r/product_design

We often think of design as a discipline that communicates ideas. But what if its primary role is something else entirely?

In this article, I argue that design is not simply about creating products, interfaces, or visual identities. Drawing on thinkers such as Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, Plato, Donald Schön, Nigel Cross, Richard Buchanan, and Rudolf Arnheim, I explore the idea that design is a distinct way of producing knowledge.

Through the work of Christoph Niemann and Kelli Anderson, I examine how visual thinking can reshape perception, generate new meanings, and make complex relationships visible. Rather than treating images as illustrations of existing ideas, I suggest that they can become cognitive tools that actively shape the way we understand the world.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts: Can design generate knowledge, or is it ultimately “just” a medium for communicating ideas?

I keep seeing the same AI discussion in design: speed.

And I’m honestly not sure that’s the most interesting thing AI brings to the table.
What worries me is that AI is often used to produce more output faster, not necessarily better output. In my experience, that can lead to generic, repetitive, average-looking design. Especially when people treat the first AI result as “good enough.”

What I do think AI can be useful for is closing skill gaps. UX writing, icons, motion, quick visual exploration, idea sketc hing. That feels like a real opportunity to improve the work, not just intensify it.

The part I struggle with is when AI output starts replacing the actual thinking around product, context, user needs, and trade-offs. That’s the stuff that doesn’t show up immediately in the deliverable, but it matters a lot.

To me, the goal should not be “faster mediocre design.”

It should be using AI to build better products.

How are you all seeing this in your teams?

Yesterday I shared one of my first prototypes here and received far more feedback than I expected. Some of it was encouraging, some of it was brutally honest, and all of it was useful. So… here is another one. It’s still built around a commercial kit. I know many of you would rather see a fully kitless pen, and honestly, that’s where I hope to end up one day. Right now I’m simply trying to learn, improve, and build one pen at a time. This one is made from European walnut. I wanted a softer, more organic silhouette than my previous attempt, with gentle flowing curves instead of perfectly straight lines.The wooden stand is just a quick workshop accessory, while the cocoon-shaped object in the background is an early prototype of the presentation box I’ve been developing. I’m especially interested in hearing your thoughts on the overall proportions.

Does the body flow naturally?

Is the section transition too abrupt?

Does it still feel too “kit pen”, or is it starting to develop its own character?

As always, thank you for taking the time to critique my work. Every comment teaches me something.

P.S. I know the photos aren’t perfect yet. Photography is apparently another craft I have to learn. 😄

https://preview.redd.it/ftelavppjs9h1.jpg?width=2630&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=135dbacdea6d2940b5fdbf7279301a742853b37b

https://preview.redd.it/wkskeuppjs9h1.jpg?width=3997&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=321edc81f6774cc0e8a507c11c2dfac2ace6aed4

https://preview.redd.it/ajf7dvppjs9h1.jpg?width=4087&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=dd5fe7e54f8bc075c743e617a3b3df39c19390d3

https://preview.redd.it/c3v7q2qpjs9h1.jpg?width=4185&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a0a4b461436157497775ba012a0b45818b934acd

https://preview.redd.it/vl5mfvppjs9h1.jpg?width=3981&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=78e3f06e50bd63956f1dca482ebdb86c0d4e4c4d

https://preview.redd.it/xbhb4vppjs9h1.jpg?width=3949&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a50597d9c34708528ebf6ce80106c79b1620a81d

I'm a designer, I hated manually resizing banners across ad platforms, couldn't find a tool that actually fit my workflow, so I built my own. Not selling anything — just sharing the story and happy to give free access if anyone wants to try it.

For the longest time, the part of my job I hated most was resizing. I'd design a banner in Photoshop exactly how I wanted it, and then I'd have to rebuild it over and over for every ad set — a full Google Display set, a PMax set, Meta, LinkedIn… It ate up a huge amount of my time and it was the least creative work imaginable.

I went through a bunch of existing platforms and never found one that actually worked for me.

At some point I just started making my own — honestly, at first only for me. One thing led to another and it turned into an actual product, oppye.com. The short version: you upload a banner you've already designed and it re-composes the layout for each platform size instead of cropping or stretching it. A few things I cared about:

Re-composes the layout for every format format (Meta, Google Display, PMax, LinkedIn, Stories)

You bring your own approved design — no rebuilding it inside the tool

It can also create creatives from a prompt, and also have a prompt builder inside.

If anyone wants to try it, there's a "Request Free Access" button on the site and I'll set you up for free....or just DM me

Ik we all are building something should look great. But let me remind you we shouldn’t use LLMs to build those designs. Here is the playbook i used and helps me build clean designs looks like an enterprise design.

Let me specify here its not for designers who knows everything its for those who missed out and still wants to get better designs or something closer to that which you can iterate effectively once base is created.

1. Visit your competitors websites and apps and take a screenshot of all the things you like and dislike or screen record it.
2. Go to claude/chatgpt/gemini chats add those files there.
3. Start voice to text mode and start defining what you are trying to build what it does and how your expectations meeting those images.
4. Add what needs to be changed on your side and what extra or less you needed.
5. Tell it to add support to multiple browser engines and different browser screens sizes with multiple widely used devices and optimize it.
6. Mentions it to create military phases to tackle every aspect of components while building and take care of primary and secondary components, fonts and etc.
7. Before that make sure you add googles DESIGN.md from their GitHub. Helps AI to stick with a proper design system.
8. Ask it to create and design plans with professionalism generate a .md file at end as a prompt.

Copy it and add it to your project and add the file to chat and see it work and iterate on things which got missed.

Ik there are tooks like stich/claude design or etc. but this is a bit faster way to get things done.

Let me know what you use might help others out there.

I built a website called to help people struggling in the job market or who want a change after my own experience. I'm from the UK but have basically lived abroad in several different countries since I graduated, I've been a teacher, logistics worker and professional poker player. Since coming back and seeing the state of the job market and resources/information available to us,I wanted to build something to help make sure people have a easy access to all information they need to make the right decisions about their career paths and also help make the job search more efficient. I've tested it thoroughly myself, but before the hard launch I'm looking for more testers to see if they can find any mistakes or areas that need improving.

I'd be extremely grateful if anyone is willing to help me out, please send me a message if you are interested and I'll share the link