Video Dispatch: A Use Case is a Trojan Horse Faster and Worse 2025-02-03 | A use case is a solution to a problem they wish you had
Dispatch #31: Anti-Design Faster and Worse 2025-09-24 | Design to compensate for a lack of design#design #productdesign #product #technology #techproducts #designtheory #designthinking
Dispatch #30: Belief Before Purpose Faster and Worse 2025-07-29 | The purpose doesn't really matter#design #productdesign #product #technology #techproducts #designtheory #designthinking #ai #climatechange
Dispatch #29: Tech As Anti-Design Faster and Worse 2025-07-14 | Because the means are predeterminedReferenced article: Computers and communication design: exploring the rhetoric of HCIdl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/174809.174812#design #productdesign #product #technology #techproducts #designtheory #designthinking
Dispatch #28: They Are Products Faster and Worse 2025-07-08 | AI is not a tool or a technology. It is a product.#product #marketing #technology #techproducts #generativeai #llms
Dispatch #27: Useful is Nothing Faster and Worse 2025-06-19 | Useful is the lowest possible bar for any product, let alone a billion dollar, all energy-consuming, one#product #marketing #design #techproducts #generativeai #llms #chatgpt
Dispatch #26: General Purpose is an Accountability Loophole Faster and Worse 2025-06-12 | If they don't say what it's for, we can't say if it works#product #marketing #design #techproducts #generativeai #llms #chatgpt
Dispatch #25: Trajectories of Coding with AI Faster and Worse 2025-06-05 | Things don't look good if you like making stuff with code#code #ai #copilot #github #dev #llms
Dispatch #24: Tangible & Worse Faster and Worse 2025-05-22 | An LLM wrapped in space-grade aluminium is an amplified slop machine.Also available in podcast form: https://pnc.st/s/faster-and-worse/80aabccd/tangible-worseThis video references the Sam and Jony incident: https://archive.is/1eX2f#product #productdesign #design #designtheory #generativeai #llms #techcritique #chatgpt #jonyive #openai
Dispatch #23: Projecting Purpose Faster and Worse 2025-05-21 | When we define our own purpose for their productIncluded clips from:Google I/O 2025 Keynoteyoutube.com/watch?v=o8NiE3XMPrMCharlie Rose 2006-04-13archive.org/details/Charlie-Rose-2006-04-13#product #marketing #design #techproducts #generativeai #llms #gemini
Dispatch #22: The Mouse Jiggler Faster and Worse 2025-05-16 | The unsung hero of humane designAlso available as a podcast: https://pnc.st/s/faster-and-worse/c5a8462b/the-mouse-jiggler#humanedesign #product #productdesign #design #designtheory #techcritique
Dispatch #21: Everything Is Work Now Faster and Worse 2025-04-14 | Tech products have a work/life balance problem#product #productdesign #design #designtheory #generativeai #llms #techcritique
Video Dispatch #20: Kill Magic Thinking Faster and Worse 2025-03-19 | Bulls**t isn't created or destroyed, it just takes on different forms.The gist: Tech products are never *removing* difficulty in tasks, they are always *moving* it and changing its form.The idea that a tech product like generative AI can *remove* the need for effort is a kind of magical thinking that needs to die.So much effort goes into maintaining the facade of generative AI magic with manipulative UX design which leans into the anthropomorphism.They really don't want anybody to look behind the curtain to see where the energy is used and how the outputs are achieved.The more useful something is, the more complexity people will endure to use it.The UX design of generative AI products is a reaction to the inverse: The less useful something is, the less complexity people will endure to use it.#product #productdesign #design #designtheory #generativeai #llms #techcritique references- pivot-to-ai.com/2024/09/21/three-mile-island-nuclear-plant-is-restarting-to-power-ai-for-microsoft- arxiv.org/abs/2311.16863- theverge.com/news/630079/openai-google-copyright-fair-use-exception- buzzfeednews.com/article/pranavdixit/ai-generated-art-hands-fingers-messed-up- youtube.com/watch?v=DQacCB9tDaw
Video Dispatch #19: The Swiss Army Knife Of Faster and Worse 2025-03-17 | Master of none.The gist: The swiss army knife, as something tech loves to compare its products to, is something that *might* be useful in *some* situations.The more money and energy that goes into making the product, and the more that goes into keeping it running, the more embarrassing that comparison should be.
Video Dispatch #18: Finding Purpose is the Fools Errand Faster and Worse 2025-03-12 | If they don't say what it's for, don't help them.The gist: Generative AI products are so painfully general purpose that people say "it's a tool, like a hammer". When people find purpose for themselves in these products they fill the gap for the makers who don't know, or don't want to admit, what the thing is for.To defend generative AI as being a "tool" is to misrepresent useful tools which are made for particular purposes as if they were found objects, incidentally useful in some situations.Like a butter knife as a screwdriver in a pinch, it's taking the adequate instead of the optimal.As usual, these are available in audio form: https://pnc.st/s/faster-and-worse/831989b9/finding-purpose-is-the-fool-s-errandApple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finding-purpose-is-the-fools-errand/id1792154689?i=1000698906983Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7f7tLzlw2nCHKdCg7HscjZ?si=0bGdDlM_TXOPmw5lD_5RUQOr, wherever you get your podcastsIf you enjoy it please consider leaving a rating or review#product #marketing #design #techproducts #generativeai #llms #chatgpt
Video Dispatch #17: Edge-case Marketing Faster and Worse 2025-03-10 | Products that are marketed with purposes they can't be optimised for.The gist: In the production of a tech product an "edge case" is seen as a hindrance to delivering on the core purpose of the product.For marketing an "edge case" can be seen as an opportunity to exploit a purpose that the product was not designed for and will never be optimised to satisfy.When a general purpose product uses an edge case as the subject of its marketing it ignores the other aspects of the product which, for that niche purpose, will be on a spectrum from irrelevance to interference.A product *capable* of servicing a niche purpose is not the same as a product designed to specifically satisfy that niche purpose.Only the latter will be developed with continual effort to further satisfy the purpose as effectively as possible.The more general purpose a product is, the more perceived edge cases it has.Every edge case is a candidate for edge-case marketing which exploits the virtues of serving that niche in order to sell the entire product along with *everything else* it includes.As usual, these are available in audio form: https://pnc.st/s/faster-and-worse/fe4f7cce/edge-case-marketingApple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/edge-case-marketing/id1792154689?i=1000698600601Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4UsznEYZrg49s0pXnfR1D6?si=l4QXM6YhQFqLVy9qmjUqRQOr, wherever you get your podcastsIf you enjoy it please consider leaving a rating or review!#product #marketing #design #techproducts
Video Dispatch #16: Purposes not Problems Faster and Worse 2025-03-05 | Don't ask what problems it solves, ask what purposes it satisfies.The gist: When being critical of any product I prefer to think in terms of purposes being satisfied rather than problems being solved.A product doesn't have to be a problem solver to be legitimate—the maker just has to be honest about its real purpose.2/3as usual, these are also available in audio form: https://pnc.st/s/faster-and-worse/b3fc5b87/purposes-not-problemsapple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/purposes-not-problems/id1792154689?i=1000697909641spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3Lgyaz60CNw8OMEUPPggrs?si=r988Hx5nTkO0PKZGSHGIGAor wherever you get your podcastsplease consider liking and subscribing#design #product #technology #techcritique #critique
Video Dispatch #15: Software as Material Faster and Worse 2025-03-03 | Software is a material among infinite other materials for satisfying a purpose.The gist: #software, or generally computation, can be categorised as a type of building material rather than a type of product in itself.This framing opens up the view that #design within the software industry begins with an assumption that software was the best means for the supposed purpose.Foundationally, design is the deliberation over the best means to satisfy a given purpose. In reality most design projects begin with limitations to the means available.Regardless, the knowledge that software is one of many possible means should not be ignored.To accept "software is eating the world" as a positive movement is to skip the most important choice of any design process. The means that best satisfies the given purpose at that point in time.The same ignorance of that choice led to plastic eating the world as well.The means for satisfying a purpose are not limited to building materials. It can be any effort that influences a situation rather than building a *thing*, physical or virtual.The goal is to have as open a design process as possible to allow for the most appropriate means to be discovered.#design #product #technology #designtheory
Video Dispatch #14: Pay to Disable Faster and Worse 2025-02-26 | Features that are more profitable as a detriment than a benefit.The Verge article referenced in the videotheverge.com/news/618278/microsoft-office-free-windows-apps-ad-supported-versionArchived: https://archive.ph/ewgAu
Video Dispatch #13: Do Less Products Faster and Worse 2025-02-24 | Old hardware that can do more than new hardware designed to do less.
Video Dispatch #12: Assumed Inconvenience Faster and Worse 2025-02-19 | Automation assumes peripheral effort is inconvenient.The gist: Computation and digital automation fucks with our ability to tell the difference between inconvenient effort and effort that is contributing to an outcome in subtle ways.Music, movies, TV, and books have all been digitised. Aside from niche markets, physical books are the only medium that hasn't been replaced by digitisation.E-readers are more of a skeuomorph than a complete advancement of the medium.Once you press play for music or a video, it doesn't matter if the source is a tape, CD, digital file, or an internet stream. The watching and listening is the same.This doesn't apply to books where the physical form of the object you are reading from determines how you read it.E-readers rely on convenience features like storing multiple books, digital book stores, text highlighting and dictionary lookups.These plus the immense accessibility benefits create a better alternative option for some, not an obvious improvement for all.Digitisation of music and video led to advancements in the fidelity of the content. They look and sound better than ever before.The benefits of digital text can help the vision impaired but the fidelity of the text doesn't boost the quality of the words.A physical book's demand to be held with both hands at all times can be dismissed as an inconvenience.But occupying both hands can deter us from trying to multitask while reading and the amount of pages we feel in each hand can be a subconscious indicator of progress.Digital books, audio books, and physical books are all great in their own ways and the more people read books the better.One is not better than the others, they are different in their own ways.I hope this doesn't come across as insensitive regarding the obvious accessibility benefits of e-readers and audiobooks.I have to generalise to keep these short but in this case the significant accessibility improvement that digitisation creates should be acknowledged.
Video Dispatch #11: Captive User Experience Design Faster and Worse 2025-02-17 | People use it because they will be unemployed if they don't.The gist: The defining characteristic of B2B software products is that the people who have to use it are not the people who choose it.Any purpose the product serves for an individual is secondary to the purpose of making it appealing to a business.1/4A business that buys figma buys it for the sharing, feedback, & collaboration features.The designers are captive users. They can't just take the parts they like, they have to take the whole package.2/4Applying for jobs as a captive user of B2B HR platforms is more dehumanising than ever because the platforms are sold for their benefits to the business as automated screening tools.The barriers that modern HR products put up between people are what makes them profitable B2B products.3/4The layer of user experience design is a thin veil of distraction from the oppressive, dehumanising, stress & anxiety inducing nature of these products.The emojis, casual language, bouncy animations, & cheery colour schemes, further alienate reluctant captive users.4/4as usual, these are also available in audio formapple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/captive-user-experience-design/id1792154689?i=1000693081807spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/6qiF8DkuHaEfqN59SOttq5?si=NkfGmHmHR2yBVZuHA2mr9Aor wherever you get your podcastsplease consider leaving a 5 star review if you like it
Video Dispatch #10: Potential Distraction Faster and Worse 2025-02-12 | The distraction which is always ready to distract.The gist: There are two types of digital distraction. The actual and the potential.Actual distractions are things like notifications and alerts.Potential distractions are the features a thing has which can provide an escape from a challenging thing we are using it to do.If someone is using a computer to write an article, and that computer is connected to the internet, the potential escape that the internet can provide will be present in that person's mind.The more their writing challenges them, the more they will be tempted by the potential for distraction.E-reader devices can store hundreds of books at a time. This is a feature of convenience, to save space in your bag or home.For someone reading a challenging book, the easy access to hundreds of other options becomes potential distraction.It isn't a feature that helps you read a book.We build an abundance of function and access to information into digital things because we can.For multi-purpose products, anything that doesn't serve the task being done is still there — attached.Even if it's invisible, the knowledge it exists becomes a distraction in itself.as usual, these are also available in audio formapple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/potential-distraction/id1792154689?i=1000691486877spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/5PsOX3TyIvtrJ0TnNrhZop?si=A19j5XHKRnOrCVzZU2JV7wor wherever you get your podcastsleave a 5 star review if you like it!
Video Dispatch: Mechanism Lust Faster and Worse 2025-02-10 | How it works is not what it is forThe gist: Elegant mechanisms tend to mislead us into believing they are more useful than the purpose that necessitated their creation. This can create entire industries based on anticipated potential that just isn't there.A mechanism which does its task so perfectly can begin to seem more powerful than it actually is. The original purpose is seen as one of many possible purposes because we hold the mechanism higher than it deserves to be.When criticism of a product's usefulness is challenged with "you don't understand how it works" that person is assuming the skill and energy that went into making the mechanism comes out as usefulness.Elegant mechanisms come from a lot of time and energy spent in their creation, sometimes also in their use and upkeep. This feeds the sense of usefulness because a lot of energy in implies a lot of energy, as value, must be coming out of it.If there is *some* usefulness but it's not apparent or it's small and niche, then it does become important to understand how it works in order to weigh up the energy that goes into the mechanism against the value which comes out.
Ralph Nader in 1971 on meaningless product comparisons, “dangling comparatives” Faster and Worse 2025-02-06 | ...
Video Dispatch: The Product Makes the Pattern Dark Faster and Worse 2025-02-05 | The assumption that empathy isn't used to manipulate.The gist: Standardised "dark patterns" of UX design exist separately from any underlying products. Because "dark" implies otherwise degrees of "light" a sense of free legitimacy is given to products which use them.Usability is based on a removal of obstacles in a user interface. Any library of user interface components based on non-dark patterns does not care if it is applied to an online casino or a crypto rugpull project.Every UX design decision which made FTX's apps easier to use turned out to be a dark pattern. Any part of the product which hindered a person's ability to interact with it was a light pattern.Recognition of standardised dark patterns further disconnects UX design from seeing each product as an individual entity. One software product only resembles other software products because they share the material of computation for their construction, nothing else.When UX design uses empathy, while not being intertwined with the nature of the product being designed for, it is free to share the same usability techniques between a banking app and a betting app.UX techniques being disconnected from the nature of the product they are applied to reveals the marketing nature of the role within a commercial context. UX design exploits human psychology under the guise of empathy to sell more effectively.as usual, these are also available in audio formapple podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/nl/podcast/the-product-makes-the-pattern-dark/id1792154689?i=1000689316757spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7BhRMlOyeaG7RApdD1PqSL?si=13e68f63f27748dbor wherever you get your podcasts
Video Dispatch: Here, See What You Can Do With This Faster and Worse 2025-01-30 | Software-as-an-Amorphous-Blob
Video Dispatch: The Cycle of Tech Products Faster and Worse 2025-01-28 | How commercial tech products have turned design into antidesign
Joseph Weizenbaum and Roger Schank about AI and the shared experience. Faster and Worse 2025-01-26 | From The Mind Machines, 1978archive.org/details/themindmachines/themindmachinesreel1.mov
Video Dispatch: Software is Vapour Faster and Worse 2025-01-22 | The physical constraints that hold product makers accountable for delivering on the purposes of their wares have been shed from software products over time. Their need to earn the space in our lives for their products is almost non-existent.
Video Dispatch: Snake Oils Faster and Worse 2025-01-20 | There is an aspect of snake oils which rarely gets mentioned whenever we label a new thing a snake oil
Video Dispatch: User Experience is the Product (now) Faster and Worse 2025-01-15 | In tech we're seeing brand take a backseat to user experience as the defining feature of products
Video Dispatch: Innovation is a Reaction to Stifles Faster and Worse 2025-01-14 | Innovation can't be stifled because innovation is a successful reaction to being stifled.
Mindbank AI representative speaking about their reluctance to define a purpose for the product. Faster and Worse 2023-11-10 | Clip taken from It Could Happen Here podcast November 9, 2023 episode: The False Promise of AI Immortalityiheart.com/podcast/105-it-could-happen-here-30717896/episode/the-false-promise-of-ai-immortality-127766849Timestamp: 42m40s
Ralph Nader in 1971 talking about manipulative marketing that compares without tangible information Faster and Worse 2023-09-18 | From his 1971 documentary “Consumer power: advertising” Full video on the internet archive: archive.org/details/consumerpoweradvertising
