UX News
A look at what's going on in the field of user experience.
The carbon score: Environmental stewardship or selling virtue as a commodity?
, UX Collective - MediumHow carbon scores, daily allowances, and eco labels reveal the fine line between genuine sustainability and virtue signalling.
The curse of modern AI tools
, UX Planet - MediumToo much freedom, too little controlHave you noticed that all popular AI tools look the same? They offer you an input field and invite you to express your intention. Take ChatGPT, for example. It’s basically a blank canvas that invites you to explain the task you want to complete.
GhatGPT home screen.All too often, expressing intent takes a significant amount of time. As a result, we can feel that we are having a prompt treadmill situation (https://uxplanet.org/5-things-to-do-to-avoid-prompt-treadmill-when-crafting-design-with-ai-0569d4894473) when we are stuck in progress and cannot move forward.
The ecology of a merger
, UX Collective - MediumGregory Bateson and the art of staying in conversation with yourself.This week, someone asked me a question that deserves more than a quick answer:
How can a company get bigger without making the experience worse for the people who already trust it?I’m Nate Sowder, and this is unquoted, installment 10. Today, we’re talking mergers and acquisitions.
Claude For Code: How to use Claude to Streamline Product Design Process
, UX Planet - MediumAnthropic Claude is a primary competitor of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Just like ChatGPT this is versatile tool that can be use used in many different purposes but there is an area where Claude shines and this area is coding. Claude is great at code-adjacent design tasks and can be used as a nice supporting tool for everyday product design activities.
In this article I will explore 3 ways how UI designers can benefit from integrating this tool in their design process.
The illusion of alignment
, UX Collective - MediumHow designers create true alignment with visual thinkingI want to tell you about my favorite apple. It’s incredible. It’s hands down the most delicious apple of all time! When you see it hanging on a tree, its color invites you to come closer and take a bite. When it’s ripe, the flavor is amazing, complemented with a delightfully pleasing texture. It’s a fantastic fruit that fills you with delight.
What kind of apple are you imagining?Now, what kind of apple did you imagine? Was it red, green, or yellow? Was the taste tart, sweet, or mild? Where did you imagine that tree…in a field, backyard, or in an orchard? Every person reading this description has a different kind of apple in mind. Yet, we’re all speaking the same language, using the same terms to talk about the same apple. The language is the same, but the ideas in our heads are different.
The economics of AI in UX
, UX Collective - MediumReasons to be optimisticAdvancements in AI continue to generate excitement for those in tech and product-focused fields. Coming along for the ride with that excitement is proportionate anxiety for many, especially those in UX. New AI advancements and employer expectations raise various concerns that tend to fall under the larger banner of something like “will AI reduce the need for UX designers and researchers?”. Thomas Stokes at Drill Bit Labs reports a year-over-year increase of almost 7% in UX job postings mentioning AI. Are User Experience and related fields like Human Factors and Human-Computer Interaction in the early phases of being relegated to the sidelines? While I understand and empathize with this concern, I also believe it is often misplaced. Fundamental economic principles and recent historical patterns suggest something more nuanced and optimistic. The UX workforce is more likely to see its daily job responsibilities and overall market positioning transform and evolve than become outdated and marginalized.
My goal for this post is simply to offer a few thoughts on the future of UX based on proven economic principles and historical examples I hope will inspire optimism.
5 Things To Do To Avoid Prompt Treadmill When Crafting Design With AI
, UX Planet - MediumPrompt treadmill is a situation that happens when you get stuck endlessly rewriting prompts to “make AI understand” your design intention, instead of actually moving forward. It’s one of the most annoying things that can happen when you work with AI, as you feel like you’re not moving forward, but instead burn rubber while remaining stuck in a rut.
In this article, I want to offer 5 practical recommendations that will help you avoid a prompt treadmill.
UX Practitioners’ Satisfaction with Pay Transparency
, MeasuringUIs sharing pay information a good idea? What happens when companies share more about how they pay their people?
So-called pay transparency refers to company policies that encourage the sharing of compensation-related information, such as salary ranges, pay scales, and compensation structures. This information may be supplied to current employees, job candidates, or the public. If current trends continue, by 2026, about half of U.S. employees will work for companies that practice some degree of pay transparency.
Common UX mistakes everyone still makes 2.0
, UX Planet - Mediumno need to stab yourself in the eyes anymoreBack in 2018 I wrote about the most common UX mistakes low-code developers make.
A lot has changed since then, except for one thing:Developers are still coming up with poor excuses to ignore good UX.
What UX Hiring Managers Want and What UX Practitioners Report Doing (2025)
, MeasuringUIs there a misalignment in skills in the UX profession? Specifically, when UX managers are hiring, is there a misalignment in what applicants and current practitioners report doing and the skills managers need?
In a previous article, we did a deep dive into what UX practitioners reported doing in the 2024 UXPA salary survey, tracking UX methods usage from 2014 through 2024.