Vikalp

This is definitely going around my world as well. “If you aren’t building 17 things right now you’re going to be left behind and broke in a year.” “Tech as we know it is going to be obsolete, the only role is the product designer” etc. it’s exhausting and my stress has never been worse.

Wes Cook and the Centralia McDonald's Mural A personal story about discovering a mural in a McDonald's, an unknown artist named Wes Cook, saving the mural, and a conference talk about the whole thing.

over a year ago, i gave a talk at the xoxo conference about a mural, a mcdonald’s, and a man. (but it was also secretly about life, and legacy, and meaning.)

finally, i’m blogging the full story, with behind-the-scenes details, and a video of the talk.

enjoy. cabel.com/wes-cook-and...

Over on threads someone just use ai;dr and we all need to adopt that right quick

I am working on a beginner’s guide to vibe coding. Currently written for Claude Code but looking to expand to other tools eventually (when I get to them)

kenneth.dsouza.im/ai-workshop/

Karbon Based — Follow-ups to ‘And Stay Out’ Karbon Based is the internet home of Garrett Murray. Garrett is the Founder & Managing Director of Karbon, a mobile apps design and development agency. His current interests include mechanical keyboar...

Such succinct lines by @garre.tt summarising bad leaders & leadership. So true in indian tech/design space.

karbonbased.io/posts/2026/0...

Type Help by William Rous The Unsolvable Mystery

Please enjoy my top 10 free browser games of 2025:

1. Type Help william-rous.itch.io/type-help
2. Dragonsweeper danielben.itch.io/dragonsweeper/
3. Clues by Sam cluesbysam.com
4. Stimulation Clicker neal.fun/stimulation-...
5. The Collector split82.itch.io/the-collector

Strongly believe that the measure of success for a design manager is the team they can build. You may have published books and written blogs but if you don’t practice what you preach, then you are but a fraud.

The Dyson PencilVac Fluffycones™ cleaner | Global Premiere YouTube video by Dyson

In the sea of announcements, promises and showcases. Dyson shows how products are demonstrated and released, keeping it simple.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ve6J...

Hundreds of Free Images From Studio Ghibli Films Well this is just wonderful: Studio Ghibli has uploaded hundreds of high-resolution still images from almost all of their films, including all of the major ones: Princess Mononoke, Sprited Away, M

Studio Ghibli has uploaded hundreds of beautiful still images from almost all of their films, including all of the major ones. These individual artworks are free to download “by individual fans to further enjoy Studio Ghibli films”. [kottke.org]

Beware of the term "founding designer". It's usually a marketing term designed to get great designers to feel the prestige of being a founder without actually getting paid like one. If you take a job like this, insist on significant equity (i.e. not fractions of a percent).

So from my uniquely weird perspective after living in the UK through Brexit, being in India during Modi's demonetization, and living in Brazil when the real tanked during the Bolsonaro administration, I can confidentally say that Americans do not and can not understand how bad this is going to be.

With increasing hardware capability of devices, the software quality has gone down exponentially.

Every other application takes up more ram, storage and gets worse with every update.

wrote up some thoughts on how our interfaces are getting flatter, and how we might design with 💃 our bodies 🤸 in mind.

🧶 went ham on little yarn worlds

wattenberger.com/thoughts/our...

One of my favourite riddles: why does a mirror flip right and left, but not up and down?

🍾 Happy 100th anniversary to The New Yorker 🎉

Here's an updated version of a poster I first threw together a couple years ago depicting every cover to date. For the anniversary, that's 5,056 covers.

Enjoy! Subscribe! Support the amazing illustrators who produce these incredible covers.

Extremely glad to find this detailed look at how prop company make3 created that absolutely beautiful emete… uh, “woemeter” for the latest episode of Severence. It’s so very good!! make3.co/work/woemeter

There has been a lot of chatter today about Zelenskyy's meeting with Trump, some regarding this moment when White House correspondent Brian Glenn asked if the Ukrainian president plans to wear a suit. I want to address idea in this thread. 🧵

18F was doing exactly the type of work that DOGE claims to want – yet we were eliminated shortly after midnight. Read our letter to the American people:
18f.org

The #1 Workout That BLEW UP My Back (3 Exercises) YouTube video by Jeremy Ethier

For overall back: m.youtube.com/watch?v=0xvd...

I really like Jeremy's approach in breaking down the why, what and how around strength training.

Build A STRONG & Muscular Back With Pull Ups (TOP SECRET METHOD) YouTube video by Squat University

For pull ups, start with resistance bands for support and follow this: m.youtube.com/watch?v=p40i...

This one has all the fancy features. Haven't seen it anywhere else.

Timemore Basic 2.0 Electronic Espresso Scale with Timer Black Achieve precise coffee brewing with the Timemore Basic 2.0 Electronic Espresso Scale. Features a built-in timer, 0.1g accuracy, and USB rechargeable battery. Buy now at Brewing Gadgets.

How about Timemore? brewinggadgets.in/collections/...

The hardest working font in Manhattan A story of a 150-year-old font you have never heard of – and one you probably saw earlier today.

I think every designer should write a love letter to a font at least once in their lifetime.

This is mine: A 150-year-old font you have likely never heard of, and one you probably saw earlier today.

aresluna.org/the-hardest-...

Elon Musk’s Team Now Has Access to Treasury’s Payments System Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave Mr. Musk’s representatives at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency a powerful tool to monitor and potentially limit government spending.

1/ Musk seeking control over nerve systems of the federal government. As someone who spent a decade studying how centralized information systems are used for coercion this is a five alarm fire. We need to name it, identify risks, and seek to mitigate their impacts.
www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/u...

A peek inside Robert Caro’s home library, hidden shelves and all The historian shows off the most precious volumes in his collection — including a library book that has been overdue for at least 50 years.

A mesmerising tour of Robert Caro's home library, a prolific writer.
Honestly I'm yet to finish his first book, a bit long.

www.washingtonpost.com/books/intera...

Malayalam (from Kerala)
- All we imagine as light (Cannes 2024 Grand Prix)
- Manjummel Boys
- Kumbalangi Nights

Tamil
- Super Deluxe

Some from Indian cinema:

Hindi
- Delhi Belly (in English as well)
- Swades
- Maqbool (Shakespeare trilogy)
- Omkara (Shakespeare trilogy)
- Haider (Shakespeare trilogy)
- Gang of Wasseypur 1 & 2
- Rang De Basanti
- Udaan

User experience and monetization being in conflict is what's wrong with tech today

If you think about it, the very best books are really just extremely long spells that turn you into a different person for the rest of your life