Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 16hWorking on a new lesson for a new course. Can you guess? 😉 010
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/08/2026This is what worked for me. Just one blind mouse feeling out a wild new frontier. Let me know what's worked for you. And if you like science, here's the article again 😉 explainers.blog/posts/how-d...explainers.blogHow does Quantum Mechanics work?This article is a tangible, intuitive intro to quantum mechanics – the way I wish it had been explained to me. 020
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/08/20266/ LEARNING OK, soft skill. I've tried to write this article for *years*. It wasn't until LLMs that I could effectively learn the math and science required to get this right. Worth asking: what can you *learn* today that you couldn't in 2023? 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/08/2026☝️ Tip: when you’re using an LLM to generate the SVG, you can ask for the relevant dials so that you can get it tweaked exactly right before exporting it. I did this a few times; here’s two such instances. 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/08/20265/ SVG AS THE UNIVERSAL DRAWING LANGUAGE The SVG file format is machine-readable text AND can be copied and pasted into Figma AND exported from it. Both LLMs and Figma "speak" SVG. Therefore, you have two very different tools for drawing *much* more than you could before. 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/08/20264/ INTERACTIVE WIDGETS VIA FIGMA KEYFRAMES Design what you want to look at in Figma, add interactivity and state in code. This workflow rules because you literally couldn't do this 3 years ago without significant developer help/expertise. Hot take: we're sleeping on widgets 🔥 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/08/20263/ BRAINSTORMING ANIMATION The canvas is great for some ideation, but animations in Figma are slow & limited 🫤 …but LLMs make 'em fast and easy. Here I’m having Claude prototype clickability affordances for an interactive widget: 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/08/2026(Not to be the "try this model" guy, but I tried this in November with ChatGPT and it was *impossible* to create. Worth noting that things that didn’t work 6 months ago can be very smooth now 😅) 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/08/20262/ CREATING VIDEO FILES Yeah, Claude writes code. That's old news 🥱 But many videos *can* be specified in code (tip: anything on an HTML canvas is an easy video export 👀). Here’s a video of the fiendishly complex quantum mechanical wavefunction. 7 prompts total 🙈 110
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/08/20261/ CODE-TO-FIGMA (AND BACK) Figma still rules for some quick visual interaction and canvases are great at side-by-side comparison. When e.g. working on the sidenote design, I pulled things from LLM-land back into Figma. Perfect 🫡 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/08/2026I used AI for *everything possible* – from research to developing blog features & widgets. …but not at the expense of my own creative taste. Every word is mine; every visual *started* in Figma. Check it out, then I'll tell you 5 flows that worked: explainers.blog/posts/how-d...explainers.blogHow does Quantum Mechanics work?This article is a tangible, intuitive intro to quantum mechanics – the way I wish it had been explained to me. 110
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/08/2026JUST LAUNCHED – an interactive explainer article on how quantum mechanics works 🎉 🎛️ 6 interactive widgets 🌉 30+ diagrams, photos, and videos 🤓 0 math This is a bit outside my normal fare! Why? It's a test of AI... 🧵 220
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 20/04/2026Digital Erik is freee for the following folks: 👉 Anyone who signs up for Learn UI Design (which closes Apr 30 🔥) 👉 If in LUID, anyone who signs up for another course of mine by Apr 30 👉 If in multiple courses... you're in! Email me! 💌 erik@learnui.design 010
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 20/04/2026Seeing the "why" behind ideas (as well as citation links) is *WAY* nicer than your typical LLM-assisted design experience 😅 Here's what another user (who was *also* working on copywriting) said this morning: 110
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 20/04/2026Today, I'm testing out Digital Erik on COPYWRITING. (Digital Erik is the custom chatbot I've trained on 70k+ words of my design content 🤖) It has access to ALL Landing Page Academy transcripts + worksheets So it can BRAINSTORM ideas, say WHY they work, and WHERE to learn more 110
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 02/04/2026Now I just need to get reliable, accurate URL-accessible timestamps working. *That* would be a nice UX 😅 000
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 02/04/2026One thing I'm really stoked about with Digital Erik is that he cites his sources. I have this hunch that "almost 70 hours of video across 3 courses" sometimes sounds more like a chore than an asset. But if an intelligent agent can point you to *EXACTLY* where your question is answered... nice! 😎 110
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 01/04/2026Right now, Digital Erik does not have a logo. As much as I love UI, coming up with logos has never been my thing. Branding is truly its own craft. Any advice? (The current version is "Digital Erik" written in Freight Text, which Digital Erik guesses is my fav font. Not bad! 😎) 010
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/03/2026To get there, I've developed a battery of sample questions (gradable by *another* chatbot, of course) to evaluate how different architecture changes affect answer quality. Still gettin' there 😅 000
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 31/03/2026I get so stoked when Digital Erik gives good advice. Granted... it's a design chatbot trained solely on my own content. It *BETTER* give good advice 🙈 But there's part of me that yells "PREACH!" when it nails an answer. 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 30/03/2026It's been super fun to be making a product again, even if I'm not sure how exactly this will fit in to the whole thing. But given how much structured content I have around basically every area of visual design this seems like something 100% worth doing 😎 000
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 30/03/2026So I've been working on a new project... Digital Erik! It's a chatbot trained on 45 hours of my design course transcripts & resources + dozens of blog posts and YouTube videos (~70k words of content!). 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 13/03/2026I've got a LOT of design content out there… 🎥 70 hours of video across 3 courses 👨💻 Dozens of blog posts 📫 100+ email newsletters 📣 Content here, & other social sites... If I uploaded ALL of this to a Digital Erik design chatbot 🤖… What would you MOST want to ask/do? 000
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 24/02/2026I actually just published a blog post manifesto on this. Read it. Share it. And if you decide to start designing what's hard to do in Figma... holler 😎 www.learnui.design/blog/hard-i...learnui.designDo What's Hard To Do In Figma: A Design ManifestoOn designs that stand out: a reflection & 10 strategies 010
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 24/02/2026Look, design trends are a sort of supply-and-demand thing. What our tools make easy, you see a LOT of, and it gets boring 🥱 What our tools make hard, you see LESS of, and it can ✨ shine ✨ So, if you want your designs to stand out... DO WHAT'S HARD IN FIGMA. 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 24/02/2026Do what's hard to do in Figma. "Like what?", you ask. I don't care, ANYTHING that static vector editors suck at. WebGL! custom photography! 3-D animations! isometric illustrations! 120
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 24/02/2026"How do I make this design look more interesting?" "How do I make my portfolio stand out?" "How should I use AI in my design workflow?" I've got the same answer for each of these 😎 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 09/02/2026I just launched a blog. (Those are still cool in 2026, right?) It's currently on the front page of Hacker News (!) First post, "Why is the sky blue?" I wanted (a) an excuse to practice explaining complex things simply, and (b) to try out some new design techniques. Success! 110
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 23/01/2026🔥 Design tip: when trying out a new font, explore ALL the properties to try and find gold. There’s a lot more than normal and bold. Sometimes extrabold italic is 👌 Make sure to search: 🏋️ Very light or heavy weights ✨ Italics 🔠 Uppercase ⭐ Special characters -–—!?&*·←→«» 010
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 22/01/2026OK, it's crazy how 4 different AI site generators come up with such SIMILAR results. Prompt includes NOTHING on specific copy, colors, images, or layouts. What does this tell you? 000
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 22/01/2026So suppose I have ~70 hours of video lessons of me teaching design. Where do I upload them so my students can chat with an LLM-powered version of my advice? Maybe even structure it to do design reviews? 000
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 20/01/2026Have you made a "meh" landing page with AI (Lovable, v0, etc) and want feedback? Comment with the link or DM me. I'll shoot over some* feedback to everyone who responds 🤙 *Exact amount depends on response volume. Offer not valid in the state of Tennessee. 000
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 19/01/2026Looks like "Log in" has *positive* letter-spacing, which is probably a holdover from an older design where it was uppercase. ☝️ In general, don't add positive letter-spacing to sentence-case text. 000
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 19/01/2026Evernote is now using Figtree as a brand font, and they're doing a great job with it. Some typography tips: ✅ Negative letter-spacing in the header gives a crisper, tighter feel ✅ Use of non-standard weights to give a little extra emphasis (top nav uses medium weight text) 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 13/01/2026unsplash.com/@britishlib... unsplash.com/@birmingham... unsplash.com/@libraryofc... www.rawpixel.com/category/53... images.nasa.gov/rawpixel.comPublic Domain | rawpixel<p style="text-align:center">We are sourcing and digitally enhancing thousands of antique books and chromolithographic plates to unlock the inspirational design treasures of the past. As part of our commitment to give everyone access to the best public domain creative resources we are making these high resolution creative commons images available with a <a href="https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/" target="_blank">CC0 License</a>.</p> 110
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 13/01/2026Is AI "stealing with one step added"? It doesn't seem like that to me 🤷♂️ But there's something undeniably nice about using human-produced assets for design work. Here are some of my fav links for (free-to-use) paintings, illustrations, and renders... 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 09/01/2026I also wrote WAY too much about why mesh gradients are so broadly useful 😅 It's the hidden logic of design – enjoy. www.learnui.design/blog/mesh-g...learnui.designTechnique Deep Dive #1: Mesh Gradients5 reasons mesh gradients are flexible & powerful · 12+ beautiful mesh gradient examples from around the web 010
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 09/01/2026I scratched my own itch and created a tool for making mesh gradients. May it inspire your own vibe-coded design tools 🫡 learnui.design/tools/mesh-...learnui.designMesh Gradient Generator (w/ 1-click SVG/Figma export)Create & export mesh gradients as SVG or to Figma. Quickly experiment with grainy noise and blur. Includes a one-click export to Figma for use in designs. 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 09/01/2026Most underrated design trend of 2025… mesh gradients (OK, technically this started earlier, but it felt like it really picked up last year) You can adapt them for SO many brands and use-cases. It's shocking to me we don't see these lil' guys EVERYWHERE. 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 08/01/2026🏆 Most ridiculous design trend of 2025... 🥁 XL FOOTERS It's true. We've gone all these years without any real love given to footers. But just including your logo at size one-billion? 🧐🧐🧐 There's no *there* there. My prediction is this will fade just as quickly as it rose. 000
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 07/01/2026What other visual styles are vibes-based, not requiring geometric exactitude, and therefore AI would punch above its weight? 🤔 000
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 07/01/2026My guess is Intercom didn't commission an oil painting. Instead, they used AI to replicate the style. Why the trend now? B/c it's suddenly dirt cheap! If we could've commissioned 10¢ oil paintings in 2015, we probably would've seen a whole lot more of them! 🤷♂️ 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 07/01/2026My initial hunch is this trend is because of a specific medium, namely AI-generated images 🧐 AI is... ✅ GOOD at vibes-based visuals ❌ BAD at geometric exactitude And painting – especially thickly laid-on, impressionist-style painting – is very "vibey". It's about the MOOD. 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 07/01/2026One of the most interesting design trends of 2025 (though ongoing) is OIL PAINTINGS AS A BACKGROUND. I can't deny it. It looks 🔥🔥 But if we understand *why* it looks great, we can riff and figure out something more original. 110
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 22/10/2025Enrollment for my design courses closes at midnight tonight. Lots of folks saying it's the best career investment they've ever made. AMA 🫡 010
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 15/07/2025Props to James Cook for using common ingredients uncommonly well 🤩 hellojames.co.uk/writing/bet... 010
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 15/07/2025📏 XL SIZE: at size 84, this headline is massive. We see details in Georgia that aren't as familiar. It's a whole new font! 👌 NEGATIVE LETTER SPACING: fonts are designed for body text sizing. For headlines, subtract letter-spacing for a tighter, crisper feel. 100
Erik Kennedy @erikdkennedy.bsky.social · 15/07/2025Georgia is a default web font, it's on a billion pages... but here it looks FRESH 🔥 Why? 2 reasons... 100
