even the hype team and go deep into all kinds of topics:

This is easily the most in-de...

The last two weeks with Inflight have been the most exhilarating of my entire career…

So I want to use Dive Club  to provide unprecedented levels of access to life as a design founder.

I’m talking about the messy behind-the-scenes, hideous Figma concepts, and all of the winding turns that we've taken to get where we're at today.

This is gonna be as raw as it gets.

And hopefully by shining a light on some of the things I'm learning, it turns into a video series that you want to keep w...

This week's episode is with Darrin Henein who is the VP of Design at Shopify. We talk about how they create a culture of excellence and how AI is influencing the way they practice the design.

Some highlights:

There’s a new design tool called Subframe that’s officially caught my eye 👀

So I asked their co-founder Filip Skrzesinksi to give us a demo and talk through their vision.

I found some of their AI interaction patterns fascinating (especially the way they approach prototyping and contextual edits).

If you’re interested in the future of design tooling then I think you’ll like this episode and you can use the code DIVECLUB to get your first month free 👌

There are two types of companies today:

This week’s episode is all about #2 because we get to hear from Ioana Teleanu who was the first AI designer at Miro and is now a dedicated AI+Design consultant.

So a big theme of this conversation is how to identify the right opportunities to design AI into a product that’s already working. Ioana shares a bunch of stories and lessons learned from her time at Miro as well as a refreshing perspective on A...

This week we get to hear from Jesse Kulp who is the original designer for Google AI Studio.

He shares what it was like going 0→1 as the sole designer and his ideas for where AI design is headed next

I think we're gonna look back in a couple years, the kind of silly stuff we're doing today and say it looks like child's play… Jesse Kulp

some highlights:

Stephen previously co-founded Modulz which created Radix UI, now used by Vercel, Linear, and Jetsi.

Now he’s the founder of the most influential design tool on the market — Paper.

In this episode, Stephen gives us a look at how Paper is fundamentally changing the speed of traditional design flows.

Some highlights:

A year ago, it felt like AI-generated UI was about to have its moment. But now the landscape looks a LOT different than what people expected.

So this episode answers the question "what's next?"

Because there's still an untapped opportunity that I believe will become very real soon...

This week, Zach Leach (Head of Design at Gamma) gives a behind-the-scenes of what it’s like designing one of the hottest AI products in the world today.

He shares a ton of techniques and lessons learned from working with LLMs—including some ways to make AI fun again :) And we also learn what makes design at Gamma a bit unorthodox in all the best ways.

Some highlights:

The more I study today's top design teams, the more clear it’s becoming that we're entering the era of a new type of design leader— one with taste and the skills necessary to uphold craft.

So this episode studies this new archetype of leader by highlighting clips from design leaders at Airbnb, Ramp, Duolingo, and more…

Mig Reyes is the VP of Product Experience at Duolingo (and a design director at Instagram before that).

In this episode he shared a behind-the-scenes of how design operates at Duolingo (as well as some harsh truths designers need to hear).

I talk to a lot of designers at the pinnacle of their career…

So I’m always trying to figure out how they’ve evolved the way they practice design over the years.

Once I hear the same answer from a few different people I start to pay attention 👀

So here are a few trends I’m noticing for how the best designers get alignment on their teams.

Anthropic has quickly become a category-defining company and in this episode Kyle Turman (their first full-time designer) shares a behind-the-scenes of what it was like designing Claude.

If you’re interested in startups, AI products, or the art of prompting then this conversation will be right up your alley.

Some highlights:

There's a parallel I'm noticing between what's happening today with AI and what happened way back in 2013.

So this episode studies the early days of Snapchat, the emergence of high-fidelity prototyping tools, and answers the question “what does it look like to have agency in 2025?”

Tuhin Kumar has designed at some of the most prolific companies in the world (early Facebook, Airbnb and Apple).

But everything’s changing in his new role…

Because now he’s the Head of Design at Luma AI which is one of the companies leading the charge on generative AI.

So this episode goes deep on how the value prop of design is shifting.

Some highlights:

There are two goals that designers almost always group together:

But my interview with Sam Stephenson changed my thinking completely 👀

So this episode breaks down Granola’s go-to-market strategy and why I’m copying it for my own startup.