design
design system
The Most Exciting Design Systems Are Boring
Design systems should solve problems that designers confront over and over again, so that they can turn to more interesting challenges.
sentient design
Systems Smart Enough To Know When They're Not Smart Enough
Google and others offer wrong answers with matter-of-fact authority. How can designers build stronger signals of trust into data-driven interfaces?
future
Of Nerve and Imagination
The future is sitting right in front of us in plain view, waiting to be assembled. Do we have the nerve and imagination to piece it together?
ai
Values in the Wild
Anthropic researchers studied the “values” of Claude and how they manifest in actual conversation with users.
design
Welcome To the Era of MEH
Michal Malewicz explores what happens when AI commoditizes core design skills like research, craft, and taste—a race to the bottom. (But there’s an exciting way to move forward.)
design
Redesigning Design, the Cliff in Front of Us All
Greg Storey exhorts designers to recognize that it’s a new era, like it or not. Don’t look back, he says—reinvent.
process
Design Artifacts
Robin Rendle challenges designers to step back from rote process and “factory-like production” that wastes time and blocks good work.
design
2025: The Year Ahead
AI shifts from tool to design material. Product design moves from consolidation to innovation. Generative AI loses its sparkle. Sentient Design comes to the fore. Josh Clark unpacks the signals reshaping design, strategy, and creativity in 2025.
sentient design
When Combinations of Humans and A.I. are Useful
A research study raises challenging questions about collaborative AI interfaces, including the value of “human in the loop” interfaces and explanations of AI logic and confidence scores.
sentient design
Introducing Generative Canvas
Salesforce is piloting a radically adaptive, AI-mediated dashboard for CRM users. Look out, enterprise, here comes Sentient Design.
ai
John Maeda: Josh Clark's 2019 talk on Design and AI
Design legend John Maeda discovers some old gold from Big Medium’s Josh Clark.
ai
AI + Design: Figma Users Tell Us What’s Coming Next
A survey of Figma users indicates that AI is making its way into most companies’ product pipelines, but the solutions they’re shipping are… uninspired.
sentient design
This is the Moment to Reinvent Your Product
Will you use AI to get better/faster at things you already do, or will you invent new ways to do things that weren’t previously possible?
leadership
Do More with Less: Digital Leadership in Lean Times
Josh Clark shares nine principles to guide high-performing teams to deliver faster/better/cheaper in an era of shrinking budgets.
design
The Technology We Deserve
Smart gadgets often abuse their trust or overreach their capabilities. A personal list of favorite fitness devices yields some principles for good product design.
design
The Decade of Design
Figma interviewed a dozen experts, including Big Medium’s Josh Clark, to chronicle the rise of design in the past decade—and what comes next.
DDM
How Dotdash, Formerly About.com, Is Taking over the Internet
This may be the most successful design- and business-turnaround story Big Medium has been involved with. Fast Company tells the tale of Dotdash, the network formerly known as About.com.
sentient design
You’re Not Late to Machine Learning
If you’re worried that you’re behind in getting in on machine learning, never fear: AI has not so much come of age as reached an awkward adolescence. You’re right on time.