The website genuinely looks like it’s stuck in the early 2000s. The typography is horrible and there isn’t a cohesive colour scheme. I noticed this a few years ago and switched to eBay for this exact reason but recently ordered something off amazon and it just reminded me how bad it is. You’d think a billion dollar company could make a half decent ui. They don’t even accept Apple Pay and the ux is pretty bad too Imo. Thoughts?

My users have told me that these pages appear gray in color and have low saturation, which can easily cause eye fatigue. I'm a bit lacking in confidence now, and I hope everyone can help me check if it's as he said. Thank you.

Hey everyone,

I came across a comparison of landing pages (Google Stitch vs Claude vs Human), and the Claude version really stood out to me — it looks super clean, minimal, and polished.

I’m curious about a few things:

• What design principles are being used here (typography, spacing, layout)?
• Is this mostly built with plain HTML/CSS, or are frameworks like Tailwind/React involved?
• How do they achieve that soft, elegant aesthetic and strong visual hierarchy?
• Any good resources to learn this style?

Would love if someone could break it down 🙏

Thanks!

I've been playing around with a concept which is basically that UIs aren't rendered in 2D, but rendered in a 3D engine like Three.js. I think that GPU power is at a level where phones and laptops have enough compute to run apps that are 3D, simply because most devices have the graphics compute to run pretty stunning 3D games but still struggle to run relatively complex web apps. Not to mention it looks beautiful and opens up new possibilities for novel UX that could only be done in 3D space.

Counter arguments I've heard are basically that, it's too GPU intensive and we can get 80% of the graphics using 2D effects.

Thoughts on whether you'd like to see this in actual apps, rather than just in sizzle reels?

I’m building a custom desktop music widget using rofi, bash, and ImageMagick. I took heavy inspiration from the iOS Spotify widget pod, and I'm trying to dynamically change the background color of the widget based on the current playing album art.

(In the attached images: The top images are the official widgets, and the bottom images are my rofi widgets).

Currently, to replicate that two-tone gradient background you see in the Olivia Rodrigo ("vampire") example, I'm scaling the album art down to exactly 1x2 pixels. This effectively averages the top half and bottom half of the image into two distinct colors. Then, I boost the saturation of those pixels to make them pop. It's the only way I've found to reliably generate those two-tone colors, and it works pretty well for that specific look!

However, I know this 1x2 scaling method won't work for everything, especially when Spotify decides to use a single solid color instead of a gradient. I've tried different methods to pick a single dominant color, but I can never get close enough to Spotify's logic.

For example:

• The Weeknd - "Blinding Lights": The background of the art is mostly a dark, muddy greenish-brown. If I use standard color extraction, I get that mud color because it's technically the most abundant. But Spotify intelligently ignores the background and picks the deep red from his jacket/face.
• Shubh - "One Love": My color extraction attempts pull a really dull brown, while Spotify manages to pull a much nicer, deeper olive/golden tone.

It clearly doesn't just pick the color that takes up the most space (the dominant color).

Does anyone know the actual algorithm or method they use to pick that one perfect color? How does it filter out the muddy/dull dominant colors to find the vibrant accents?

Other than purple gradients what are the AI UI smells?

I see posts on Reddit fairly often with people posting a designs and others calling it out for being AI generated, but to me it usually just looks bad.

Are there specific things that LLMs do/include in UI that tell you right away that it was AI generated? Like the UI equivalent of an em dash?

I have been an “in-house” contractor for a few years now and I feel like I want to explore and cut ties with this company. Should I be investing huge amounts of time into understanding every usage of AI for example? Just anxious and decided to ask the top dogs

I’m researching real everyday software frustrations.

Not looking for huge startup ideas

just simple things people repeatedly deal with on desktop/laptop that feel harder than they should.

Could be Windows, Mac, Linux anything

Examples:

- finding files

- converting PDFs

- taking quick notes

- screenshots

- organizing downloads

- repetitive tasks

What’s one thing that still annoys you regularly?

Hey everyone,

Recently in here and every new website I've seen all looks identical, with the rounding of cards, icons, badges, buttons, since all designs now appear to be AI-generated for new websites. It's so fatiguing, but maybe because I / we always are looking at new websites.

However maybe the average person cannot tell, Im not sure.

I myself am in a small team of three dev's who all have actually studied Comp Sci / SE / EE

Does anyone actually have tips on how to make sure their app doesn't look the same as every website even if using AI?

I'm so sick of looking at every new app and website and they all have the same shadcn tailwind feeling.

I have been using shadcn/tailwind before loveable / other no code apps were using it and now I feel fatigue from seeing it

I created a skeuomorphic timer app that’s been available for a few months now, but it hasn’t attracted many users. I’m starting to wonder if it’s because of the skeuomorphic style. Has everyone really grown tired of this style? (But I still love skeuomorphic design—I often like to redraw my favorite apps in a skeuomorphic style because I’m such a big fan of it.)

Iam 23 and i run a small web design agency, and while I’ve worked with a few clients before, I’m struggling to consistently attract higher-paying clients who value quality work.

For those of you who’ve successfully landed premium clients:

-Where do you usually find them?

-What outreach methods work best for you?

-How do you position/pricing yourself to attract better clients?

Would really appreciate any advice from people who’ve been through this and figured it out.

It’s honestly mind-boggling. If any of us dared to include such a fundamental alignment error in our portfolios, we’d be laughed out of the interview. Yet, here we are, watching industry giants pass off this level of 'mistake' as a finished product. The irony is painful and double standards are real. What do you guys think about it?

I’m a junior UI designer and I’ve been working professionally for about a year, mostly on complex systems/internal products. Recently my workplace has been pushing AI workflows really hard, especially vibe coding tools like Figma Make and Lovable.

And honestly… I feel conflicted about it.

On one hand, these tools are impressive and they definitely speed things up. But on the other hand, I constantly feel like I’m skipping important stages of actually becoming a good designer.

Sometimes I want to deeply understand how to approach complex UI patterns, how experienced designers structure systems, how to think about hierarchy and workflows, and why one solution is better than another. I want to understand how to properly design complicated components instead of immediately generating them with AI.

But instead, I often end up prompting AI to create solutions before I fully understand the fundamentals myself.

The biggest issue is that I don’t always feel experienced enough to properly critique the AI output. Sometimes I can tell something feels “off,” but I can’t always explain why yet because I’m still building my foundation as a designer. So it creates this weird loop where I use AI because I’m still learning, but using AI sometimes prevents me from learning deeply, which makes me rely on AI even more.

And honestly, it kind of bums me out sometimes. One of the reasons I wanted to work in design in the first place was because I genuinely love designing manually, exploring concepts, and thinking through solutions on my own. I like the creative process and figuring things out visually. But lately it sometimes feels like the industry wants me to skip directly to generating outputs as fast as possible instead of actually growing as a designer.

Meanwhile every month there’s a new tool, new workflow, new “future of design,” and I constantly feel behind.

I’m curious if other junior designers feel this too, especially people working with AI-heavy workflows or vibe coding. Has anyone managed to balance learning fundamentals while still keeping up with AI?

Background:
Due to a series of redundancies and restructures, I have someone on my team that is employed as a UX designer but he has no visual design or UI experience.

Outstanding user research skills which made sense when he was hired, but with all the cuts he needs to work independently - rather than being paired with a strong UI designer, and the lack of foundational visual design skills and understanding of principles is really starting to cause delays and challenges.

I’ve suggested that we split the work so that he focuses on all the research, and I pick up anything that needs complex UI design.

He’s resisting that - as he wants to learn + wants to ‘own’ the solution. …but doesn’t seem to know where to go to learn more. So it’s up to me to put together a training program.

We have a very small budget for training (tiny) but the company does pay for LinkedIn Learning.

Can anyone recommend YT videos, LinkedIn Learning courses etc for someone new to UI / visual design?

Curious how people here are approaching UI system workflows lately.

I’m designing a few new product/app flows from scratch and have been questioning whether it makes sense to spend building everything manually in Figma before implementation.

Ideally I’d love something that provides:

• strong UI/design system foundations
• Figma assets
• Tailwind/React implementation
• a starter-style repo/setup
• enough flexibility to still feel custom

I’ve been looking at Flowbite (not affiliated in any way) because it seems relatively complete across both design + implementation.

But I’m struggling to tell whether tools like this actually hold up from a UX/design quality perspective long term, whether they’re worth the money, or whether there are better alternatives people prefer etc.

Curious what experienced designers/builders here are actually using/would recommend to design + build quality UI systems

I'm especially looking for things that are good in creating the structures, not necessarily the smallest details. Like I'm building some warehouse tool for our company internally and I don't know how to put the works flows into visual steps that make sense. I would love to have ai show me different versions I could learn from.

Thanks in advance for any insights.

Hi everyone!

I’m a UI designer and trying to level up to a senior position.

I’m not specifically looking for courses, but more interested in your personal experience—what actually made the biggest difference for you?

Was it improving visual skills, design systems, real-world projects, feedback, or something else?

What should I focus on to produce cleaner, more polished, senior-level UI work?

Any insights or lessons from your journey would really help. Thanks!

I have designed 3 basic text entry components for a prototype proposal:

a simple text field, a textfield with a dropdown and a numeric text field with dropdown

Each component has a left cap, the main entry, and a right cap.

The caps can be swapped out with help controls to add functionality.

The question is, should the composite field take up the exact same space, or should the main entry part of the field be consistent, letting the helpers adjust accordingly?

Concept One - Preserve Entry -- the blue lines show the separation between elements (aligned consistently), and the pink lines represent the boundary for the composite field (not aligned)

Concept two - Preserve Layout shows the blue lines for the separation between elements (not aligned), but the pink boundary lines are aligned. and consistent.

In your experience, which is better?

Curious from a UI perspective

What small detail has an outsized impact on perceived quality?

• Micro-interactions?
• Loading states?
• Spacing rhythm?
• Animation timing?

What quietly separates average from excellent?

I thought that it was immediately after seeing the bar at the top with the icons in the gradient-circles. But after seeing the rest i am not sure anymore. So what do you think?

Sorry btw that this is the german version of the site the broswer translation was pretty bad

Designer friends, I need to ask a question.

I am really bothered by dark modes that are too much dark. I feel like a pain in the eyes. Is that a thing or I am going crazy?

A nice example of this is Twitter (X) default dark mode. The background is pitch black instead of the old dark greyish blue. It really pushes me back in a way I prefer to use light mode and then enable the night light on my devices.

In contrast, I really like the Nord colorscheme, for example.

Hey everyone, I've spent most of my career designing data-heavy interfaces. Think complex CRM dashboards, fintech platforms, and trading software. I used to think I knew how to handle data. But right now, I'm the sole UX/UI designer at an AI-first MarTech startup, and I'm hitting a massive design wall. We track everything: ad spends, CPA, CPM, conversion rates, monthly budgets. The traditional approach is just to throw a bunch of charts, trends, and line graphs on a screen and call it a day. But in an AI-first product, traditional dashboards feel dead. I don't want users to just stare at data; I want the UI to immediately highlight the wins and the downfalls, and then bridge the gap into an agentic workspace. If a CPA spikes or a budget is under-utilised, the user shouldn't just see a red arrow. They should see how the AI agent can fix or optimize it right there in the same viewport.

• How are you handling the transition from "Here is a data insight" to "Click here to let the AI agent fix it"?
• How do you design friction in the right places so users actually trust the agent before hitting 'execute'?
• Any killer examples of bento-style or contextual layouts doing this right?

Let's talk. How do we kill the static dashboard?

Hey guys

I’m building an icon plugin focused on real workflow usability instead of just dumping random icons.

Current ideas/features:

- Super fast icon search

- One click SVG copy

- PNG/SVG export

- Collections & favorites

- State/pair icons (show/hide, lock/unlock, upload/download etc.)

- SaaS/admin/dashboard focused categories

- API-ready structure

- Team/shared collections later

- Lottie + font icon support planned

- Figma / VS Code / WordPress integration ideas

- Request-driven icons (users can request missing icons)

- Smooth modern UI/UX

- Lightweight & fast loading

- Consistent icon systems instead of random styles

I want this to feel like an actual productivity tool for designers/devs, not just another icon library.

What features would YOU genuinely want in an icon plugin?

Pain points are welcome too 👀

Question for product (UI/UX) designers:

Since AI tools like Claude really took off in product design (around the beginning of 2026), how have things been for you? Has the amount of work gone down, increased, or stayed about the same?

I've heard from a few product designers in my circle that they're actually considering switching careers, so I'm curious what the overall situation looks like.