Survival doesn't mean what it used to

I’ve thought about writing this email on and off for months. Lying awake at night, going “should I do it?”

But it’s time, and thanks to some input from you guys, I think it’s the right move for you and for me.

I’m changing the name. UX Survival Guide is becoming Strategic Studio.

It took me months because I was scared you’d read “new name” and assume it’s not for you anymore.

Make no mistake, I’m not done helping you survive. Survival is more urgent now than it’s ever been. The layoffs haven’t stopped, AI has everyone wondering if they’re next. I’m not walking away from that. 

➝ ➝ ➝ I’m doubling down on it.

The designers getting cut or stuck usually aren’t there because their design work is “bad”. They’re there because they’re seen as pure execution. And execution is the easiest thing in the building to cut, the work that gets fed to AI, offshored, or wiped out the second a budget tightens and someone needs a name on a list.

The ones with a better shot at staying safe, who get promoted while everyone else braces, are the ones who can show why. Why this problem and not the one everyone assumed. They tie their work to something real, the user it helped, the cost it avoided, and can name the change they created instead of pointing at a screen and hoping it speaks for itself. They walk into a room and the value comes with them, sometimes before anyone’s ready to hear it.

I’ve done this for thirteen years, watching all sorts of tools and technologies churn over. Vibe-coding a feature, spinning up agents, or detailing full flows in Figma, the actual change your work makes is the only thing that matters in the end.

That’s what Strategic Studio is built for. Keep you safe and help you grow, pointed at where the threat really lives now. If you’re in a scary spot, it’s about becoming harder to let go of. If you’re secure, the same skills take you from safe to senior. Survive, then thrive.

I’m taking you behind the scenes on all of it. The positioning I’m wrestling with (I’ll make you vote on a sentence I can’t get right), the two archetypes I’m building this for, the half-finished parts I’m unsure about. The same show-your-work stuff I’m about to tell you to do more of, so it felt fair to do it in the open myself.

One note, said once. If this sharper, more senior direction isn’t where you are right now, that’s genuinely okay, the unsubscribe link is right there and no hard feelings. But if you’ve ever felt the gap between how good your work is and how it’s landing, stick around. This is the thing I most want to get right.

More soon,

- Miranda

(If you have any questions/thoughts - drop them in the comments)