# design leadership (blogs) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 5 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover design leadership. Page: Feed: --- ## [Part 3: Regenerating beauty in the age of AI](https://udanium.substack.com/p/part-3-regenerating-beauty-in-the) _2026-08-17 · Uday Gajendar · Ghost in the Pixel_ The contamination of the word & values ## [Picking berries is my meditation](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/picking-berries-meditation/) _2026-08-07 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ I hated picking berries as a teenager. Now the solitude it gives me is something I plan my whole summer around. ## [Part 2: Regenerating beauty in the age of AI](https://udanium.substack.com/p/part-2-regenerating-beauty-in-the) _2026-08-04 · Uday Gajendar · Ghost in the Pixel_ The philosophical strangers in the document ## [The Four B’s of AI: A compass for product judgment](https://udanium.substack.com/p/the-four-bs-of-ai-a-compass-for-product) _2026-07-31 · Uday Gajendar · Ghost in the Pixel_ From Blindspot → Branch → Bridge → Blueprint. ## [Building for Yourself vs Building for Users](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/building-for-yourself-vs-building-for-users/) _2026-07-31 · Gavin Elliott_ Most of the features I have shipped across solo projects were ones I wanted, not ones anyone asked for. Building for yourself is a brilliant starting point. It is a terrible finishing line. ## [The pickle season runs on five business mechanisms](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/pickle-season/) _2026-07-24 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ The pickle season hides five business mechanisms – retention, content marketing, growth – newspapers used two centuries ago. ## [Regenerating beauty in the age of AI](https://udanium.substack.com/p/regenerating-beauty-in-the-age-of) _2026-07-22 · Uday Gajendar · Ghost in the Pixel_ Part 1: A rediscovered document ## [Some writing keeps traveling and I can't predict which](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/writing-that-travels/) _2026-07-17 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ Tactical content fades. Personal, reflective writing lasts longer – I still can’t predict which pieces will travel. On writing, coaching, the inner work. ## [A timely layer for design leadership](https://udanium.substack.com/p/a-timely-layer-for-design-leadership) _2026-07-13 · Uday Gajendar · Ghost in the Pixel_ On durée, development, and why leadership can’t be scheduled ## [Starting over is how you find what actually matters](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/starting-over/) _2026-07-03 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ A corrupt file, a four-hour rebuild, and the realization that starting over is sometimes the only way to find what actually matters. ## [Snapshot Showdown on Google Play (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/fUxqZEVrrhhs) _2026-07-03 · **Sponsored**_ Available on Google Play for Android devices. ## [What's missing in AI-driven organizational change](https://udanium.substack.com/p/whats-missing-in-ai-driven-organizational) _2026-06-29 · Uday Gajendar · Ghost in the Pixel_ It's certainly something of consequence... ## [Map people by birthday parties, weddings, and funerals.](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/customer-life-phases/) _2026-06-26 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ Life phases tell you more about your customer than demographics. An observation a conductor shared in passing, on a long drive to a music camp. ## [Hidden layers of leadership development](https://udanium.substack.com/p/hidden-layers-of-leadership-development) _2026-06-15 · Uday Gajendar · Ghost in the Pixel_ For designers building leadership in fractured times. ## [The Janitor & Architect Dialogue Trilogy](https://udanium.substack.com/p/the-janitor-and-architect-dialogue) _2026-06-12 · Uday Gajendar · Ghost in the Pixel_ Summarizing the dialogues into one... ## [The Janitor and the Architect (A conclusion)](https://udanium.substack.com/p/the-janitor-and-the-architect-a-conclusion) _2026-06-08 · Uday Gajendar · Ghost in the Pixel_ A discovery of orientation, pathfinding, and what it all means ## [Confident and wrong – NNG UX certification](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/nng-ux-certification/) _2026-05-26 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ Ten years after NNG’s UX certification, I can see it actually gave me a map of my own blind spots – and why structured learning accelerates a design career. ## [When designers met AI\*](https://udanium.substack.com/p/when-designers-met-ai) _2026-05-20 · Uday Gajendar · Ghost in the Pixel_ On camaraderie, AI, and when the rapport isn’t real ## [AI in design work and decisions](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/ai-design-decisions/) _2026-05-15 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ AI will not care about the outcome. It will not face consequences. On AI delegation in design – and the decisions that must stay yours. ## [Most AI features are placed in the wrong part of the product](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/most-ai-features-are-placed-in-the-wrong-part-of-the-product/) _2026-05-05 · Gavin Elliott_ AI features often fail because of where they sit in the experience—not because the technology is weak. Placement, timing, and flow matter more than raw capability. ## [Judgment cannot be prompted](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/judgment-cannot-be-prompted/) _2026-05-01 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ AI tools now produce junior UX designer output from a single prompt. What never changes is design judgment – and judgment requires direct human contact. ## [A Friend Gave You $30 (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/dbyKW7P7CwMl) _2026-05-01 · **Sponsored**_ Sign up, deposit $5 within 30 days, and start investing with expert guidance. ## [Claude Design isn’t really a design tool](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/claude-design-isnt-really-a-design-tool/) _2026-04-22 · Gavin Elliott_ Claude Design collapses thinking, design, and early building into one flow—not just faster UI. What that structural shift means for teams, and where people miss the point. ## [What my journal doesn't say about my life](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/blank-quarters/) _2026-04-17 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ What blank journal quarters show about growth, leadership, and the stories we are not ready to keep. ## [Measuring UX maturity is a yearly practice](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/measuring-ux-maturity-is-a-yearly-practice/) _2026-04-03 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ Measuring UX maturity once gives you a snapshot. Doing it repeatedly reveals progress, patterns, and the reasons behind change. ## [It's getting harder to break into tech, and I don't think we're talking about it enough](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/its-getting-harder-to-break-into-tech/) _2026-03-28 · Gavin Elliott_ Junior routes are thinner, expectations stay high, and remote work made informal learning harder. Until we adapt how we develop people, the entry-level gap will stay—and building real things can be one path you control. ## [Close door button](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/close-door-button/) _2026-03-27 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ The most worn button in our elevator is the close door button. Every morning, someone positions themselves at the panel and presses it with quiet conviction. ## [I don't think about impostor syndrome in the same way anymore](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/i-dont-think-about-impostor-syndrome-in-the-same-way-anymore/) _2026-03-27 · Gavin Elliott_ After an autism diagnosis, the old impostor story went quieter—not because work got easier, but because I understood myself differently. What I called insecurity often had other names. ## [Getting diagnosed as autistic as an adult](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/getting-diagnosed-as-autistic-as-an-adult/) _2026-03-26 · Gavin Elliott_ A late diagnosis did not change who I am, but it gave me a way to understand myself. Clarity at work, energy, communication—and working with how I think instead of against it. ## [What I got wrong about career progression](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/what-i-got-wrong-about-career-progression/) _2026-03-25 · Gavin Elliott_ I thought progress meant more responsibility, bigger teams and broader scope. Stepping back taught me that sometimes progression is about moving closer to the work—not further away. ## [The noise, the shift and what still matters](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/the-noise-the-shift-and-what-still-matters/) _2026-03-24 · Gavin Elliott_ AI, tooling and new ways of working create a lot of noise—and pressure to keep up. The fundamentals of the work have not changed; everything else is still settling. ## [Why better UX didn’t fix my product](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/why-better-ux-didnt-fix-my-product/) _2026-03-23 · Gavin Elliott_ Clean flows and polished interfaces are not enough when the problem is not painful enough, the value is unclear, or the positioning does not land. UX supports strong products; it cannot rescue weak ones. ## [Accept your Doppler invite (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/ZRlCa9A3mllO) _2026-03-22 · **Sponsored**_ Create your Doppler account using the invite code you received. ## [Why I still care about this more than I probably should](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/why-i-still-care-about-this-more-than-i-probably-should/) _2026-03-22 · Gavin Elliott_ After twenty years in design and product, what still matters is not the outputs or titles but the thinking behind the work—how decisions get made and whether we solve the right problem. ## [You cannot AI your way out of the wrong problem](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/you-cannot-ai-your-way-out-of-the-wrong-problem/) _2026-03-19 · Gavin Elliott_ AI tools can critique layouts, suggest improvements and generate variations. But none of that matters if you're solving the wrong problem in the first place. ## [The uncomfortable truth about design leadership](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/the-uncomfortable-truth-about-design-leadership/) _2026-03-18 · Gavin Elliott_ Design leadership is often spoken about in glowing terms. But the reality is messy, slow and often frustrating. Here's what the job actually looks like. ## [Why senior designers should build products, not just decks](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/why-senior-designers-should-build-products-not-just-decks/) _2026-03-12 · Gavin Elliott_ Senior designers often spend more time on strategy decks than building real products. Here's why shipping something real changes everything—and how it sharpens your design judgement. ## [The Plight of the Senior UX Designer/Researcher](https://www.petermerholz.com/blog/the-plight-of-the-senior-ux-designer-researcher/) _2026-01-29 · Peter Merholz · Peter Merholz_ As UX/Design leaders, perhaps our greatest responsibility is to the people we manage and lead. In the latest episode of Finding Our Way , Jesse James Garrett and I addressed just how poorly we are doing to support Senior Practitioners, by which I mean folks who are about 5-10 ## [We're not speaking the same language, and it's costing us time](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/aligned-language/) _2025-11-14 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ Unclear terminology erodes trust between designers and stakeholders. Shared design language reduces friction and keeps teams moving in the same direction. ## [How Reporting Structure Affects UX/Design Organizational Health](https://www.petermerholz.com/blog/how-reporting-structure-affects-ux-design-organizational-health/) _2025-10-31 · Peter Merholz · Peter Merholz_ The UX/Design Organizational Health Report revealed many factors that affect how healthy a UX/Design team is. I have long thought that whether UX/Design reports through Product Management, Engineering, I.T., or Digital wasn't that salient relative to other factors (e.g., organization size, industry, etc. ## [Stop waiting for your manager to develop you](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/development-talk/) _2025-10-24 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ I reserve two hours before every development talk. Here is the preparation framework that turned vague conversations into career-defining agreements. ## [I've made myself replaceable in every role](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/making-myself-replaceable/) _2025-10-17 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ It’s how you grow. Share your thinking and methods openly – it reduces bottlenecks, builds trust, and creates space for your next challenge. ## [How shadowing turned a sketch into org change](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/first-hand-shadowing/) _2025-10-11 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ Why I keep my calendar open to shadows – and what I have learned from hosting and being one. ## [From Burnout to Building: A Conversation on Design, AI and Leading Authentically](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/from-burnout-to-building-a-conversation-on-design-ai-and-leading-authentically/) _2025-09-02 · Gavin Elliott_ A reflection on my journey in design and leadership, covering burnout, imposter syndrome, neurodivergence, and the exciting intersection of AI and design. ## [The problem with the “outcomes-first” obsession in UX hiring](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/the-problem-with-the-outcomes-first-obsession-in-ux-hiring/) _2025-08-09 · Gavin Elliott_ Why outcomes-first UX hiring misses context: metrics without framing mislead, especially in public sector; value adaptive skills, collaboration, and complexity. ## [From Eleanor to Thought-to-Action](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/from-eleanor-to-thought-to-action/) _2025-08-08 · Gavin Elliott_ From a 2016 vision of “Eleanor” to a near future of thought-to-action—on disappearing interfaces, trust and building the skills for an anticipatory AI world. ## [Leading Authentically: Five Truths About Different Leadership (And Why It Works)](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/leading-authentically-five-truths-about-different-leadership/) _2025-07-28 · Gavin Elliott_ An honest reflection on discovering authentic leadership through neurodivergence, burnout recovery, and learning to lead by being genuinely yourself rather than performing a role. ## [From Building for Me to Building for Others](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/from-building-for-me-to-building-for-others/) _2025-07-23 · Gavin Elliott_ A reflection on the journey from personal prototypes to building CV Anywhere - a product that helps others manage, update, and share professional CVs as clean, responsive webpages. ## [Why I went from idea bundles to a full AI-powered product](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/why-i-went-from-idea-bundles-to-full-ai-powered-product/) _2025-07-09 · Gavin Elliott_ How GPT Wrapper App Bundles evolved from a static resource into a dynamic SaaS platform that generates personalized, validated app ideas in real-time. ## [Why I Created GPT Wrapper App bundles and what is inside](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/why-i-created-gpt-wrapper-app-bundles/) _2025-07-01 · Gavin Elliott_ Most people do not fail because they can not build. They fail because they do not know what to build. I built a database of GPT wrapper app ideas that do not suck. ## [When AI becomes the expectation and what to do about it](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/when-ai-becomes-the-expectation/) _2025-06-29 · Gavin Elliott_ The shift from AI as an optional tool to a core part of how we work is already here. The question is not whether to embrace it, but how to meet this transformation. ## [Building Your Season Guide: Another step in learning by doing](https://gavinelliott.co.uk/blog/building-your-season-guide-another-step-in-learning-by-doing/) _2025-06-26 · Gavin Elliott_ How building Your Season Guide continued my journey of learning by doing, prototyping in code and making the gap between idea and execution smaller than ever. ## [Every design is a beautiful lie about individual genius](https://www.tsoon.com/posts/edison-10000/) _2025-06-25 · Design leadership insights and coaching by Esko Lehtme_ Edison did not invent the light bulb alone. Neither does any designer. What I learned about credit, collaboration, and the hidden work behind every product.