Podcast
Dive Club 🤿
Hosted by Ridd · EN
Where designers never stop learning 💪
Dive Club is an interview series hosted by Ridd that is designed to unlock knowledge from today's most prolific designers. We go deep into craft, storytelling, tools, design engineering, startups, and much more.
You can find all of the episodes, key takeaways, and bonus resources here 👉 Dive.club
121episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Loredana Crisan - Figma's big bets for the future of AI design
2d ago00:50:13Summary readyThis week we are going behind the scenes of Config 2026 with Loredana Crisan (Figma’s Chief Design Officer) https://www.linkedin.com/in/loredanacrisan/We talk about Figma’s vision for AI, why design is having “an identity crisis and a renaissance at the same time,” and what it means to use AI to express what’s already in your head (not outsource creativity to it).It’s a clarifying conversation about taste, tools, and the future of design 👇Some highlights:- Designing systems not screens- Loredana’s mental model for AI as a tool- Building your own tools and mini apps in Figma- What Figma is learning in their own UX research- What types of designers Figma is hiring right now- + a lot more
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Brett Williams - How a Visual Designer Became a Builder
1w ago00:50:04Summary readyWhat does it look like when a designer with zero technical background commits to shipping something real?That’s what this week’s episode with Brett Williams is all about.He gives us a behind-the-scenes of his journey building Gather including:Brett’s process for iterating on a designBrett’s new prototyping.md skill workflowHow Brett maintains control while building with AIBrett’s strategy for adding sound design to GatherWhen Brett relies on Figma vs. explores directly in codea lot more
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Ron Goldin - Building your ideas as a design leader
2w ago00:54:19Summary readyThis week's episode is with Ron Goldin who has led design at Google, Shopify, UberEats, and in my opinion... he's the perfect example of what it looks like to thrive as a design leader in an AI world.So this week’s episode is a deep dive into his journey as a builder and it’s full of stories:Redesigning the Shopify checkoutRon’s unique research tactics for UberEatsBuilding MTCHMKR from scratch in LovableNavigating the job market as a design leadera lot more
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How Anthropic, Every, & Ramp design with AI
3w ago00:39:47Summary readyA couple of weeks ago I recorded my first ever episode in front of a live audience (at Ramp HQ in NYC) 🗽So today I’m excited to share the panel discussion recording with 3 incredible guests:Meaghan Choi who is the design lead for Claude Code and CoworkDan Shipper who is the CEO of Every and one of my favorite thinkers when it comes to AIAnd Bradley Ziffer who is a design engineer at RampIt’s a deep dive into AI design workflows at Anthropic, Ramp, and Every and I think you’ll enjoy it :)The event was hosted by Double Diamond and Ramp
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Andy Madrick - Why AI changed design handoff forever
May 2600:52:45Summary ready⭐️ Check out Andy’s course - Craft at Speed https://join.dive.club/maven-aff-andy-madrickUse code DIVECLUB for 15% offAndy Madrick ( https://x.com/andymadrick ) is rethinking what it means to be a designer in 2026.While at Notion, he’s developed a workflow where he prototypes directly in code, ships frontend PRs, and uses AI tools like Cursor to own the final polish of user interfaces.In this episode we get a look into how he keeps all these things in motion and still designs with insane attention to detail.Some highlights:Building one of Notion’s most visible UIsWhy recreating interactions teaches you craftOwning the last 5-20% of frontend polish workThe “jelly bean factory” problem with AI outputWhen to start in Figma vs. jumping straight to codeHow Andy creates prototypes that content teams can edita lot more
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Tommy Geoco - The state of the design industry right now
May 1901:00:00Summary readyOver the last few months, Tommy Geoco has went on site to study today’s top design teams (Vercel, Perplexity, Metalab, Ramp, etc.).So this week’s episode is a deep dive into all of the trends he’s seeing around AI workflows and where design is headed next.Some highlights:Why 59% of designers build their own toolsTommy’s current tool stack for AI design workWhat signals show AI fluency in job interviewsWhy internal tool building is the new career pathWhy now is the best time to grow in the design communityHow design workflows have become creative director rolesa lot moreBen Blumenrose (mentioned as having good insights on design)
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Katarina Batina - Making big bets with design
May 1200:55:23Summary readyHow do the best designers shape strategy at companies like Shopify?That’s what today’s episode with Design Director Katarina Batina is all about.Some highlights:Balancing metrics and visionRedesigning the shopping cart UXTaking a big bet on the shopping feedHow product strategy has changed with AIHow to get people excited about your ideasHow to make sure you don't overcook your appa lot moreKatarina mentioned John Rundle and Luke Dupont
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Rafa Conde - Make your designs memorable
May 500:59:01Summary readyRafa Conde (https://x.com/rafahari) is a design engineer at Retro and one of the most creative designers I know. I still remember where I was when I first saw the video on his personal site (https://rafa.design/) 😂In this episode we unpack what it means to design experiences that bring delight :)Some highlights:- Finding ways to introduce delight- How to make users feel something- The power of humor in your design- How to lean into video as a superpower- Balancing accessibility and delightful UX- Behind the scenes of Rafa's side projects- + a lot more- Metal Gear Solid (PlayStation 1) — directed by Hideo Kojima, referenced for its fourth-wall-breaking design moments (Meryl’s codec frequency hidden on the game box; Psycho Mantis boss fight requiring the controller to be switched from port 1 to port 2)- Sunlit app — gyroscope-based app for tracking sun position and light direction, referenced as a recent example of surprising UI: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.lonepalm.coloringworld&pli=1- Retro app — private social network for friends and family (what Instagram used to be); Rafa’s current employer: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/retro-photos-with-friends/id6443709020- Splat app — Retro’s generative AI app for iPad/iPhone that turns photos of kids into coloring book pages: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/splat-magic-coloring-book/id6749165093- Hand Mirror app — Rafa’s most popular side project, a menu bar camera app: [https://handmirror.app](https://handmirror.app/)- Gabe Valdivia’s episode — early Dive Club episode (~ep. 30) where Gabe talked about designers needing to be like “little TikTok creators” inside their orgs: https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/gabe-valdivia- Final Cut Pro — Rafa’s video editing tool of choice: https://creatorstudio.apple.com/info/try?itscg=20201&itsct=acs-sem-187498456050-794866723417&pt=2003&ct=css-187498456050-794866723417
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Polly D’Arcy - Going from IC to VP of Design at Wealthsimple
Apr 2800:55:10Summary readyImagine going from IC to leading the Wealthsimple design team in a few short years…That was Polly D’arcy’s (https://www.linkedin.com/in/pollydarcy/) journey and today’s episode covers everything she’s learned along the way. We go deep into design leadership, craft, hiring, and a lot more.Some highlights:- Why Polly hires specialists over generalists- Tactics to nail your next portfolio presentation- What it looks like to lean into the moment with AI- How Polly defines design quality at WealthSimple- Polly’s go-to interview question to evaluate designers- How AI is changing team composition and design roles
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Brandon Jacoby - Seeing Taste vs. Creating Taste as a designer
Apr 2100:52:36Summary readyCapital, early Cash App, and most recently, X, all have one designer in common — [Brandon Jacoby](https://x.com/JacobyBrandon).In this episode Brandon is talking about how he’s combining his years of experience designing with fresh, high-functioning teams and is now launching an all-new independent practice to help founders push past good enough.He shares some really interesting thoughts on taste, being creative with AI, and how to thrive in a 0->1 environment.Some highlights:- The types of designer who get most amplified by AI- What it takes to thrive while designing a 0→1 experience- How Brandon is positioning himself as a new independent- The difference between "seeing taste" and "creating taste"- What Nikita (X Head of Product) taught Brandon about onboarding- + a lot more- John Lasseter (Pixar director) quote - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFbOOjAC_Fg- Tolan app (mentioned as example of creative onboarding) - https://www.tolans.com/- Owen Jennings at Block (Brandon’s mentor for 4 years) - https://www.linkedin.com/in/owenbrittonjennings/- Nikita (former Head of Product at X) - https://x.com/nikitabier
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