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SAY HELLO TO SENTIENT DESIGN
Let’s untangle this new era of AI-mediated experiences
BEFORE WE GET INTO IT…
Join us today for our free online session about AI and design systems! (Combining AI and design systems is like putting chocolate in your peanut butter—delicious.)
There are so many twisty contradictions in our experiences with AI and the messages we receive about it. It’s smart, but it’s dumb. It’s here, but it’s yet to come. It’s big, but it’s small. So much opportunity, but so much risk. It’s overhyped, but it’s underestimated. It can do everything, but it can’t seem to do anything.
What does it all mean? What are we supposed to do with this stuff? Hey, it’s crazy out there. We’ve got some tools and ideas to help you make sense of it.
First, say hello to Sentient Design, the already-here future of intelligent interfaces. These are AI-mediated experiences that feel almost self-aware in their response to user needs. Sentient Design describes not only the form of this new user experience but also Big Medium’s framework and philosophy for working with AI as a design material. We’ve received lots of kind feedback as we’ve started sharing our approach, and we hope it helps you, too. Lots more details about Sentient Design in the links below, including a Sentient Design intro, a talk, an article series, and a forthcoming book.
Second, we’re digging into how AI tooling can help us do our jobs better and faster as designers and developers. Join us today for our free online session about AI and design systems. We’ve been using AI in all kinds of ways to speed and improve how we build and maintain design systems across code, documentation, and design. As you might expect, AI is great at some of it, and other bits... not so much. We’ll share our unvarnished experiences of what works and what doesn’t, so you can do it, too. Learn more and sign up—it’s free!
Look, the AI hype can be exhausting. We’re promised flying cars and we get email prompts. But buried under all the hoo-ha there’s real value. Keep a level head and open mind, friends. It’s more important than ever to explore, to stay playful, to splash in puddles. As I wrote this week, “The best response to failed experiments is not, ‘What a dumb idea, there’s nothing here.’ For what it’s worth, I prefer: ‘What can we learn from this? What’s next?’”
Onward,
—Josh Clark and the Big Medium team
IT’S SENTIENT DESIGN WEEK!
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SAY HELLO TO SENTIENT DESIGN
Sentient Design is the already-here future of intelligent interfaces and AI-mediated interfaces. Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred introduce the core concepts for working with AI as a design material.
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SENTIENT DESIGN, THE TALK
Josh Clark leads a spirited exploration of the AI interactions and opportunities that lie beyond the current fascination with chatbots. Available in video, audio, slides, and prose.
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SENTIENT DESIGN, THE BOOK
Rosenfeld Media will publish Sentient Design: AI and the New Digital Experience by Josh Clark with Veronika Kindred. Learn more and sign up for news and updates.
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A.I., SNAKE OIL, AND MIRACLE-CURE EXPECTATIONS
Be distrustful when AI is hyped as a cure-all—but don’t assume it’s useless just because it doesn’t live up to outlandish promises. This is not (only) a matter of marketing or hubris—it’s a design problem.
🗓️ UPCOMING EVENTS
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AI AND DESIGN SYSTEMS
Free online event: June 13, 2024
The Big Medium team will share the many ways we use AI to supercharge the build and maintenance of design systems.
BRAD FROST @ UX LONDON
London: June 18-20, 2024
Brad Frost will give a talk (Is Atomic Design Dead?) and a workshop (The Design System Ecosystem) at the UK's premier UX conference. Learn more
BRAD FROST @ DESIGN SYSTEMS MASTERCLASS
Paris: June 27, 2024
Brad Frost will light up the City of Light with a full-day workshop about building and maintaining design systems. Learn more
