The Future of Design: How AI and Humans Co-Create UX | Nick Babich | Glasp Talk #51
This is the fifty-first session of Glasp Talk!
Glasp Talk delves deep into intimate interviews with luminaries from various fields, unraveling their genuine emotions, experiences, and the stories behind them.
Today’s guest is Nick Babich, a leading voice in user experience and digital product design. He’s the founder and former Editor-in-Chief of UX Planet, one of the largest UX communities in the world with over 345,000 active members. Formerly Principal UX Designer at Brain Technologies, Nick helped create award-winning products, earning honors like the Red Dot Award for Best Mobile Design in 2022.
In this episode, Nick opens up about his journey from software engineering to product management and ultimately UX design. He shares the founding story behind UX Planet, the challenges of growing a design-focused media platform, and how consistency and curiosity fueled his long-term content strategy.
Nick also discusses the rise of generative AI in design, its impact on workflows and user research, and why he believes the future belongs to hybrid thinkers who can move seamlessly between design and code. He reflects on the evolving role of designers, what makes a great design hire, and the kind of legacy he hopes to leave: empowering others through practical knowledge, creativity, and an openness to change.
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Transcripts
Glasp: Hi, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Glasp Talk. Today, we are excited to have Nick Babich with us. Nick is a seasoned product designer and a user experience designer, and he has extensive experience in creating intuitive digital products and has led design teams for both B2B and B2C solutions. And he previously served as the principal UX designer at Brain Technologies, where he was instrumental in crafting the core product experience, earning prestigious awards like the Red Dot Award for Best Mobile Design in 2022. And also, Nick is the founder and was the editor-in-chief at UX Planet, one of the largest UX communities, with over 345,000 active members. In addition to his work, Nick has contributed to renowned design publications like .NET Magazine, sharing insights on AI-powered design and multi-modal interfaces, and the future of human-machine interaction. And today, we will dive into Nick's design philosophy, his experience in building award-winning digital products, and his thoughts on the future of AI design. Thank you for joining, Nick, today.
Nick: Thank you for your introduction. Thank you.
Glasp: So, yeah, first of all, we are huge fans of you and, you know, what you have done. But, so, we are curious, you know, what, of course, you know, sparked your interest in product design and the user experience?
Nick: I was always curious about the things, how they are built, and how we can design something. I mean, how do people design something? So, this is something that I was curious about all of my life. And during my career, I was actually in software development, in software testing, and even in system administrator roles. And I'm trying to figure out what the best pathway is for me by trying different areas. And I found that being a product designer is the most interesting and the most interesting, both from a professional point of view and personal point of view, experience to me, because I have, like, direct impact on the design process and the way we shape things. So, not only, like, as a software developer, for example, when I already have a specification, I need to code it, but more like a person who collaborates with stakeholders to craft the specification. And I always find it interesting that your ideas, your thoughts, your input are directly implemented in the product, in the final product. So, people interact with your ideas, with your solutions.
Glasp: Yeah. But at the same time, your career started as a product manager, right, at RingCentral, which is interesting. Then you became a user, like, a designer, a carrier, and a journalist, and a user, you know, like, experienced designers and so on. So, how has your career evolved? You mentioned you were interested in design, but started as a product manager.
Nick: It's great that you asked this question, because RingCentral is an amazing company. It's a company with, it's an enterprise company with a lot of people, and it's very technically focused. It's a company that prioritizes really good solutions, and it's focused on shipping really good products to market. And what the company, what I learned from RingCentral, is the fact that all solutions that we ship should be fine-crafted, first of all, and reliable, too. So, it's possible, like, to visualize it as a pyramid of user needs, and functional and reliable are foundational layers in this pyramid. And RingCentral taught me that we need to make these foundational layers really strong, robust, because all other layers are built upon those two layers. So, another thing that I was excited about was RingCentral, and I'm still, actually, because to me, RingCentral is a great company to this day. The company is a really great example of an enterprise. And the culture that we have, like the enterprise company, it's different from the culture that we have in startups. So, to me, I was really fortunate that I had a chance to explore both enterprise companies, like RingCentral, and also startups, like Ring, because, I mean, this allowed me to see different sides of the coin and figure out what side works best for me, I mean, where I feel more comfortable.
Glasp: I see. But how has the experience helped you, like, go to your design career, designer, like, a user experience designer career, and so on?
Nick: In RingCentral, I was actually in the software development part of the process, so I was, like, the person who worked with things like specification, product requirements, and at that point of time, I figured out that a lot of things that we implement, we don't know, like, the background, why these things were created, and the way they were created and shipped to us. So, I was always curious about what was the original idea behind these decisions, but because I work in the engineering part of the company, I was actually the person who has to implement, had to implement what our already designers and managers discussed, and I actually wanted to be the person who will be, who will participate in these discussions, but I didn't have an opportunity for that, and that sparked my interest to moving to the design field, because I will have the opportunity to actually contribute my ideas and be the part of the system who will actually shape these requirements in the first place.
Glasp: I see that totally makes sense, and yeah, sometimes, you know, designers and software engineers or product managers, they use different words and different concepts, have different concepts, and so on, and sometimes it's harder to communicate with each other, and yeah.
Nick: Yeah, that's true.
Glasp: Then you started UXPlanet in 2016, right, and during, I think during, you were still the product manager at RingCentral, and why, why did you start UXPlanet? Could you share the founding story behind UXPlanet?
Nick: Yeah, it was an interesting story. I was passionate about the practical side of design, and I wanted to share the information that I learned along the way with other people, and that's how I started writing about it. So most of my stuff was focused on actual practical things, how to build something, how to do it right, best practices, and my goal was to share this with other people who struggle with this, because back in the day, back in 2016, it was the time when material design wasn't like the huge thing. I'm not sure if like material design was in the shape as it was, or as it is right now. I think that it was like only started to get the traction at that time, but yeah, the fact that design was quite at the state where a lot of different articles, a lot of different books was in the space, but there are all, there wasn't like solid foundation for design practices. And as a design team, we have to connect all the dots manually. So if you have to learn how to build something, for example, in tools like Sketch, you have to read different articles and then figure out what your approach to that is, and then like build it. And it was a time before we had UI component libraries and the ability to use UI kits. So a lot of things would be built from scratch. And again, that's why connecting all the dots manually was, really hard task. And I tried to help our community, to solve this problem. And honestly, these sparked interest in the community, and the articles get a lot of interest, and people start to request them. And they asked about where is the place where I can read your articles. And that's how I started the community. And then suddenly other designers came to that community with different articles they wanted to contribute. And I worked as an editor, as a person who was trying to figure out whether this is something that should be published in the way it was like written or it required refinement to make it clear. My ultimate goal was to prioritize clarity and ensure that what is written is valuable to the community and helps solve real problems. So at that time, UXPlanet was primarily focused on the practical design areas, how to build something, how to try it, how to test something, how to validate ideas, and that, yeah.
Glasp: I see. But it's been almost nine years, right, since you started the UXPlanet, and it's almost a decade. And now, UXPlanet has around 350,000 active members and followers on Medium. And what has the growth looked like? Let's say, for example, one article you published went viral, so that you gained many followers or users, but is that more like an incremental, day-by-day, year-by-year?
Nick: Yeah, it's more like steps. So it wasn't like incremental all the time, but it was like sparks that created a lot of attention in media, and people started to follow this publication because they found really interesting article or a series of articles, like, in 2018, a lot of people, they wanted to contribute a series of things that they want to share with the people. For example, practical recommendations, more like blog blocks or a series of posts dedicated to a specific topic. And that's how it gained attention and attracted a lot of media attention. People started to visit it regularly because they found this concept valuable, and they found UXPlanet as a place that shares valuable content that helps them design better products.
Glasp: Yeah, interesting. And when you started publishing, did you try other platforms, not only Medium? I mean, why did you choose Medium?
Nick: Ah, because it was a very hyped place at the beginning. I mean, in 2016, it gained a lot of media attention because the founders were trying to make it a really hip place, and they actively promoted this platform. It was actually before they tried to monetize it, so it was, like, the place that was open to everyone, that opened for community as, like, it feels like a really large magazine or platform with multiple magazines. But at the same time, it creates the perception of freedom, that what you contribute there will be shared across the internet, and it's published in a place that feels like a very liberal, sorry for the sake of a better word, place of content.
Glasp: Now, I see the transition from, like, a web-based blogging service, like Medium, to more email-based services, like Substack, and so on. Have you considered switching to other platforms in the process, or will you in the future?
Nick: I try to find a better way of writing the publishing content all the time, and right now, at this point, I found that, to me, the short format of the articles, like the short form, not exactly articles, but the posts, works better. I try to feed them in the short format and publish on LinkedIn and Twitter, because I feel like it's also rooted in the concept of user attention span. After all, I mean, in the middle of the previous decade, we have, like, the more people, I feel like, they was reading the articles, now more people are skimming the articles, they try to quickly scan the content to figure out what they find valuable for them, and article as a format is not exactly what many people are interested in, so I'm trying to experiment with different formats at this time. I even try to record shorts, YouTube shorts, and it feels like this format of the shorts works well for the audience, because, I mean, in terms of attention, in terms of people who watch these videos, the short format videos, they find it valuable. So, I mean, the internet is changing all the time, and you cannot, like, stand still, you have to experiment and try different formats, so to me, at this point of time, I think that, like, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube shorts are the best format.
Glasp: Yeah, interesting, yeah, and I watch your YouTube, so, yeah, you are posting, so, YouTube shorts and videos pretty often, right? Yeah, and so, this is a different question, but so many people try to start media, so, and start, you know, try to publish as much as possible, but at some point, so they're giving up, so posting, and so the media is dead, but you explained it is not like that, so you've been continuing almost a decade, so what was the reason you could have been, you know, continuously posting it?
Nick: I would say that the consistency is the most challenging, but very rewarding thing, to me, it's very hard to publish consistently, but at the same time, I push myself to do it, because I don't see any other option, because, I mean, the platform, based on my experience, for example, both Twitter, and YouTube, and LinkedIn, they work in a similar manner, if you start posting something, and you don't give up, you will see the number of followers, number of media attention rise, it might not be rise dramatically, for example, you cannot, like, count that, if you will publish an article, not article, but a single post every day, at the end of the month, you will gain like 10,000 followers, it doesn't work that way, but at the same time, you will get a consistent number of new followers, and who knows, maybe some of these followers will be your long-term fans, and yeah, to me, I think that the consistency and focus is really important, so consistent posting, and the topic you choose, I mean, you can choose a specific niche, for example, as for me, I choose the design, and I try to share the information only from the specific field, again, this is something that is relevant to YouTube, but YouTube, it tracks the attention, and it tracks to your channel, and figure out that your audience appreciate your content or not, but by retention, and if retention is high, they start to show your content more often to the similar audience, and that's why I'm saying that, if you are doing the consistency, consistently, and the published content from the specific field, for example, specific type of content, it will be rewarding for you, because the platform will see it, and reward you with better views.
Glasp: And when you're posting, creating the content, let's say on Medium, and also LinkedIn, or anywhere, but then do you have something in mind, always, or philosophy when you're creating posts, or let's say in someone's case, we follow these structures, and we try to put the actionable advice all the way, or something like that, do you have that kind of format, structure, or philosophy when you are creating posts, or content?
Nick: Yeah, actually, my philosophy is rooted in the practical things, so my content is not really entertaining, because what I'm trying to do is share practical things, how something works, or how we can build something, it's something that I believe in, because to me, design is all about making stuff, not about talking about stuff, so talking about stuff, I mean, is also important, but I feel like design is more like a craft, rather than art, so when we experience tools, like Figma, for example, or Coursera AI right now, we are working with the tools that helps us make our ideas tangible, so my philosophy is to master the tools that help you make your ideas tangible, and create a solution, and regarding the format of the article, or video, this is actually a really interesting question, because sometimes you have like a clear idea of what you want to share before you start recording a video, or writing an article, and sometimes you have like very broad ideas, of what you want to discuss or record a video about. And then suddenly, when you try something, you start to get the shape of your video or the article. And at the end of the day, you can get rid of all the necessary things that you created along the way and put it all together in a solid article or solid video.
Glasp: Yeah, that's interesting. And do you have anyone to discuss the topic?
Nick: I actively search what people are looking for online trying to figure out what is like really, what people are passionate about at this moment, because to be honest, most of the time when you share the topic that only you are interested in, it might not be interested or valuable to anyone else because like, for example, you are sharing the solution to the problem that you face, but it might not be the problem that everyone else face. So what I'm trying to do I research the field. For example, right now, a lot of hype around AI and how we can use AI tools. So, to me, I mean, I try to figure out what people are looking for and create an article about that or record a video. And again, the platform also helped me with that because YouTube, if it sees that I record a video about a trending topic, the topic that is like very hyped at this point, it starts to promote it naturally. So it started to share it with more people and more views, leading to better conversion and more followers. Yeah, it's, to me, it's easy. The biggest problem to me, it's actually to find time and find time to record a video or write a decent article because it still takes a lot of time. I don't like to publish half-baked products, half-baked articles, or videos because to me, it's not very valuable. It feels very disrespectful to my audience. But recording a video, a solid video, or writing a solid article will require a lot of time. So yeah, the most challenging part in this process for me is to find this time.
Glasp: Thank you for taking the time for us, yeah.
Nick: Oh, it's my pleasure. Yeah, thanks.
Glasp: Yeah, but also I'm always curious, like there are many designers who want to publish a post, but they are posting visual designs, or this is my portfolio. But yeah, this is my impression, but designers usually don't share verbalized sentences or logic behind it. So, do you have any idea to crystallize your visual design into a sentence or logic? So, when you design or when you post an article or videos?
Nick: Well, if I understand you correctly, you mean like platforms like Dribble, where we publish visuals and don't always explain how these visuals were created. I mean, the story behind it. I think, honestly, it's okay. So, to me, I don't see a problem in that. I admire a lot of designers on Dribbble. So, in the platform as a place where we publish content, it's a good place, I think, at least it was. I mean, right now it's trying to reinvent itself. So I'm not sure where Dribbble is going in the future, but based on my experience, like on that platform, I was like, I was Dribbble for almost a decade. I don't publish a lot of there, but I follow a lot of really good designers. But at the same time, I understand your question because it's many times you don't have the story behind the design, how it was created, what the ideas were like, and what the ideation process was. To be honest, sometimes design speaks for itself. So sometimes when you see design, you immediately understand it, and it feels very natural to you. So you don't need like text explanation. You don't need to read about it. You want to experience it, right? But sometimes when you think about complex products, like for example, B2B solutions, where we design products for specific businesses. And in that case, the story behind this design can be quite critical. So I would say that designers do not always do that; there are a lot of reasons for that. I mean, some designers don't like to share the experience. Some designers are afraid of the criticism they've received because many times when you share your process, your ideation process, someone will tell you that, no, this is not the right way of doing this. Listen, listen out. I have a different way of how I build a product. And some people are upset about it, and they don't like to share their experience because they will face criticism. And sometimes, unfortunately, a lot of things that we design are under NDA. So we cannot share the information without anyone else, without legal penalties from the company. And this is like a huge problem still in this space because, like a lot of designers I know, they are brilliant designers. They cannot share a design that they created for their companies because of the NDAs.
Glasp: Or the designer used AI so that they cannot explain the story, maybe. Nowadays, who knows? Yeah. And also when it comes to like designers or design process, I'm often curious about the inspiration they get from. So usually, you know, I admire designers' work, both UI, UX, but I'm curious, how can I be, you know, one like them? So, what kind of inspiration helped designers become designers?
Nick: That's an excellent question. Yeah, that's an excellent question. I would say that the biggest inspiration you can get is inspiration from the people you work with. So to me, I mean, when I work at Brain, it was a brilliant team and it's still a brilliant team. I mean, they are top-class designers, top-class engineers, and a brilliant CEO and founder, Jerry. So to me, it's a company that surrounds you with great talent and inspires you to create something extraordinary. And this is something that you should have, or if you will have it, you will like to gift it to the people who surround you. Another area where you can get inspiration is actually any media or any other arts and crafts. For example, you can get inspiration from museums, from art galleries, from movies, from music, and mix it, combine it in different proportions, and build your design. For example, one of my great friends and brilliant designers, Gleb Kuznetsov, is a musician by trade. He's like a very good musician, but he moved to the design field from the music field, and he took a lot of inspiration from music when he crafted his brilliant designs. So your background can enrich you. So, I mean, even for me, I mean, my engineering background also helps me with design stuff, so I can reuse some engineering ideas and the way things are built, both in code and in the physical, like a physical space. I can reshape it and put it all together in a different mix and create something new and interesting.
Glasp: Yeah, I'm trying to get inspiration, you know, going to a museum and so on, and try to be exposed to more design and arts, but I need more inspiration, I think, to become a better designer. But yeah, I will try my best. And so, but you know, you have a software engineering background, right? And then do you think that helps you become a better designer or, you know, become a UX designer or UI designer?
Nick: Oh, that's another fantastic question. Thank you so much. It's a double-edged sword. It helps me with my design. But at the same time, when I design something, I constantly think about the technical feasibility of something. And this is something that feels like a limitation or restriction, or constraint that I face along the way. I cannot, like, I have to, like, all the time push myself to forget these technical constraints, especially when I try to design a quite innovative product. But it's really hard for me because of my engineering background, which tells me that you need to think. Think about technical feasibility. You need to think about technical feasibility. And yeah, it can be quite challenging. But at the same time, I find it rewarding because I constantly think and I care about the engineering team. To me, developers are the best friends. And I like to support them in what they do. I like to help them with the design handoff, and was helping them with the design specs and other stuff that they need along the way. Because I see that what we shape in the design space should be implemented. And if it's implemented right, it's done, it's fine. But if the developer faces a problem along the way, some developers will get back to you and say, Nick, I will need your help with that. But some developers will solve this problem on their own, and this solution might not be ideal from a design point of view. So, as a designer, I think if you understand the pain that the developers face and understand the process they follow, it will be rewarding for you. And it happens to me. I have both backgrounds. I mean, I have a software engineering background, and sometimes I need to design. And when I design, I always try to forget, but I always, oh, is it possible, technically possible? And always comes back to me, and I, yeah.
Glasp: Yeah, you'll get it. Yes, yes. So, as you shared and posted on LinkedIn and other platforms, nowadays we have AI. So AI can do both design and coding. And let’s say Figma introduced Figma Make and Figma Sites so that when you ask something and Figma can design. And also, we have Figma to code nowadays. So in that sense, let’s say if we have like a new college graduate thinking about, oh, should I become a software engineer or designer? Which would you recommend in the era of AI? Which technical background or experience helped them become better, or, I don’t know, designer or creator?
Nick: This is really, really hard question. And I don’t have a simple answer to that. To me, I feel it’s my perspective. So what I’m trying to say here, I mean, in regards to where the industry is going, it’s my idea of that. I might be wrong here, but I feel like the field of design and the field of engineering will blur into some new field, such as design-to-code, or engineers. So maybe design for code designers. I’m not sure what will be the best name for this new role, but this is a person who will be capable of, who will understand design and will be able to quickly create really tangible solution. And what I mean by solution is like front end, not backend, not necessarily backend, but the front end for, for example, the dashboard or the home screen of the app, or maybe the app itself. So AI will help you move fast and move in the right direction. So you don’t need to have like super solid front dev skills to do that. But at the same time, you should have a clear idea of what you want to build, and you should have a great understanding of design principles that you will need to rely on. But AI will help you all along the way. But again, you will need to understand what you want to build and be able to review it and tell AI what AI needs to fix in case AI generates something wrong or something not perfect for your task at hand. So yeah, I think to me as a new graduate, I would say that you should learn design principles and design practices. Honestly, it’s not that hard at that time because you have a lot of resources that you can visit, both like big companies like Apple and Google, they do an amazing job, creating really good documentation and design systems. So what you do, what you need to do is just read Apple Human Interface Guidelines on Material Designs and you will get like basic understanding of design principles that the company use that they craft the product and then experiment with AI tools because this field, it’s moving really fast and you need to jump to this train and be a part of that movement to understand what’s going on and what will be the next step. And it will help you find the right direction because you will go with the train on the right path.
Glasp: Yes. Do you use, do you, have you incorporated AI into your workflow, like a daily work, daily life?
Nick: Yeah, I use AI quite a lot recently. I started to use AI even for tasks like user research and research analysis, not only for actual design. And it’s really helpful because it helps me move fast. Some tasks require more attention. For example, when I use AI for user research, I need to be a hundred percent sure that the output that the AI generates is reliable. So I invest time in validating the output that it generates and figure out whether it’s right or wrong or where I need, or whether I need to additional clarification for some points that the AI provides. But when it comes to design, I incorporate design into the design part. I can incorporate the AI in many parts, from initial wireframing to actual design to code implementation. So I generate designs for Figma in Figma. I transition Figma design to code using tools like Lovable and Anima. I also, when I need to build some iOS screens, I use tools like Courser because it helps me to quickly prototype UI. But what I can tell you about the tools is that they are not perfect, and they will still require a lot of attention from a human side. So it’s not like a magic peel. I still have to manually refine something in case the AI didn’t understand me properly. And sometimes I wonder, so to me at this step, one of the most challenging questions is whether this is something, whether I should use AI in the first place for the task at hand, or I can do it manually using my skills and my hands, my brain. And at this step, this question is challenging because sometimes I can get to the, jump to the conclusion, like the end final result, by providing a couple of prompts to AI. But sometimes I feel like I would achieve better results doing my work manually. So the most challenging part of the human-computer interaction and the human-AI interaction, like right now to me at least, is to find the cases where I want to use the AI and it will benefit me, whether or when I should do it manually, and it will be faster and more efficient. But that’s my experience.
Glasp: I see, interesting. And you mentioned you use AI for user interviews or user research. Is that true? Could you tell us how you use it?
Nick: Yeah, not for example, actual user interviews. So when I run interviews, I do it manually, old-fashioned manner. I meet with the person, but I prepare the questionnaire, like an actual script, and the questions that I will ask the person, AI will help with that. So it’s not like 100% built by AI, but I prompt the AI with the questions, the suggestions that I should ask. Then I refine this questionnaire, and then I use it. And I also use AI to analyze the feedback that I received during the interview, summarize some key points, and highlight them in text. One of the most challenging parts in the user interview is the fact that you need to analyze the transcript and extract valuable insights from that transcript can be quite time-consuming. AI can help you with that, but again, as a user research person, you have to validate what AI will share with you because AI at this point is not good and nuances. I found that it doesn’t do a good job at tracking skepticism and irony. And sometimes, when people try to share, like try to make a fun statement, AI can be 100% serious and take that for granted. So the person might not mean that. hate something, but still, if they say that I hate it, AI will be like 100% sure that they didn’t like the product. And that’s just one example. So yeah, you should be like a user researcher, be very careful in validating the output, and never rely on the output that AI will generate for you alone, without validation.
Glasp: I see. Yeah, AI cannot, how to say, if we only use transcript, texted transcript, and they cannot understand, let’s say if I say something with AI quotes in the video, but AI cannot know if I AI quote it, right? So I think yeah, that makes sense. They sometimes take something seriously, and they don’t understand if it’s a joke or not. Yeah. Yeah. That makes sense. Interesting. And also, what do you see as the future of UX design in the next five to 10 years? Let’s say nowadays we have AI, but that works okay, a little bit, right? But in five, 10 years, I think I can’t even imagine what’s going on in five years, 10 years, but...
Nick: It’s really hard to predict the future, and I’m not really good at predicting the future. To me, and not only me, when the OpenAI team released ChatGPT, some of the team thought that it would be a gimmick. So, no, not actual practical value for the tool, but suddenly this tool, ChatGPT, I mean, it was like a huge spark that reshaped our industry. So, I think we are only at the beginning of this new wave of AI and human interaction. And it’s hard actually to predict with like 99% chance that it will go in that direction. So it’s still quite unexplored territory to me. I mean, the future. But I believe that, naturally, AI will help us with efficiency, and it will lower the curve. So again, when I started the UX Planet, one of my goals was to lower the curve for someone who will enter the design space and share the practical information with them that will help this person design better products. But with AI, you don’t need to read a lot of stuff, and you don’t need to have really good practical skills interacting with the tools, like even Figma right now at this point. It gives you a lot of stuff that you can build with the AI. And I believe it will be better and better. So with every iteration of the tool, it will simply help you do more with less effort and less time invested. What I can imagine is that it helps people who want to start a product, like startups, for example, a person startup, they will be able to make their ideas tangible without hiring anyone, like designers, developers, they will do it on their own. At the same time, I think that large companies like industry companies, Meta, and Google will still have people in this field specializing in a specific domain, like design or development. But it’s hard to predict the headcount. So I assume that they will cut the headcount, leaving only the essential number of employees that the company needs to deal with the tasks that they have at hand. And again, it will help them improve their efficiency.
Glasp: Yeah, that’s actually what I wanted to ask. Because now in the future, AI can do anything, do we need to hire designers or software engineers? And also at the time, how can we know, oh, this is the best or great or good designers or not good designers? How can we distinguish from AI?
Nick: Well, the way AI works, most of the time, at least the way I see it, is it uses an existing knowledge base when it creates a solution. So what AI shines, where AI shines, is creating the solutions that are similar to solutions created before. For example, if you ask AI to create an Uber or DoorDash, there is a high chance that the app will do it. But if you ask AI to create something unusual, something innovative, like innovative design, in that case, the output that the AI will generate might not be the best because, again, humans might be more creative and find a really interesting solution to existing problems. Again, because we have more signals that we can deal with. As we discussed before, our background, our inspiration, our joy in museums and cinemas can give us a lot of ideas that we can multiply, connect, mix, and then create something unusual, something really interesting. So to me, this is the area where we will feel we are very strong, I mean, in comparison to AI. But when it comes to routine stuff, such as creating the sign-in screen or the app from an existing category of the apps, in that case, yeah, this is something that AI can help us with. And in the context of the industry, what impact will it make? I think that it will dramatically change the lives of the people who don’t want to focus on innovative design or creating something new, and just create something that was created before them. So, yeah, it’s again, it’s a kick to anyone who wants to move forward, I mean, the entire human race, to just create something new, something exciting, and AI will help you with that.
Glasp: I see. Yeah, thanks. Insightful. And in that sense, when you hire a designer, where do you see, and this is also, sorry, a second question. So, when you hire a designer for a non-existent product or an innovative product that doesn’t exist in the world, how do you see this designer having the potential to make an innovative design?
Nick: To me, I would say that I would want to talk with this person, understand how he or she thinks, and what she likes. And then, so basically my process is to, I think, see a designer as a designer. I see a designer as a person who can design products. So to me, the person with multiple interests, the person who interesting as a person, as a human being, who is passionate about something, whether it’s like music, art, and can use this information effectively, which is quite challenging, to be honest, to evaluate during the interview, because many people will be very bright and very talented. But when it comes to actually creating something new, they can face things like a creative blog. So they can, sometimes they will need more time to process ideas, to generate something really exciting, something innovative. But again, to me, I mean, start with the person and understand how the person thinks, what they like, what they dislike, and yeah.
Glasp: I think, yeah, a person like you, right? Oh, yeah, sorry. Yeah. Then, so yeah, just more like, you know, dig into the question. So, when you hire a designer, what is the process? So, do you live design or design interview, or do you see the importance in more like background experience, or as you mentioned, so like, what is a piece, you know, people like?
Nick: I would say that the most important, to me, I mean, at least the most important fact is what problems this person will solve. For example, some people will focus on solving design problems in a way like conceptualizing something. So they don’t need to have like, very good design skills, I mean, tangible skills, UI design skills, but they’re good at conceptualizing things, creating something, something new, something that wasn’t there. And they will be more like, in that case, I will focus on the previous products and projects that this person was working on, and whether these products were successful or not. And then if we are talking about actually the person who will be in charge of day-to-day operations, for example, we are hiring the person who will be in charge of supporting the enterprise system, for example, and extending the capabilities and functionality. In that case, I will focus on the practical skills that the person will have, like actual skills using the UI design tools that the company uses. So, again, what I’m trying to say, long story short, is that it all depends on the tasks that you hire a designer for. And the last thing that I also wanted to check is the fit, fit with the organization. Because, to me, I mean, the thing that I realized, and I realized that this was like a realization to me, like eye-opening, because people from different backgrounds might not feel comfortable in a specific environment. For example, if you work as a, and really feel like you’re a startup person, but then suddenly you have to transition to enterprise company, even if you have all skills, even if you have like passion to design products, you might not feel good in that space, because it’s not, it doesn’t feel right to you, enterprise environment, for example. And again, the enterprise person, the person who works in an enterprise company, might not find them good in the startup world, simply because it doesn’t feel right to them, these dynamics, the way the team solves problems. So, yeah, it’s all about the tasks that you hire a design person for, the skills that they have, whether they have the right skills or not. And finally, the environment in which this person will work in comparison to the context of the environment that this person came from, whether it’s a fit or not.
Glasp: I see. That makes sense. Yeah. And so you have a lot of experience in, from software engineering to designing and more AI tools. And so I already asked a little bit, but what advice would you give to aspiring designers or software engineers, or young users?
Nick: Yeah, that’s a good question. Since we are, and I think we are early in the AI wave of our industry, to me, I mean, the best advice would be to learn as much as you can about AI, and try to incorporate it in your design process. Even if you don’t have like a really solid process at this point, try to use it, try to find the tools that you like, because we have a lot of different tools. If you like coding skills or if you want to improve your coding skills, you can try a tool like Cursor AI. If you want to improve your general UI design skills, you can use the AI tools like a Figma native UI toolkit, or use Lovable, for example, which is great for designers. And try to get the practical skills using these tools, and integrate them into your process, and get more inspiration. I mean, the more you watch movies, really good movies, the more you analyze how something is built, whether it’s like the device you have at your home, or the studio in a museum, how it was crafted, I mean. The better understanding you have of that, the better skills you will have as designers, because you will be able to reuse it. And not only designers, actually, the engineers and designers just do different sides of the same coin. So if you flip the coin, you will be on the engineering side. If you flip it again, you will be design side. So yeah, that’s up to you where part of the coin you would want to be.
Glasp: Yeah, that’s insightful. Yeah. Thank you so much for the advice. And so this is the last question. And since Glasp is a platform where people can share what they are reading, learning as their digital legacy, we want to ask you this question. So what legacy or impact do you want to leave behind for future generations?
Nick: I mean, as a person, I mean, as myself, oh boy, I didn’t think about it. So to me, if the future generation finds articles and videos that I share, any resource that I share valuable, I will be super happy about it. So to me, it will mean that I contribute and I try to make this world a better place.
Glasp: Yeah, that’s beautiful. And yeah, I resonate with that. Thank you. And yeah. And thank you. And thank you so much for joining today.
Nick: Thank you for inviting me.
