Amy Lokey

Product design: Heaven & hell. In keeping with Halloween, I’ve written a short piece exploring what makes product design succeed, and where it so often goes wrong. Spoiler alert: the difference between design heaven and design hell isn’t taste or talent; it’s discipline, clarity, and collaboration. Great design connects brand, experience, and technology. It’s built on empathy, evidence, and iteration; not assumption or aesthetics alone. At atomic, we treat every project as a test of how well design can balance creativity with commercial impact. This article shines a light on some of those learnings. https://lnkd.in/envKzK96 #productdesign #designleadership #heavenhell #technology #ux #ui #digitaldesign #atomic

2

1 Comment

I’ve been reflecting on a recent conversation about design as control versus design as collaboration. Dr. Liz Gerber puts it this way, "AI...has been promised to do whatever we want. The one thing it can’t do is tell us what we want." Jai Shekhawat asked, "What might a future interface look like?" I’d challenge us to even expand that question to include what future societies might look like when we prioritize collaboration over control, inclusion over speed, sustainability over scale. Whether design, technology, media, or civic spaces, the common thread is the same: we cannot outsource human values to systems. I believe our work is to invite possibility, to imagine what humans want before tech imposes what’s possible. “To create anything new and novel, you have to be prepared to do something different to get after it," Kevin Bethune notes. As design finds its role alongside AI, we can feel confident that our choices shape systems, not the other way around. What choices then are we making today, in design, in media, in our communities, to ensure human dignity leads the way? Thank you to Lee Moreau for convening the conversation.

48

4 Comments

Similar to the power of, “yes and”, design’s core value is the craft itself applied to experiences; does not matter if it’s a UI, customer journey, or onboarding experience for new hires. Running Marketing and Design at Replit is one of the many fond memories for the ages. Designers, it’s okay to do work outside your department.

26

4 Comments

I find a lot of satisfaction in using vibe coding tools to turn what used to just be fun ideas into real outputs people can use. A couple weekends ago before our whole family was taken down with the flu for 8 straight days, Annie Clark and I took a conversation from our Thursday date night about how to reduce the murkiness around discussing design roles and responsibilities in the modern day and created Is Like, a framework for understanding what kind of designer you should look for based on your specific needs. Have a short conversation with our evaluator and Is Like will output a full readout of skills to look for, how they should be distributed, and what kind of title you should be looking for. We went from concept to publishing in about 72 hours before influenza-a prevented us from sharing, but we’re healed and would love to hear feedback.

21

4 Comments

This is a fantastic read on the evolving role designers must play. I love the section on the Inversion of Paradigms. How are you evolving your role as a designer? What's working, and why? What's not, and why? https://lnkd.in/eAMVaA7X

6

A lot of conversations I have with design teams start the same way: “We’re moving fast… but we keep circling back.” It’s rarely a skill issue. It’s a timing issue. Most misalignment doesn’t come from bad design. It comes from discovering truth too late—after engineering starts, after a sprint closes, or after launch. And the cost of that delay is enormous. A late fix can be 100× more expensive than catching the issue early. But the teams that validate upfront—concepts, prototypes, even simple assumptions—consistently move faster, not slower. I’ve seen: • 25% fewer iteration cycles • Clearer rationale behind decisions • Less friction between design, product, and engineering Early insight isn’t a tax on velocity. It’s the engine of velocity. When we test earlier, we spend less time reworking and more time progressing. And our teams feel it—not just in timelines, but in confidence and morale. These themes are showing up across the teams featured in our newest Leadership Signal. It’s a great pulse check on how leaders are tightening alignment earlier in the process. https://bit.ly/4ixuGp2

31

3 Comments

I’ve been thinking a lot about how the role of the designer might evolve, and how product team dynamics could shift, as AI tools unlock new creative and technical capabilities. This was a good read by Luděk Černocký. https://lnkd.in/eKw9FvTK

6

2 Comments