iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Guy on LinkedIn bragging about laying off 80% of his designers. 🤦‍♂️ To me it screams, toxic, poor leadership, certainly not something to be proud of.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 22/09/2026

I'm joining @bencallahan.com again on The Question this week. Share your thoughts and come join the discussion. Should be fun. 🤩 🔗 bit.ly/answerTheQuestion

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 14/09/2026

It's been a little over a year since I left Spotify, after nine years of leading design systems and accessibility engineering. I've been pretty quiet about what I'm up to now. I now run my consultancy @53degrees.studio. 53degrees.studio

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 28/07/2026

Scrum is nonsense that belongs in the bin. 🗑️

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rem / Remy Sharp @remysharp.com · 02/06/2026

In Katie's words: Please share if you think Greens should be doing better 💚 @bhgreens.bsky.social @greenparty.org.uk @zackpolanski.bsky.social

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Amy Hupe @amyhupe.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Hi BlueSky pals 📣 Having just completed a fun project with the folks at Clearleft, I’m on the lookout for my next project. I’m open to part-time or full-time contracts outside IR35 and I can help you with: - design systems consultancy & management - content design - design systems documentation

amyhupe.co.uk

Testimonials

Content design and design systems consultant

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 29/05/2026

A friend coming to visit me in Manchester today has just gotten off her train two stops early and is walking because she felt uncomfortable on the train with a racist guy shouting about immigrants being invaders and getting arrested for attacking travellers. Grim. 🤢

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 22/05/2026

Introduce yourself with ten bands you’ve seen live City & Colour Foo Fighters Oasis Fall Out Boy Hot Milk Kids in Glass Houses Enter Shikari A Day to Remember Lady Gaga Elton John

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 27/04/2026

Film you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, DC, Marvel, Disney, Pixar, Spielberg, Cameron, Wachowskis, or Ghibli.

media.tenor.com

a man with long hair says put the bunny in front of a danger sign

Alt: a man with long hair says put the bunny in front of a danger sign

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 23/04/2026

Design handoff belongs in the bin. Not improved, made irrelevant. 🗑️ It's a waterfall relic we've normalised as best practice. I wrote about what the alternative looks like and how to get there. 🔗 bit.ly/4e4Blae

bit.ly

Design handoff belongs in the bin

Improving the handoff process is a worthy goal, but it's the wrong one. The goal should be to make handoff irrelevant entirely, and here's how you get there.

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Monteiro @monteiro.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Y'all need to get the fuck off Substack.

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Guy Segal @guysegal.com · 11/04/2026

I’m so fucking tired of tech bros

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 10/03/2026

Seriously. Every message in a channel is not a personal message to you that requires a response. 🤦‍♂️

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Amy Hupe @amyhupe.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

It’s that time again - I’m on the hunt for new clients from the beginning of April. I’m open to full or part-time contracts outside IR35. I can help you with: - design system consultancy, coaching, management or documentation - content design - UX writing - technical writing 1/2

amyhupe.co.uk

Hello.

Content design and design systems consultant

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 23/02/2026

Design systems are platform problems, not feature problems. Operating within a feature organisation can push design system teams from macro thinking to micro thinking. That misalignment compounds until the system stops functioning as a platform. www.shaunbent.co.uk/blog/design-...

shaunbent.co.uk

Design systems are platform problems, not feature problems

Where you put your design system team with your organisation determines how they think, what they build, and whether the system stays a platform or the teams become a UI feature factory.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 19/02/2026

This is going to be a great episode of “24 hours in Police custody”!

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 18/02/2026

Every company has that one person who it seems like all they do is sit on Slack all day, instantly responding to everything and seems to be in every channel and conversation. 🙈

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 17/02/2026

Sometimes decisions are made for you. Everyone knows they're wrong, but you can't change them, and as a leader, you have to guide your team through it. I wrote a story of layoffs, reorgs, and bad decisions. How I led my team through it, and what I learnt. www.shaunbent.co.uk/blog/when-th...

shaunbent.co.uk

When the Decision Is Made, and You Can't Change It

Sometimes decisions are made for you. They're clearly wrong, and you can't change them. This is about how you lead anyway.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 13/02/2026

"...an engineer at Spotify on their morning commute...can tell Claude to fix a bug...all before they even arrive at the office." This isn't the win you think it is. 🤦‍♂️ It's normalising work on personal time, eroding boundaries, and celebrating always-on culture as innovation.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 09/02/2026

I shared some thoughts on handling breaking changes in design systems for @zeroheight.com. A bunch of lessons learnt from my time leading design systems at Spotify.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 29/01/2026

Just @lucympowell.bsky.social talking about Labour and the Gorton and Denton by-election but disabling comments and quote reposts. It’s almost like Labour wants to avoid a debate and discussion. 👎 The complete opposite approach to the engagement you get from @zackpolanski.bsky.social 💚

A screenshot of Lucy Powell’s Bluesky post about voting Labour in the Gorton & Denton by-election and how a vote for any other party is a vote to let Reform in. She has disabled comments and quote reposts.

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Laura Kalbag @laurakalbag.com · 27/01/2026

My book, Accessibility For Everyone, is now free and online as a website. accessibilityforeveryone.site The book was first published by A Book Apart in 2017 but it holds up! It covers web accessibility for designers, developers, content folks, and really everyone who works in tech.

accessibilityforeveryone.site

Accessibility For Everyone by Laura Kalbag

Read the book online for free.

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Ariel Salminen @arielsalminen.com · 20/01/2026

Would you like to work with me? 👋🏻 I’m currently helping to strengthen the existing design systems team at Kesko and we’re looking for a nice & talented designer/developer to join us. arielsalminen.com/2026/hiring-...

arielsalminen.com

Hiring a Design Engineer for Kesko Design System

Hi 👋🏻, I’m Arielle, a Design Systems Architect working with Kesko. I’m currently helping to strengthen the existing design systems team in the organization and we’re looking for an experienced Design ...

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 12/01/2026

Why are we hiring so many designers? I analysed 256 design system roles. The ratio of designers to engineers was telling. In my last team, we deliberately ran the inverse. If the biggest value comes from code, are we building design systems or just designing them?

shaunbent.co.uk

Is There Too Much Design in Design Systems?

Why are we hiring so many designers? Most design system roles are design-focused, but the biggest value comes from code. Are we building design systems, or just designing them?

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Russ Jones @russincheshire.bsky.social · 02/01/2026

If you're still on X: why? I had 270,000 followers when I closed my account. But all I lost was 200,000 bots and trolls. The real people — the funny, the decent, the smart, the interesting — are already here. They'll find you. Leave X. Just do it. It's personal, political and societal poison.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 01/01/2026

Happy New Year!!!! 🥳🍾🖤

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Oliver Lindberg @oliverlindberg.com · 18/12/2025

In design systems, change is the only constant. And thinking ahead to life after the release of our first components can positively impact how we start. Check out @hereinthehive.bsky.social's article for the @zeroheight.com blog: zeroheight.com/blog/design-...

zeroheight.com

Design system change management: Change is the only constant - zeroheight

Dan Donald provides practical guidance for managing change in design systems — triage, naming, workflows, and communication.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 11/12/2025

A few years back, I nearly wrote "The Fallacy of Federated Design Systems." Then @nathanacurtis.bsky.social beat me to it. But what happens when you try it anyway? At Spotify, I watched federated fail twice, resulting in a huge number of barely reused components and damaged trust in design systems.

shaunbent.co.uk

Why Federated Design Systems Keep Failing

Why do federated design systems keep failing? I watched it happen twice at Spotify. Here's what actually happened, where they broke down, and why centralised models usually work better.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 26/11/2025

A director once showed a prototype they’d made in Figma Make and then with all seriousness told me: “I think we can reduce our engineering team by 50%” 🤡 (I laughed out loud in response)

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Will Oremus @willoremus.com · 12/11/2025

every company in 2025

comic strip with call and response text.
who are we?
CEOs
what do we want?
AI!
AI to do what?
We don't know!
When do we want it?
Right now!

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 13/11/2025

Super toxic leadership stuff. 🗑️ My last place was very much leaning into this monitoring AI usage. 🤢

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 10/11/2025

The problem with going to an airport lounge in the UK is that it’s full of Tories. 🗑️

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 14/10/2025

I'm in! ✅ I feel energised, engaged and for the first time in a longtime like I have a political home!

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Cassetteboy @cassetteboy.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

New! Cassetteboy vs Keir Starmer. This took absolutely ages, so if you'd like to buy us a coffee at ko-fi.com/cassetteboy we'd really appreciate it. Thanks!

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Ben Callahan @bencallahan.com · 29/09/2025

Episode 062 of The Question with Jeremy Elder is LIVE. This week, we’re considering how #designsystem teams can deal with the pressure to go faster. Answer (bit.ly/answerTheQuestion) to join the deep dive! 👏 Thank you to @zeroheight.com, the organizers of Converge, for making this one possible! 👏

bit.ly

The Question is a weekly conversation for anyone seriously interested in Design Systems.

Each Monday, you’ll receive an email from me with a design system related question. You’ll have 48 hours to answer. If you choose to do so, you’ll receive an invite to the deep dive on Thursday (or Fr...

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Kelly Vaughn @kvlly.com · 01/09/2025

It’s officially here! @ladybug.dev is back! 🐞 Buckle in for the next 10 weeks as @emmabostian.bsky.social and I cover tons of important topics on engineering management. Welcome to Season 7! www.ladybug.dev/episodes/a-b...

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 29/08/2025

A parting gift to the Stockholm Design System community! 🙏 Hope to see lots of folks in Stockholm next month! 🇸🇪💚

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 07/08/2025

After nearly 9 years, today was my last day at Spotify. Working here has shaped me in so many ways, both professionally and personally. 👋 I moved to Stockholm to join the company, and that move changed my life. I met people from all over the world who shaped not just how I work, but who I am. 🇸🇪

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 30/07/2025

Super great piece from Lauren, I find myself resinating with so many of the points in here.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 03/07/2025

After nearly 9 years living in Sweden, this week I moved back to the UK. 🇬🇧 Manchester is one of my favourite cities in the world, the culture, the music, the warmth of the people. Very excited to start the next chapter of my life here. It’s going to take a while to get used to the view.

A view of the Manchester skyline with a cloudy sky through 3 floor to ceiling glass windows.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 18/04/2025

"If you focus solely on achieving compliance without changing your systems (embedding accessibility into processes and culture), progress will be temporary." Fantastic article by @dadederk.bsky.social with several great takeaways on how to create an #accessibility culture within your organisation.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 12/04/2025

Early start for Record Store Day. #rsd2025

People queuing in front of a row of shops.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 10/04/2025

👇 I like Stu, you should hire him.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 08/04/2025

🎟️ I'm in, who else is joining?

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 08/04/2025

Having spent 8.5 years in a country with a national ID system, I have to say the UK feels like it's living in the Stone Age without these. They make life so much easier and more secure.

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Shaun Bent @shaunbent.co.uk · 07/04/2025

Big life news: a one-way flight from Sweden to the UK has been booked. 🇸🇪 ✈️ 🇬🇧

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Sil Bormüller @silbormueller.bsky.social · 25/02/2025

Thrilled to announce that Into Design Systems is coming to Spotify! 🇸🇪🎶💚 Huge shoutout to @shaunbent.co.uk thank you so much for making it happen! ❤️ Follow @intodesignsystems.bsky.social - we will announce the event soon!! Can’t wait to see you all in Stockholm! 🇸🇪 Let’s go 🙌

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