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Hot take for designers experimenting with AI + legacy systems: You don’t have to pick one AI tool and hope it integrates perfectly with your design archive. If you can get to the code, you can make it work. I’ve been testing different AI platforms for strategy and prototyping. What I realized: You can use any AI tool you’re comfortable with to think, prototype, and generate UI — as long as it outputs code. Then: 1. Copy the generated code 2. Paste it into Figma Make 3. Let Figma rebuild it using your UI/style library 4. Edit, refine, and share inside your real system That means: • Strategy can live anywhere • Prototyping can move fast • Your design system still governs the final output AI becomes a thinking partner. Figma stays the system of record. For teams sitting on years of legacy designs and wondering how to bridge that with AI experimentation — this is a practical path. #DesignSystems #AIforDesign #Figma #ProductDesign #DesignOps

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Hiring is the most important thing a leader does. It’s also the easiest place to lie to yourself. Every hire echoes. Across the company, across the team, across the work, and across timelines you won’t connect back to the decision that caused them. A great hire lifts everyone around them. A mediocre one slows things down in ways no roadmap will ever explain. None of this is controversial. We all *say* hiring matters. The real question is how people actually do it. In Design, that question usually leads to tests: take-home exercises, artificial prompts, imaginary constraints. I used to run them. I stopped more than a decade ago because I think they're bullshit. Design tests optimize for the wrong signals inside a situation that never exists. Most people judging them aren’t designers, so they default to what they can see: taste, polish, and vibes. Even when the reviewer has product experience, the work is still detached from reality. There’s no pressure, no politics, no half-broken systems, no tradeoffs you didn’t choose. That’s not how Design work shows up on the job. Real Design is shaped by conditions outside your control: compressed timelines, incomplete strategies, inconsistent requirements, features that can’t ship yet, data that doesn’t tell the full story. How something looks is usually secondary to whether it holds up under those constraints and still solves the right problem for the right people. It's messy, to say the least. So I don’t test. I talk. I keep it casual: normal language, no jargon. We walk through their work and I stay on the parts that actually matter: what they learned, where they were wrong, what surprised them, what they’d do differently, what work they admire and why. I’ll ask about their exposure to art, what keeps them interested, and how they stay engaged when the work isn’t glamorous. I’m trying to understand the person, not the artifact, because good Design comes from intelligent, empathetic people—not clever outputs. My hiring filter is simple: does this person actually like Design, do they care about solving problems for regular people, are they smarter than me (low bar), and are they humble. The goal is to surround myself with people who are better than me—more capable, more driven, more rigorous. If I’m the smartest person in the room, I’ve already failed. My job in that room isn’t to be the hero. It’s to bring judgment earned through experience, then get challenged by people who will push the work—and push me—past my defaults. If you’re hiring Designers because they make pretty work and stay deferential, you’re not building a Design team. You’re protecting your ego. --- Shameless plug: If this resonates with you, I'm hiring a Senior Product Designer for Octave. Join our Design team and craft meaningful experiences for real people trying to improve lives: https://lnkd.in/gU4MgMhN

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The industry's perspective on the value of potential Senior/Lead UX/Design Engineers is evolving. Here's a breakdown of the current and projected salary ranges: Today: - Senior/Lead roles: approximately $12K to $16K By 2030: - Junior roles: approximately $6K to $10K - Senior roles: approximately $12K to $16K - Lead roles: approximately $18K to $22K This data highlights that once the industry gets a better understanding of what these roles offer, the value of each of these roles will increase over time (similar to the way UX roles became more well-defined while also offering a better salary over time). #thoughtleaders #pioneers #lifeofapioneer #pavingtheway #buildingtheladder #value #salaryrange #evolution #uxengineering #uxengineers #designengineering #designengineers #frontenddevelopment #frontenddevelopers #changeiscoming #uxleaders #uxleadership #ux #uxindustry #uxdesign #hybridroles #careeropportunities #globaltopvoices #industryleaders #sgux #sguxleaders

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Most designers say they want impact. What they really want is proof. At scale, I had to formalize proof. I once built a quarterly UX strategy using Jared Spool's Persuasive Metrics to connect design decisions to revenue. A 2% reduction in onboarding friction translated into six figures in retained revenue. That was the language the room spoke. Dashboards. Quarterly reviews. Attribution models. Impact had to be quantified before it was believed. Now I’m at a tiny startup. Last week, a customer Slacked: “Magemetrics saves me days on campaign reports.” Following the rebrand, a prospect opened the site and said: “Okay. This feels serious.” These calls felt different: less explaining, fewer objections, more trust. No attribution model. No presentation. Just behavior changing in real time. Here’s what’s different: In enterprise, proof arrives as numbers. In startups, proof shows up as decisions. Enterprise feedback arrives filtered and quarterly; startup impact is immediate. Doubt slows deals. Confidence speeds them up. Immediacy forces clarity. You take fewer performative bets. You stop optimizing for presentations. You design to remove doubt. Because you’re not defending slides — you’re shaping what happens next.

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For mid-career designers and product professionals, the path isn't always a straight ladder. Many will find themselves in a hybrid space, blending deep craft with strategic leadership, without a clear title to match. This unique role requires its own set of strategies for growth and impact. If you're navigating this complex terrain—whether as a manager or a freelancer carving your own path. You can use the tips in the slide below, and make sure to follow Brave Achievers for more actionable insights on building a fulfilling and successful career. #DesignCareer #ProductManagement #MidCareer #CareerGrowth #FreelanceDesigner #ProductDesign #ICvsManager #DesignLeadership #CreativeFreelancer

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Product designers aren't just making things pretty. They're secret weapons for rapid product validation. 🚀 Last month, I talked to a PM and he told me that he spent 6 weeks building features based on assumptions. The result? Users hated it. Complete rebuild required. ⏰💸 But here's what he figured out: UX/UI isn't decoration. It's validation currency. 💰 Here's how design accelerates your product decisions: 🎯 RAPID PROTOTYPING = INSTANT FEEDBACK Skip months of development. Build interactive prototypes in days. Test with real users before writing a single line of code. 📊 USER JOURNEY MAPPING = ASSUMPTION KILLER Designers force you to walk in your users' shoes. Every pain point becomes visible. Every assumption gets challenged. 🔄 A/B TESTING MADE VISUAL Two design variations = two hypotheses tested simultaneously. Data-driven decisions in weeks, not quarters. ⚡ STAKEHOLDER ALIGNMENT AT LIGHT SPEED Nothing sells an idea like seeing it. Mockups get buy-in faster than any PowerPoint deck ever will. The math is simple: 2 weeks of design exploration > 2 months of wrong product development 📈 I've seen PMs cut validation cycles from 3 months to 3 weeks just by partnering with design from day one. Not after requirements. Not after wireframes. From the first "what if" conversation. 🤝 Your users don't care about your backlog priorities. They care about whether your product actually solves their problem. Design helps you find out before you build. 🎯 What's your biggest challenge in validating product ideas quickly? Drop it in the comments - let's solve it together! 💬 -------------------- 🙋🏻‍♂️ Hi there! I'm Matías Sandoval ‍🧑🏻‍💻 I'm a Product | UX/UI designer 🤩 Helping brands craft experiences that users love 🔔 Follow me for more content ♻ If you found this helpful, please share this post 😉 💼 Let's work together on Contra: https://lnkd.in/e-5tXMUx

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🚨 State of the Design Job Market in 2025. 1️⃣ Open design roles are climbing again — up 16% from last year’s low (now ~5,053), though still well below the 2022 boom. 2️⃣ Layoffs are easing — down from 430k tech layoffs in 2023 to a projected 183k in 2025. 3️⃣ Remote work has stabilized — 21% of design jobs are remote; ~20% looks like the new baseline. 4️⃣ The Bay Area is still the design capital — 16.6% of all open roles are in SF, with other hotspots in NYC, Seattle, Bengaluru, and Tel Aviv. 5️⃣ Public tech companies dominate — nearly double the openings compared to unicorns and early-stage startups; Amazon leads with 3X more roles than Apple. 6️⃣ AI is fueling demand for interface design — AI-native companies now have more design openings than marketplaces and hardware. 7️⃣ Senior designers are still in the driver’s seat — most roles require senior-level experience, but 1 in 3 target entry/mid-level. 8️⃣ Hardware–software hybrid roles are trending — especially as more devices become AI-driven interfaces. There’s a lot to be optimistic about — hiring is healthier, AI is creating new opportunities, and design remains essential to tech’s future.

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Lots of buzz lately about Super IC Product Design roles… If you're a Senior, Lead, Staff, or Principal Product Designer this is your moment. Teams are hiring for high-impact ICs who want to stay hands-on, lead big design challenges, and shape product strategy without going the manager route. Want to find these hidden roles? Here are some Boolean search tricks to help you: 1. Job Titles + Hiring Signals ("Senior Product Designer" OR "Staff Product Designer" OR "Principal Product Designer" OR "Lead Product Designer") ("we're hiring" OR "open role" OR "join our team") 2. Founders & Team Leads Posting Openings ("Senior Product Designer" OR "Lead Product Designer") ("looking for" OR "need a designer" OR "design partner needed") 3. X/Twitter-style Buzzwords ("Principal Product Designer") ("dream job" OR "next big thing" OR "zero to one") 4. Hidden Company Pages ("Product Designer") (site:angel.co OR site:wellfound.com OR site:notion.so) ("we’re hiring" OR "open roles") 5. Remote-friendly Roles ("Staff Product Designer") ("remote" OR "work from anywhere") ("hiring now") These searches work great on Google and LinkedIn. You'll dig up roles that never hit the big job boards. Time to go find the new job! #design #designer #superic #staffdesigner #principaldesigner #leaddesigner #seniordesigner #productdesigner #ux #ui #interactiondesigner #userexperience #supericdesinger #productdesign #designjobs

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The design hiring landscape is shifting in 2026. Three things I'm seeing right now... Companies are no longer just hiring "designers". They want strategic thinkers who understand business impact. A great portfolio isn't enough anymore, candidates need to articulate how their work moved metrics. This is across brand, UX, UI, Service, interaction, and digital design. Remote work has opened up global talent pools, but it has also intensified competition for international clients. Here in the Middle East, you still need to be on the ground in the office (some of the time), collaborating with your colleagues and meeting clients. The surprising part, smaller companies are out-competing enterprise brands for top talent. They're offering more autonomy, faster decision-making, and the chance to shape product direction. What is your hiring strategy for 2026? aspexx. #futresdesigned #recruitment #growth

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Org design is not static. It’s a lever. ✅ Start simple. ✅ Add structure as complexity demands it. ✅ Reassess every 6–12 months. In the earliest days, product-focused engineers maximize speed. As you scale, pods create clarity and sustainable growth. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer. But there is a right answer depending on your stage, complexity, and growth trajectory. Let’s break it down 👉 https://lnkd.in/ehznNTkt #TechHiring #EngineeringLeadership #SaaS #TalentAcquisition

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