Latest / The Feed & The Thread / The Feed & The Thread - March 21, 2026

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The Feed & The Thread - March 21, 2026 · The Feed & The Thread

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  So users can't even tell what your site's AI chatbot is for.
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  That's wild, because we've been adding them everywhere. And the
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  research says most people just ignore them completely. I'd like
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  to know if the research shows how many times people ask for a
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  human, or just abandon the site altogether. If the value isn't
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  clear, the tool is useless. Let's get into it.
• 0:22
  Welcome to The Feed and The Thread, brought to you by
• 0:24
  Chicago Camps. There's an open call for speakers for UX Camp
• 0:27
  Summer on May 30th, so now is your chance to get on stage and
• 0:30
  share your ideas! You can use our Proposal Counselor to help
• 0:32
  you get submitted today. The Feed & The Thread is available
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  online at feed and thread dot com to submit your feeds, or
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  right to your pocket.
• 0:48
  Is design becoming a guessing game where intuition replaces
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  research, or is that just a marketing trap? Today's Feed
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  tackles the tension between AI hype and the hard work of
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  problem solving. Google claims 'Vibe Design' is here, yet Elvis
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  Hsiao at UX Design.cc argues this buzzword trivializes the
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  essential work of accessibility and systematic thinking in his
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  piece, "Google says 'Vibe Design' is here, but it didn't
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  pass my vibe check." Elvis contends that while Wall Street
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  fears AI will eliminate jobs, the reality is that machines
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  can't replicate the depth of human research required for
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  successful products. This distinction matters because
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  treating design as a simple generation task ignores the
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  complex decisions that actually drive user trust. And if you
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  think users are ready for AI, think again. Maria Rosala and
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  her team at Nielsen Norman Group found that most people can't
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  even tell what a site chatbot is for in their article, "What Is
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  Your Site's AI Chatbot for? Users Can't Tell." They
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  discovered that companies often deploy these tools without a
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  clear role, leaving users confused between a search bar
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  and a human assistant. That ambiguity means your chatbot is
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  likely just invisible noise on the page. Finally, there's a
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  persistent bug where dropdown menus get clipped inside
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  scrollable containers. Godstime Aburu at Smashing Magazine
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  explains why simple z-index fixes fail in "Dropdowns Inside
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  Scrollable Containers: Why They Break And How To Fix Them
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  Properly." He shows how the collision of overflow clipping
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  and stacking contexts breaks the user flow, suggesting React
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  portals as a reliable solution. This technical detail highlights
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  how browser systems can silently break accessibility if we don't
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  manage focus correctly. Codrops and iA both dropped strong
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  pieces today — worth a look.
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  Today's community chatter is heavy on the tools we use and
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  the paths we take. Over on r/UI_Design, the conversation is
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  about whether AI-generated posts should be banned entirely. This
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  isn't just about spam. It's about protecting the quality of
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  human feedback in a space that's getting flooded. If we can't
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  distinguish between human struggle and machine output, the
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  whole point of the community breaks down. And if people can't
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  be bothered to play editor to their AI-generated content,
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  they're part of the problem and not part of the solution. You
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  can't have it both ways, folks. In r/UXResearch, someone is
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  asking if testing paper forms still matters in a digital
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  world. It sounds old school, but it reveals a fundamental truth.
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  Paper strips away the polish and forces you to see where logic
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  fails before code gets in the way. That friction is where you
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  find the real problems. Over on r/UI_Design, a designer is
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  sharing a fintech app and wondering if it actually feels
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  trustworthy. Trust in finance isn't just about clean lines or
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  nice colors. It's about clarity and control. If a user can't
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  instantly tell where their money is going, the prettiest
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  interface in the world won't save them. In r/UXResearch,
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  people are stuck choosing between a pure research role and
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  a data insights position. The lines are blurring because
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  companies want researchers who can crunch numbers too. But
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  chasing the data analyst title might mean losing the deep
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  qualitative empathy that makes research valuable in the first
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  place. Finally, over on r/UXDesign, teams are reporting
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  that adding AI tools is making them feel lost. It's not that
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  the tools are bad. It's that the workflow has changed so fast
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  nobody has a map. We're spending more time prompting than we're
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  designing, and the results are often just confusing. The mood
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  today feels less like excitement about new tech and more like a
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  deep breath before we figure out where we actually fit in this
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  new landscape.
• 4:23
  Chicago Camps is hosting UX Camp Summer on Saturday, May 30th.
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  There's an open call for speakers so submit your idea
• 4:28
  today! It's an online event, so you can join from anywhere in
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  the world! Tickets are free, thanks to the generosity of the
• 4:34
  community! If it's within your budget, you can purchase a
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  general admission ticket for only thirteen dollars and fifty
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  cents. Get tickets now at Chicago Camps dot org.
• 4:49
  The Nielsen Norman Group finding that users can't even identify
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  chatbots is a massive signal that we're solving the wrong
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  problem. Exactly, because we're obsessed with making the AI feel
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  human when the real issue is that the interface itself is
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  opaque. And that opacity is what Elvis Hsiao calls out when he
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  says "Vibe Design" ignores the systematic thinking needed for
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  trust. But I'm not sure we need more systems. I think we need
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  designers who are brave enough to strip away the AI hype
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  entirely. That's a bold stance. You're suggesting the solution
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  isn't better research, but just simpler, more honest interfaces?
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  Yeah, because if a user can't tell where their money is going
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  in a fintech app, no amount of qualitative research will fix
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  that broken flow. So the real work isn't fighting the AI, it's
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  building interfaces so clear that the AI is irrelevant to the
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  user's understanding. That's right. Which means the next
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  generation of senior designers won't be defined by how well
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  they prompt, but by how well they clarify. Agreed. The ones
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  who can cut through the noise to show users exactly what's
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  happening are the ones who will actually build trust.
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  That's The Feed and The Thread for today. We'll catch you next
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  time!