Dive Club 🤿

Over the last few months, Tommy Geoco has went on site to study today’s top design teams (Vercel, Perplexity, Metalab, Ramp, etc.).
So this week’s episode is a deep dive into all of the trends he’s seeing around AI workflows and where design is headed next.
Some highlights:
Why 59% of designers build their own tools
Tommy’s current tool stack for AI design work
What signals show AI fluency in job interviews
Why internal tool building is the new career path
Why now is the best time to grow in the design community
How design workflows have become creative director roles
a lot more

Ben Blumenrose (mentioned as having good insights on design)

How do the best designers shape strategy at companies like Shopify?
That’s what today’s episode with Design Director Katarina Batina is all about.
Some highlights:
Balancing metrics and vision
Redesigning the shopping cart UX
Taking a big bet on the shopping feed
How product strategy has changed with AI
How to get people excited about your ideas
How to make sure you don't overcook your app
a lot more

Katarina mentioned John Rundle and Luke Dupont

Rafa Conde (https://x.com/rafahari) is a design engineer at Retro and one of the most creative designers I know. I still remember where I was when I first saw the video on his personal site (https://rafa.design/) 😂
In this episode we unpack what it means to design experiences that bring delight :)
Some highlights:
- Finding ways to introduce delight
- How to make users feel something
- The power of humor in your design
- How to lean into video as a superpower
- Balancing accessibility and delightful UX
- Behind the scenes of Rafa's side projects
- + a lot more

- Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation 1) — directed by Hideo Kojima, referenced for its fourth-wall-breaking design moments (Meryl’s codec frequency hidden on the game box; Psycho Mantis boss fight requiring the controller to be switched from port 1 to port 2)
- Sunlit app — gyroscope-based app for tracking sun position and light direction, referenced as a recent example of surprising UI: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.lonepalm.coloringworld&pli=1
- Retro app — private social network for friends and family (what Instagram used to be); Rafa’s current employer: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/retro-photos-with-friends/id6443709020
- Splat app — Retro’s generative AI app for iPad/iPhone that turns photos of kids into coloring book pages: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/splat-magic-coloring-book/id6749165093
- Hand Mirror app — Rafa’s most popular side project, a menu bar camera app: [https://handmirror.app](https://handmirror.app/)
- Gabe Valdivia’s episode — early Dive Club episode (~ep. 30) where Gabe talked about designers needing to be like “little TikTok creators” inside their orgs: https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/gabe-valdivia
- Final Cut Pro — Rafa’s video editing tool of choice: https://creatorstudio.apple.com/info/try?itscg=20201&itsct=acs-sem-187498456050-794866723417&pt=2003&ct=css-187498456050-794866723417

Imagine going from IC to leading the Wealthsimple design team in a few short years…
That was Polly D’arcy’s (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pollydarcy/) journey and today’s episode covers everything she’s learned along the way. We go deep into design leadership, craft, hiring, and a lot more.
Some highlights:
- Why Polly hires specialists over generalists
- Tactics to nail your next portfolio presentation
- What it looks like to lean into the moment with AI
- How Polly defines design quality at WealthSimple
- Polly’s go-to interview question to evaluate designers
- How AI is changing team composition and design roles

Capital, early Cash App, and most recently, X, all have one designer in common — [Brandon Jacoby](https://x.com/JacobyBrandon).
In this episode Brandon is talking about how he’s combining his years of experience designing with fresh, high-functioning teams and is now launching an all-new independent practice to help founders push past good enough.
He shares some really interesting thoughts on taste, being creative with AI, and how to thrive in a 0->1 environment.
Some highlights:
- The types of designer who get most amplified by AI
- What it takes to thrive while designing a 0→1 experience
- How Brandon is positioning himself as a new independent
- The difference between "seeing taste" and "creating taste"
- What Nikita (X Head of Product) taught Brandon about onboarding
- + a lot more

- John Lasseter (Pixar director) quote - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFbOOjAC_Fg
- Tolan app (mentioned as example of creative onboarding) - https://www.tolans.com/
- Owen Jennings at Block (Brandon’s mentor for 4 years) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/owenbrittonjennings/
- Nikita (former Head of Product at X) - https://x.com/nikitabier