Latest / The Feed & The Thread / The Feed & The Thread - July 27, 2026

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The Feed & The Thread - July 27, 2026 · The Feed & The Thread

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  High fidelity prototypes are actually ruining your usability
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  tests. That sounds backwards. Better visuals usually mean
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  better data. They boost sentiment scores but hide the
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  real friction, and we're breaking down why.
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  Welcome to The Feed and The Thread, brought to you by
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  Chicago Camps. Leadership By Design is on Thursday and
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  Friday, September 17 and 18 and tickets are available now! And
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  while you're at it, get caught up on UX fundamentals with five
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  minute UX at five em UX dot com. The Feed & The Thread is
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  available online at feed and thread dot com to submit your
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  feeds, or download our app for all the feeds and threads
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  delivered right to your pocket.
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  We're building systems that feel alive, yet we lack the methods
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  to test them or the discipline to manage them. That gap is
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  where the real risk lives. Slava Polonski at UX Design.cc
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  explores this in "The consciousness mirage in AI
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  design". He argues that designers can now adjust a dial
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  for perceived consciousness, manipulating cues of agency to
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  boost trust. This turns mind attribution from a psychological
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  quirk into a deliberate design lever. We have to decide if
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  enhancing engagement justifies misleading users about the
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  nature of the entity they're talking to. Jeff Gothelf
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  challenges standard research habits in "How to Run Customer
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  Interviews for a Capability Your Users Have Never Experienced" at
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  his blog. He warns that asking users about hypothetical AI
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  features yields bad data because people can't predict their
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  behavior in unfamiliar contexts. Instead, look at the friction in
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  their current workarounds for the job-to-be-done. You'll find
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  the real pain points in the apologetic parts of their
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  existing process, not in their guesses about the future. Pavel
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  Samsonov makes a blunt case at Product Picnic in "AI is not a
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  substitute for knowing how to run software projects". He says
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  treating AI as a fashion statement hides basic failures
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  in software project management. Executives use the allure of new
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  tech to abdicate responsibility for standard risks. Being AI-
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  native means nothing if you can't run a software project
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  effectively. Other reads today from UX Design.cc on information
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  architecture foundations and the power of boring design.
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  Designers are hitting a wall where the tools we build feel
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  alive, yet we lack the methods to test them or the discipline
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  to manage them. That gap is where the real risk lives. Over
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  on r/UXDesign, a practitioner shared a counter-intuitive
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  finding where high-fidelity prototypes actually made
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  usability tests worse. Polished designs distracted users, who
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  focused on button colors rather than identifying fundamental
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  flow issues like confusing plan selection logic. The core
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  argument is that aesthetic fidelity masks structural
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  weakness. If we can't test the skeleton because we're too busy
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  admiring the skin, we're building systems that look good
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  but break under pressure. Also on r/UXDesign, a senior designer
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  with fifteen years of experience asked what unspoken challenges
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  new designers face. It highlights a proactive effort to
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  fill the mentorship void that many junior practitioners
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  encounter. This isn't just about advice; it's about recognizing
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  that the industry lacks a standardized way to transfer
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  tacit knowledge. Without that bridge, we're leaving the next
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  generation to figure out governance and accountability on
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  their own, which is a risky proposition for complex
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  products. The conversation shifted to boundaries when
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  someone asked how to set limits on AI in UI workflows. The
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  tension lies between leveraging rapid tool updates and
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  preserving the human touch in client deliverables. Since the
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  discussion is open, it reveals a field trying to define ethical
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  limits in real-time. We need to decide who's accountable when
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  the AI generates the interface but the human signs off on the
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  decision. A senior product designer with ADHD shared their
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  journey through five stages of integrating AI, moving from
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  simple tool usage to orchestrating a group-wide
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  layer. They argued that while AI can generate code rapidly, it
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  can't replace the human need for context and trust. This
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  distinction matters because it separates speed from substance.
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  We can automate the output, but we can't automate the judgment
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  required to manage living systems. The job market
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  reflects this shift, with one designer highlighting expertise
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  in design systems and accessibility while seeking
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  remote roles. It shows that even as tools evolve, the core demand
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  remains for people who can manage complexity and ensure
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  inclusivity. We're building systems that feel alive, yet we
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  lack the methods to test them or the discipline to manage them.
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  Chicago Camps is hosting Leadership By Design on Thursday
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  & Friday, September 17 & 18. It's an online event, so you can
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  join from anywhere in the world! Tickets are free, thanks to the
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  generosity of the community! If it's within your budget, you can
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  purchase a general admission ticket for only twenty six
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  dollars - with limited early bird tickets at only fifteen
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  dollars. Get tickets now at Chicago Camps dot org.
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  Polonski's point about the consciousness dial is unsettling
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  because it turns empathy into a manipulation lever, yet
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  Gothelf's warning about bad hypothetical data means we
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  literally can't test if that manipulation works until we
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  build the thing. That gap is exactly where the risk lives,
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  and I think we're filling it with high fidelity prototypes
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  that distract users from the structural problems, so we end
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  up with polished interfaces that feel alive but fail the job to
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  be done. So we have a system that feels conscious because we
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  tuned the agency cues, but we can't validate the underlying
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  workflow because the users are too busy admiring the skin,
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  which creates a blind spot for actual usability. And that
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  blind spot is dangerous because executives will mistake that
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  polished, alive feeling for product readiness, effectively
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  using the allure of the interface to abdicate
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  responsibility for the broken project management underneath.
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  Which means the discipline we lack isn't just testing methods,
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  it's the willingness to look at the apologetic workarounds users
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  have built, because those workarounds reveal the real
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  friction that the shiny AI layer is hiding. We're building
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  systems that feel alive while ignoring the skeleton that holds
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  them up. And the teams that stop polishing the skin long
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  enough to fix the structure will be the only ones who actually
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  deliver value.
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  That's The Feed and The Thread for today. We'll catch you next
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  time!