Iotacons

Iotacons are clever low-resolution portraits by illustrator Andy Rash. There’s a whole lotta win here.

The Big Lebowski

Pulp Fiction

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

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.

algorithms

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?

interview

The Rise of Artificial Intelligence: How AI Will Affect UX Design

Adobe profiled and interviewed Big Medium’s Josh Clark about the opportunities and challenges facing UX designers in a world of machine learning and artificial intelligence.

process

MVP: I Do Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means

“Minimum viable product” somehow got corrupted to mean ”the crummiest thing we can get away with taking to market.” Use the real MVP to make better products and reduce risk.

security

Set Up Your Own Private VPN with Streisand

This remarkable software project gives you a private VPN service with easy setup at low cost and zero maintenance.

mobile

Your Traffic Went Mobile; Why Hasn’t Your Design Process?

The mobile audience is now twice as big as desktop. Does your organization’s design process reflect that mobile is now your primary platform?

What We’re Reading

Social Cooling

Tijmen Schep coins a phrase to describe the chilling effect of the reputation economy on the expression and exploration of ideas.

How Germany’s Otto Uses Artificial Intelligence

Machine learning is trying to one-up just-in-time inventory with what can only be called before-it’s-time inventory.

The Surprising Repercussions of Making AI Assistants Sound Human

Wired’s Elizabeth Stinson considers whether we really want human personality from our bots—or whether it’s just unhelpful misdirection.

The Machine Learning Paradox

Mike Loukides explains why predictive algorithms must be imperfect (and error prone) in order to contend with real-world data.

The City Was Connected

Dan Hon imagines what happens when all of a city’s systems are connected, incentivized, gamified, and bureaucratically weaponized.

If Google Teaches an AI to Draw, Will That Help It Think?

Alexis Madrigal considers the creative future of machine-generated sketches—and what it teaches us about how humans think, too.

By Josh Clark