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
118episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
How Anthropic, Every, & Ramp design with AI
2d 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
1w ago00:52:45Summary 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
2w ago01:00:00Summary 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
3w ago00:55:23Summary 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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Brian Lovin - How to level up with AI as a designer
Apr 1400:55:04Summary readyWhen it comes to tools and workflows, Brian Lovin (https://x.com/brian_lovin) is someone I pay very close attention to.He’s actually the one who first got me hooked on Conductor (https://www.conductor.build/).But times are changing (again 😅)…So today’s episode is a deep dive into his design process and all of the ways he’s iterating on his approach to both using AI tools as well as building AI tools at Notion.If you like getting into the weeds of how the best designers are wrangling AI then you’re going to love this episode.Some highlights:- Why his first Notion design offsite was so impactful- How Brian built Notion’s prototyping playground- Why Brian has started using Cursor again- Practical tips for prompting AI more effectively- Behind-the-scenes of Brian’s new side project- How to stay relevant as a designer in an AI world- + a lot more- Agentation and Dialkit for frontend ([https://agentation.com](https://agentation.com/), https://joshpuckett.me/dialkit)- Cursor and Conductor for coding ([https://conductor.build](https://conductor.build/))- Brian’s side project Shiori ([https://shiori.sh](https://shiori.sh/))- Max Schoening nerd snipes Brian (https://x.com/mschoening)- Karri’s issue tracking is dead article (https://linear.app/next)
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Ian Silber - What it's like designing at OpenAI
Apr 800:45:10Summary readyIf you're like me you gotta be curious... what's it like designing at OpenAI?So I’m excited to share today’s episode with you :)It’s a deep dive with OpenAI’s Head of Product Design, Ian Silber (https://x.com/iansilber).Some highlights:****- The traits of the best systems thinkers at OpenAI- What makes the design culture at OpenAI unique- The vision for OpenAI's dynamic interface library- What it's like designing around chat as a primitive- What makes designing with AI as a material so unique- How tools like Codex are changing the practice of design- + a lot more- Mike Matas and Brandon Walkin (creators of Origami) https://mikematas.com/ , https://medium.com/designatmeta/introducing-origami-live-and-origami-2-0-a68116294e65- Cursor and Codex (AI coding tools) https://cursor.com/ ,(https://chatgpt.com/codex/?c_id=23226110534&c_agid=188421385415&c_crid=800871103650&c_kwid=kwd-111182835&c_ims=&c_pms=9017288&c_nw=g&c_dvc=c&gad_campaignid=23226110534&gbraid=0AAAAA-I0E5dO-SVXduV4xJjtnqTNMNrAP)
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Marvin Schwaibold - Inside Shopify's New Product Design Studio
Apr 200:54:36Summary readyRemember when the Carl Rivera (https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/carl-rivera) told us about his vision to create the new Shopify Product Design Studio?Well in this episode I got to sit down with Marvin Schwaibold (https://x.com/MSchwaibold) from Molly studio who Shopify recently acquired to bring that vision to life.We go deep into creativity, Marvin's journey with Molly, how he's building his ideas with AI, and a lot more.Some highlights:- How to become a well of creative ideas- How AI unlocks how designers work at Shopify- What design differentiation looks like at Shopify- What Marvin has learned diving into Claude Code- How designers at Shopify create and leverage internal tools- Behind-the-scenes of redesigning the famous Collins website- + a lot more- Jaytel - Marvin’s design partner from Molly studio https://x.com/Jaytel- Brian Collins - legendary designer who worked on the Collins website redesign https://wearecollins.com/- Carl Rivera - Shopify’s Chief Design Officer (referenced previous Dive Club episode) https://www.dive.club/deep-dives/carl-rivera- Design Fluid Interfaces video from Apple’s Human Interface team (2019) [https://developer.apple.com/br/videos/play/wwdc2018/803/?time=1551](https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2019/808/)- Claude Code - AI coding tool by Anthropic https://claude.ai/login- Artifact - internal Shopify tool for showcasing design work https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jaytel_this-was-meant-to-stay-inside-shopify-but-activity-7422739773561384960-oqiU/
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