I'm developing a note-taking app and wanted a way for users to quickly understand where they are in a document, see its overall structure, and jump to another section.

Most apps solve this with a dedicated Table of Contents (TOC). But I found them not ideal because:

1. They need a dedicated section/panel and take up space.
2. The TOC is visually different from the document itself, so users have to mentally map each entry to the actual content.

So I implemented an 'Overview Mode'. When enabled, the content of the page gets simplified (showing only the titles) and by clicking on a content it will disable the mode and shows the actual content instantly without any jump or scrolling.

The idea is that, your eyes can see only one thing at the time. So instead of looking at something that looks visually different than what you're familiar with and takes up space when you don't need it, with a simple click (or even a keyboard shortcut), you can see the simplified version (overview/outlines) and vice versa.

The video shows an example. I'd like to know what you guys think about this approach.

I’m ready to exit this “Hello World”, one more time I see a job posting including new grads and entry level candidates in their pools then waste their effort and hope to hire someone with experience. I’m so done with this 0 experience curse. I’ll just forever be underemployed.

Interested on what people's takes are on this post I saw on linkedin from a fairly prominent product influencer.

Now, I have always associated the double diamond to design and the description of the process of design...and therefore led by design. I understand that PMs are co-opting parts of the design process more and more, but it was particularly jarring seeing this laid out so rawly. wondered what others feel? Is it just the way things are now? Are Product Managers the new designers? what does that do for Product Designers, UX designers, UI designers...or is it just rage bait?

link to post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/edbiden_your-title-is-a-lagging-indicator-your-share-7485328541971267585-XQ6X/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAACedPJMB4Uiq5v7TaivpstexjaLn5i8i3dw

hi i will be starting work as ux/product designer for company that has app and site for bus / train travel routes finding purchasing tickets service.

I’m looking for help and materials how should I start? roadmaps, what to focus on, reaserches, biases etc my background is in visual design so I know little of ux experience - mostly knowledge from books courses.

help!

Hey everyone. I know this community has strict rules against self-promotion, so I want to be completely upfront: I am the developer of a new iPad app (Figma alternative), but I am posting here specifically because I need professional UX critique on a custom interaction model I’ve built.

I’ll gladly provide a free license to anyone here willing to test it and tear my UX apart.

The UX Challenge: Desktop design tools (like Figma) are fundamentally built around mouse precision and hover states. Translating that paradigm to the iPad is incredibly tricky. Touch requires an entirely different way of interacting because you lose hover states for exposing secondary controls or tooltips. At the same time, the Apple Pencil does allow for hovering.

Building an interaction concept that accommodates both touch and the Apple Pencil so that designing on the go actually feels natural rather than compromised was my biggest hurdle when building Aether (a native vector design and prototyping tool for iPadOS).

Where I specifically need your feedback: Fitting pro features (auto-layout, components, desktop-class boolean operations) onto a tablet screen meant rethinking standard patterns. For example, navigating complex, nested layer hierarchies without a mouse is usually a nightmare. To solve this, I designed what I call a "magic pill" interaction: you can scroll through layers normally, but if you long-press and slide down on a layer, you seamlessly iterate through all the nodes on that specific level.

I would love for some UX/UI professionals to test the ergonomics of this workflow:

• Does the long-press and slide gesture feel natural, or is there a discoverability issue?
• How well does the app handle the context switch between using a finger (no hover) versus the Apple Pencil (hover)?
• Does the touch-first auto-layout interaction feel intuitive, or does it break established mental models you rely on?

If you have an iPad and want to give me some harsh, constructive feedback, please DM me and I will send you a free license.

If you just want to look at the screenshots to critique the UI visually, you can see it on the App Store here: https://apps.apple.com/de/app/aether-ui-design-for-ipad/id6782822737 - or website: aetherdesigner.com

My company gives each designer a Claude Pro ($25/month), so we all have limited tokens.

Another designer and I just started a new project and were still in the exploration phase, so we hadn’t even split the work yet. The plan was just to explore directions together first.

We were using my Claude account (he ran out of tokens from his other project!), so I put all the context into Claude AI first: PM requirements, existing design, design principles we recently agreed on, problems I think we need to address, etc. I like to brainstorm first before generating the prototype, so I want Claude to know what I think it needs to know before generating anything.
But he kept saying things like “I don’t think we need to give Claude that.” And I honestly I got a bit annoyed.

I realized we actually have very different workflows.
I usually brainstorm in Claude AI first, then move to Claude Design once it’s clear enough. Looks like he does everything in Claude Design.

I remember one time (on a different project he wasn’t involved in), he saw me talking to Claude AI before updating my prototype and said “You can just do it directly in Claude Design.”
I also saw him spend a lot of time refining his UI to look exactly like the design in Figma (that’s why he’s always running out of tokens!), while I usually stop once it’s good enough for discussion and validation. We still rebuild everything in Figma before handing it off to engineering anyway.

The thing is I don’t actually know if my workflow is more efficient. It just feels that way to me. Maybe I’m wrong.

So I’m curious:
- How do your teams align on using AI?
- If you think your teammate is using AI inefficiently, would you bring it up?
- How do you know if a workflow is actually inefficient and not just different?
- Has your team agreed on best practices, or does everyone just develop their own habits?

Thanks!

Hey guys. Many so-called early-stage founders just dive straight into code because they want to ship something immediately, but then realize their product assumptions were way off. I was working on a discovery project that Beetroot did for a tech company called LowgrenIT, which is a perfect reminder of what a real product discovery phase should deliver.

They formed a dedicated team (a PM and UI/UX designers) on a per-project basis for a hard two-month deadline before anyone even opened a code repository.

So at the end of the 60 days the client had an exact blueprint of what they were building and how much it was going to cost and how long it was going to take and they were also able to validate the design with early stakeholders with the prototype. It feels like gambling your runway to bypass this step. How do you keep stakeholders engaged and patient through a long 2 month discovery phase when they’re anxious to see functional code?

I’m not sure I’m not the only and this is probably a recurring topic, but how do you feel about AI in everything as a product/ux designer?

I’ve been currently interviewing for new jobs as my contract with the previous company is ending, and every interview I have just feels so demotivating.

I used to love ux design and all the methodologies and principles, but it just feels like it all kind of lost meaning and we’re in this race of just being “AI-powered”.

Which brings me to considering switching careers but I dont know whats a good pivot - product management, or something very different?

Its a bit of a rant, but a long overdue one lol. Curious to hear what you all think

Hi, I am a senior UX strategist. I’ve worked in the field for a bit over a decade and I handle UX strategy to research to wireframes sometimes do high fidelity design work. I work for a busy and reputable web development agency. I’m also an accessibility specialist which my company doesn’t have great expertise in so I do feel I have a lot of value to bring but it’s not respected at all.

Since having my baby I left my full time role and I have been working part time as a contractor at an agency. I am losing my tolerance entirely for the culture here and am finding it to be really toxic. I honestly am so close to quitting but I know it’s probably not wise given the current work environment and that during my maternity leave I can’t really work. I am having a second baby in November. A few things:

- I have worked in agency my entire career so I am hardened by the typical issues however the culture here is becoming too much for even me
- UX gets hardly any budget and I often feel on an island by myself. It will be insane I look at the estimate and I have maybe 20 hours for very complex wireframes and then see the developer was somehow given 300.
- in order to get the bid the sales team will shirk on design and UX time and then it’s never course corrected and there is a culture of blame against the design team who are working in impossible constraints
- there’s a passive aggressive culture of blame. I’m constantly flagging and covering my butt in regards to needing more time however certain PMs will still point the finger at me and blame me for going over when I literally told them I was going to and they never told me to stop working
- the BAs have a toxic relationship with UX here I’m not treated with respect they withhold information, won’t collaborate and try to trip me up in meetings. Historically UX wasn’t a job here until maybe the past decade or so and BAs are threatened by us even though our roles are different and integrating the user is so important. They act like they know better and ignore the user research. I was literally flown to another city to do user testing and the BA fought me every step of the way in my report and didn’t want to implement the improvements in her tickets and acted like I was a thorn in their side for inquiring about the status, thousands of client dollars down the drain
- everyone is extremely busy but I feel like because UX comes first in these projects I’m ignored entirely until there’s an issue and even if I flagged it it becomes my fault. I don’t feel like a respected, valued member of the team even though I’m moving mountains and directing the entire UX of complex apps and websites with the most insanely low budgets it’s truly insane that the BA will spend even sometimes a hundred hours developing specs on MY WORK and I literally will get 20 it’s absolute insanity
- I just had a meeting today where the BA was being aggressive and withholding details I needed acting like I was being so annoying and in the same meeting the PM publically blamed me for going over on my hours when I literally have multiple receipts in writing even with my manager on then in slack outlining everything before I even used the time and I had been flagging these issues for months while she ignored me
- this is all done very passive aggressively by busy people who don’t want to take blame so it’s very difficult to point out in a direct manner because they do it under the radar and it’s making it so difficult to do my job or to remain respected in the company I feel like I’m constantly a scape goat. It’s hard to be like “I didn’t like it when you said X” because they do everything in a way that is passive and covert.

I know things like this can happen at agencies but I’m going on maternity leave in November and I don’t get any benefits or pay while I’m gone and I wanted to work as much as possible before I go however I’m getting so burned out by these dynamics. Half of me wants to quit but I know that is not smart. It will be tough with one income but we could definitely make it through. We own a few rental properties and live in one of the units. I don’t live in a HCOL area so I’m not making the big bucks doing this but it should cover the basics while I’m inbetween work but then my brain is thinking maybe it would be career suicide exiting at this time. My original plan was to go on this maternity leave and while I’m gone aggressively apply to new roles. The issue is I’m wanting out now and I’m feeling really impatient.

Has anyone experienced this with agency? Did you decide to stay? Also in this job market I feel like I have no options :(

i’m the sole product designer at a small, growing B2B company. we have a ton on our plate and no formal design system, just branding guidelines and my existing Figma files.

honestly i knew this exact scenario would come up eventually, i’ve seen it discussed a lot in design spaces lately. today it actually happened.

i found out today, by overhearing it, not being told directly, that a senior exec showed a developer an AI design tool and talked about wanting other non-design staff to start generating UI mockups and prototypes using my files.

his reasoning was that it would let developers explain how something works to me without using a whiteboard. so a developer would explain to me: the UX/UI designer how to do UI?

i wasn’t part of that conversation. i only know because i happened to overhear it.

he did mention it to me earlier in the morning which i didn’t push back on and instead floated hiring another designer to help with capacity, his response was that there’s no time to train someone in, but someone from sales could just start generating UI mockups for development instead.

this same exec generally doesn’t take my input on design process or much else, he’s a know it all and has been dealing with pushback from the CTO for meddling in development processes.

i’ve always kept mockups routed through me for consistency and quality control, and my manager has backed that before when a developer tried to weigh in on UI decisions without me. so there’s precedent that leadership supports me owning this. but this idea would route around all of that if it actually moves forward.

i’ve read through this subreddit to know that i’m not the first or the last to have dealt with something like this. how do you push back on “let’s just have people sketch stuff out with AI” without sounding like you’re just protecting your job over speed, especially on a small team where everyone’s already stretched thin? is this as big a deal as it feels, or is this actually a reasonable ask i should just find a way to accommodate?