Uploaded November 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
AI is fundamentally shifting the way we think about digital products and the core deliverables that we're bringing to the table as designers.
So I asked Geoffrey Litt (https://x.com/geoffreylitt) (Design Engineer at Notion) to share his vision for the future of malleable software and AI system design.
Here’s some highlights:
- The keys to effective system design
- Geoffrey’s workflow for “working like a surgeon”
- Why too many products become “nightmare bicycles”
- The principles of malleable software vs. disposable software
- Why version control is the most important AI interaction problem
- Inside Geoffrey’s malleable software experiments at Ink & Switch
- + a *lot* more
⭐️ You can use the code DIVECLUB to get 20% off your first month of Lovable Pro 1!
- Ink & Switch is the research lab (inkandswitch.com/)
- Changing Minds by Seymour Papert (worrydream.com/refs/Papert_1980_-_Mindstorms,_1st_ed.pdf)
- Geoffrey’s nightmare bicycle article (geoffreylitt.com/2025/03/03/the-nightmare-bicycle)
- Don Norman’s Living with Complexity (amazon.com/Living-Complexity-Press-Donald-Norman/dp/0262014866)
- Spell Burst by Tyler Angert (spellburstllm.github.io/)
- A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander (amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Construction-Environmental/dp/0195019199)
- Patchwork - Geoffrey’s collaboration environment at Ink & Switch (inkandswitch.com/patchwork/notebook/)
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:18 Geoffrey's background in design
5:15 His experiments at Ink & Switch
8:00 Geoffrey's role at Notion
13:58 Exposing structure in system design
17:54 Designing AI Chat Interactions
21:47 The potential for canvas-based UIs
23:18 The Version Control Problem
29:57 Malleable software vs. dynamic interfaces
40:22 How the role of designer changes
48:34 Coding like a surgeon
52:50 Advice for designers trying to become more technical
Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿
🌐 dive.club
🐦 twitter.com/joindiveclub
Now you can join advanced courses taught by the top designers to help you take a huge leap forward in your career 💪
AI is fundamentally shifting the way we think about digital products and the core deliverables that we're bringing to the table as designers.
So I asked Geoffrey Litt (https://x.com/geoffreylitt) (Design Engineer at Notion) to share his vision for the future of malleable software and AI system design.
Here’s some highlights:
- The keys to effective system design
- Geoffrey’s workflow for “working like a surgeon”
- Why too many products become “nightmare bicycles”
- The principles of malleable software vs. disposable software
- Why version control is the most important AI interaction problem
- Inside Geoffrey’s malleable software experiments at Ink & Switch
- + a *lot* more
⭐️ You can use the code DIVECLUB to get 20% off your first month of Lovable Pro 1!
- Ink & Switch is the research lab (inkandswitch.com/)
- Changing Minds by Seymour Papert (worrydream.com/refs/Papert_1980_-_Mindstorms,_1st_ed.pdf)
- Geoffrey’s nightmare bicycle article (geoffreylitt.com/2025/03/03/the-nightmare-bicycle)
- Don Norman’s Living with Complexity (amazon.com/Living-Complexity-Press-Donald-Norman/dp/0262014866)
- Spell Burst by Tyler Angert (spellburstllm.github.io/)
- A Pattern Language by Christopher Alexander (amazon.com/Pattern-Language-Buildings-Construction-Environmental/dp/0195019199)
- Patchwork - Geoffrey’s collaboration environment at Ink & Switch (inkandswitch.com/patchwork/notebook/)
Chapters
0:00 Intro
1:18 Geoffrey's background in design
5:15 His experiments at Ink & Switch
8:00 Geoffrey's role at Notion
13:58 Exposing structure in system design
17:54 Designing AI Chat Interactions
21:47 The potential for canvas-based UIs
23:18 The Version Control Problem
29:57 Malleable software vs. dynamic interfaces
40:22 How the role of designer changes
48:34 Coding like a surgeon
52:50 Advice for designers trying to become more technical
Dive is where the best designers never stop learning 🤿
🌐 dive.club
🐦 twitter.com/joindiveclub
Now you can join advanced courses taught by the top designers to help you take a huge leap forward in your career 💪
