When Frameworks Fail and Gut Feelings Take Over By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, You know that moment when the data looks clear, the framework is airtight, and yet something in your stomach says, don’t do it? That’s judgment, the quiet, inconvenient voice that shows up when the evidence has already spoken. It’s also the thing most of us struggle to explain, even though our careers depend on it. Businesses love reasoning. We build frameworks to make decisions look rational, dashboards to make them...

Last-Minute Halloween Costumes for Designers 🎃 by Jeff Humble Dear Reader, It's time to expose your designer trauma to the whole world. It’s that time of year again, when we’re forced to stop nudging rectangles long enough to remember Halloween exists, and suddenly we need a costume tonight. But fear not! While normal humans panic-buy cat ears from a drugstore, we designers do what we do best: turn our professional pain into content. Here are 9 last-minute costumes for brave designers. 1. UX...

Before The Fountain Institute, there was Art School Dropout By Hannah Baker Dear Reader, In spring 2020, when the world had just gone remote, we ran a tiny experiment called Art School Dropout. It wasn’t about UX or product design. We didn’t even know that’s where we’d end up focusing yet. It was about exploring the overlap between art and design, and figuring out how to make learning online feel human, creative, and social. We weren’t thinking about building a business yet. We were just...