iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 21/04/2026

I am an optimist. Looking at AI I see so much potential for us designers, researchers, and product people to thrive… if we embrace the change and don't hide under our desks. If you want to learn about my thoughts on what will happen to our craft, come see my talk next Monday uxdx.com/profile/wolf...

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 15/04/2026

AI accelerates product development – but are we building the right thing? Don't run faster in the wrong direction. Join Sabrina and me in tomorrow's webinar (April 16, 5-6pm) to discuss why Product Discovery is more vital than ever in the age of AI. 👉 2eorve.share-eu1.hsforms.com/2VVQPdtpSR-W...

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 26/02/2026

Design systems have a bright future ahead of them. They will serve as the vocabulary and grammar for GenAI to write programs. They will make the difference between receiving cobbled-together spaghetti code, that is at best suitable for prototypes, and getting scalable, production-ready code.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 17/02/2026

Many Agile Coaches master Delivery but stay on the sidelines during Product Discovery. Don’t just build the product right – build the RIGHT product! 🎯 Join @sabrinahauptman.bsky.social & me for a free webinar this Thursday (Feb 19, 4pm CET). Sign up here: share-eu1.hsforms.com/1T5S9EKjaQaC...

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 08/01/2026

Doesn’t look like we really need that upcoming blizzard tomorrow. But then again, I’m no expert… 🙈🤷🏻‍♂️

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 10/09/2025

It's non-tech but I like this product "innovation" example. Let's solve problems no one ever had: like being unable to decide between flat and wave cut chips.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 10/09/2025

If you tell ChatGPT to be the world’s best doctor or investment banker, keep in mind: it won’t actually become that. It’s more like an actor trying to mimic what it thinks the world’s best doctor or banker would say. So be mindful of which advice you take from an actor – unless it’s about acting.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 09/09/2025

Only looking at how to use AI to augment the work you did in recent years won’t cut it. The change brought by AI will be so profound that it will redraw the lines between disciplines. So, how can you prepare your product org for the AI era? 👇🧵 (1/10)

This image is purely meant as illustration and is not additional content. It shows a group of experts and a robot (the AI) working together. The experts have mixed roles like "Designer & Developer", "Business Analyst & Test Automator" or "UX Researcher & Software architect".

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 24/02/2025

Heute verstehe ich endlich, wie das mit dem antifaschistischen Schutzwall gemeint war. 😕

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 15/02/2025

At first I read „world of ironic dinosaurs“ and boy, would I have gone to see that.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 30/01/2025

I‘m glad that the medical checkup for pre-school children now includes the handling of terrible user interfaces. Preparing our children for the hazards of this word is so important.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 25/01/2025

Elon addressing the German right wing party AfD via a giant screen reminds me of this here.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 24/01/2025

And so it ends… perparing to close some Twitter accounts… 👋

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 15/01/2025

That tweet should make any designer melancholic… 🥲 (by @rileyj.bsky.social on the former bird platform)

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 13/01/2025

That sweet moment when your followers surpass the people you are following.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 10/01/2025

I really love the song "Shallow" from Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper. But something in the music video is letting my inner Monk freak out. Can you spot it? 🔎 😉

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 08/01/2025

Even after a decade of building design systems, I’m still amazed at how much thought and effort go into creating even a simple component. Building DS components is not trivial. They need to be incredibly robust to function across all applicable contexts and with all applicable contents. They… (1/3)

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 24/12/2024

To all my design and product friends (and to all my other followers as well) here‘s to you. I wish you all a merry and peaceful Christmas with your loved ones. Below for your delightment you find a Christmas image from my awesome friend and colleague Mathias.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 16/12/2024

Just rediscovered this visual from my first talk on design systems back in 2013 at UXCamp Europe. I still believe that one of the largest benefits of Design Systems is, that they can vastly improve collaboration and understanding between designers and developers. ❤️

Cartoon image of a mathematic equation. A Designer plus a Developer equals love.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 15/12/2024

Währenddessen an jedem Straßenrand in Südostasien…

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 07/12/2024

So fascinating that there are products that literally haven’t changed in the last 40 years. I had these planes as a kid too. And today it’s the same fun. Now imagine that there was a product team that somehow needed to be kept busy and added features over features over 40 years. How would it look?

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 03/12/2024

A blast from the past in my inbox today. Remember InVision? Back in the days I really liked how they made creating interactive prototypes a breeze. And how they aimed to create an ecosystem around product design with their blog, books, podcasts & side products. What I didn't like was that… (1/7) 🧵

Mail from inVision about the upcoming deletion of my InVision account.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 02/12/2024

So AI generated imagery finally reached the burger restaurant in our mall. I can’t decide if the worst thing is that it’s blatantly misleading or that it simply looks disgusting.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 26/11/2024

Design Systems often feature a type of content called "anatomy" where the sub-parts of each component are named. Especially with smaller components this feels trivial. I wonder: Are these really helpful to our DS users or is this just design theater to make our work appear more credible?

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 26/11/2024

I have one of those. By turning the crank our can do repetitive addition or multiplication. Its really fascinating to watch it work.

Rechenmaschine Walther WSR 160
Source: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, Paul Hildebrandt AG

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 26/11/2024

Transitioning from X/Twitter and missing the people you were following? I can recommend this handy Chrome plugin that parses your X-Following-List and finds matching accounts on Bluesky. chromewebstore.google.com/detail/sky-f...

Screenshot from Sky-Follower-Bridge plugin.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 25/11/2024

Why do so many designers think "black" when they hear dark mode? I love dark mode, but I find it very hard to pick the right window in Exposé because every software looks the same in dark mode. Why not use a dark blue or dark green for your product to stand out? To make our lives colorful again. ✌️

Screenshot from a MacOS desktop showing different softwares in exposé mode.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 24/11/2024

Yeah as we‘re talking about that I wondered that too. In the picture attached you can see how I’m holding my phone with my thumb in the start scrolling upwards position. There is still a gap to the button. (I also deliberately tried but both buttons don’t trigger on my iPhone App when swiping.)

Hand holding an iPhone with the Bluesky app open.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 20/11/2024

I really hope we can grow this place to be something like that and maybe even something better. In the meantime, if you want to build something like that, here are the instructions to build my version. But feel free to construct your own version.

Building instructions for holding a LEGO minifigure in front of a notebook camera.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 20/11/2024

To add to this magic there were the stories of people who were enjoying working from home for the first time, of how it helped an autistic kid to overcome it's camera anxiety and many more. It was something truly peaceful, good and magical and at the time could only have happened on Twitter.

A LEGO spaceman taking part in a video call. Joyfully drifting through space.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 20/11/2024

The best thing was, that thousands of people from around the world dug out their LEGOs to build their own versions. And they were not only entertaining their colleagues, they were also posting them to my thread. It was an explosion of fun and creativity. Here's a collage of some of the works:

A collage of different lego constructions from people from all arround the world.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 20/11/2024

I always have some bricks on my desk to fidget around. And to entertain my colleagues I built a little construction to hold a LEGO minifigure in front of my camera during meetings. The day after I took some pictures and posted them on Twitter. I wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Screenshot of a tweet showing how to put a lego minifigure in front of your camera.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 20/11/2024

In the 15 years I was on Twitter I had many good moments, but this one was probably my finest, most magical moment. It connected thousands of people from all over the world, tapped into their creativity and gave us all some smiles during lockdown. Maybe you remember this guy? Here's his story… 🧵

Screenshot of a lego minifigure taking part in a videocall.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 19/11/2024

New presentation in the making. On Thursday I will talk on the Design Leadership Meetup Hamburg about how we made OTTO's product organization more user-centric with our "Discovery School" training program.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 19/11/2024

I really do love how ebay is presenting their new site design as well as their design system here: playbook.ebay.com (And I would really like to have a large enough DS team to build stuff like that.) via @jamescarleton.bsky.social

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 18/11/2024

I started my first design steps on it with CorelDRAW! 3.0 which came on 11 disks and used up 30MB of the 80MB disk. No more playing games after that.

Historic Windows 3.0 splash screen of the software CorelDraw 3.0

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 18/11/2024

I started to build the 1st iteration of the OTTO Design System in 2012. Back in the days something like that was still called a "pattern library". One of the first things I did was researching why any prior initiative failed. Later I translated this research into the Design System Cycle of Death ☠️

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 18/11/2024

While it's great to see activity on Bluesky ramping up, I can't help to miss the old Twitter. The place we had 5-7 years ago, before first hate and anger and then Elon took over. And I think Ben Evans is right, it's not coming back. So here's my minute of melancholy… and now it's time to move on.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 22/01/2024

Oldenburg braucht ein neues Stadion! Unsere rundum erneuerte Infoseite zum Thema ist online: www.nordweststadion.de

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 17/01/2024

Well, that comes about 9 years too late for me… A decade ago I really loved Evernote, I even paid for their service. Until feature creep simply made it cumbersome and bloated.

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Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems @wolfbruening.de · 28/12/2023

Möchte ich weiter Mitteilungen von der Amazon App haben? 🙄🙈🧻

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