Tanagra.

The canon.

Every Tanagra essay, in one place. Worked-out patterns for designing at the edges, where the pattern always misses someone.

June 3, 2026

Same Object, Different Deliverable

Someone sent me a prototype I couldn't navigate, because every input was alive and none of it led anywhere. What that file revealed about design, product, and who gets left carrying the user when the artifact goes free.

IDICThe Good of the ManyDarmok
May 17, 2026

Maybe There's Something Wrong with the Universe

A diagnosis of what the design field is grieving under AI disruption, and what moving through it actually looks like.

IDICThe Good of the ManyEx Astris ScientiaDarmok
May 4, 2026

I Was Wrong About the Internet

IDICEx Astris ScientiaThe Good of the ManyDarmok
May 4, 2026

The Pattern Is the Theory

The component is the artifact. The pattern is the theory. We've been shipping one and calling it the other.

Ex Astris ScientiaThe Good of the Many
April 27, 2026

The Brief

AI doesn't fail because it hallucinates. It fails because you assumed it already knew what you meant. The brief is now the artifact under review.

Ex Astris ScientiaThe Good of the Many
April 21, 2026

Claude Design Is Exposing Your Design System Debt

The tool isn't the problem. It's the mirror.

Ex Astris ScientiaThe Good of the Many
April 12, 2026

Garbage In Is a Design Failure

The decisions that determine whether your systems can learn, report, or protect happen in the design of the input experience, long before any engineer touches the data.

IDICThe Good of the ManyEx Astris Scientia
April 12, 2026

The Text Box Is Not the Only Door

AI isn't hard because you're bad at it. You just walked in the wrong door.

IDICEx Astris Scientia
April 10, 2026

Process Is a Tool. So Is Scrappiness.

Why the most dangerous thing a designer can develop isn't a skill — it's range.

Ex Astris ScientiaThe Good of the Many
April 4, 2026

AI Will Make Designers Dangerous

AI doesn't threaten the human parts of design. It exposes them. Here's why that's the best thing to happen to this field in twenty years.

IDICThe Good of the ManyEx Astris Scientia
March 26, 2026

The Design Philosophy That's Been Hiding in Plain Sight for 60 Years

Here's my small act of resistance: a product design article built on the two Star Trek principles that have guided my entire career.

IDICThe Good of the Many
March 24, 2026

The Case for Whimsy in Enterprise Design

What a four-year-old subway operator taught me about delight in internal tools.

IDICThe Good of the ManyDarmok
March 17, 2026

Consumer Design Skills Will Only Get You So Far

Enterprise and internal tool design requires a different set of instincts, and a different kind of leadership. Here are five principles I've uncovered the hard way.

IDICThe Good of the ManyEx Astris Scientia
March 10, 2026

Why Internal Tools Are the Most Underrated Design Challenge

There's an unspoken hierarchy in product design. Consumer-facing products sit at the top. I'd like to make the case that this hierarchy is wrong.

IDICThe Good of the Many
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