By Russell Brown in Basement Files — 11 Jan 2025

Basement Files 93

"Product success will largely be determined by intention and vision—before anything is built, before AI or humans begin creation."

Ollos

Notes

Product success will largely be determined by intention and vision—before anything is built, before AI or humans begin creation. As engineering becomes focused on pushing the AI frontier, design's role shifts to making these powerful but complex tools intuitive, accessible, and desired. Just as users choose products for their value rather than their infrastructure, they'll choose AI products for what they enable, not their underlying technology. This requires cultivating a new intelligence: one that combines craft and intuition with strategic thinking and execution.

Designer: “Well… I spent years perfecting my craft. Learning about typography, interaction patterns, research methodologies. And that matters. It really does. But now I’m realising that was table stakes all along. The actual differentiator is how you navigate everything else. Politics. Limited resources. Competing priorities.

We’ve put design up on this precious pedestal, and I’m starting to think that’s exactly why we’re not valued like other roles. we’re still arguing that design can’t be measured, that we’re too ‘creative’ to be tied to business outcomes. We’ve done this to ourselves by refusing to speak the language of business.

Listening

👋 Seeya.

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