Gerren Lamson retweeted
This is the frontier of how designers are using agents today, with @stephenhaney @paper
AI isn't just changing the tools designers use. It's changing how they build, ship, and stand out.
In this episode of Design Review, @stephenhaney, founder of AI-native design tool @paper, joins YC's @aaron_epstein to demo the agent-first workflow that's making Paper one of the fastest-growing design tools since Figma.
Using live redesigns of user-submitted websites as examples, they break down the most common AI design tells, show how to fix them in seconds, and explain why the biggest risk for founders isn't moving too slow, it's shipping something that looks like everyone else.
01:04 - What is Paper and why build it?
03:17 - What makes Paper agent-native
05:11 - Demo: Shaders, image generation, and brand design
11:32 - Design-to-code and the new agent stack
16:48 - Design Review: Legion Health
24:11 - How to avoid AI design slop
28:26 - Design Review: Sytex
32:42 - The biggest tells of AI-generated design
37:39 - Design Review: Moreta
41:11 - Can AI learn taste?
43:56 - How Paper uses agents internally
46:52 - Building a community around Paper
49:15 - Lessons from Steven’s first startup
53:30 - What’s next for design and Paper
Gerren Lamson retweeted
New book coming in June!
austinkleon.com/2026/02/20/m…
Gerren Lamson retweeted
Wender is the fastest AI design tool... and it's live on @ProductHunt today! I have worked SO hard to make Wender a great experience and useful tool, and it would mean the world to me if you would check it out and RT this post.
producthunt.com/products/wen…
Gerren Lamson retweeted
“More designers need to be founders”, and @zoink is leading the way.
Before the @figma IPO, Dylan came to AI Startup School to share the Figma founding story, why great design is more important than ever, and how we’re still in the MS-DOS era of AI.
Figma co-founder and CEO Dylan Field (@zoink) on how AI will transform design and why craft and attention to detail will be the ultimate differentiators.
At AI Startup School in San Francisco.
01:38 – How Dylan and Evan Started Figma
02:58 – WebGL: From Games to Tools
04:10 – Buying Time to Build
05:48 – Staying Motivated Through Early Exploration
06:10 – Cold Emails, Early Feedback & First Users
08:24 – Launch Timing and Lessons on Shipping Early
10:08 – Culture of Constraints & Creative Problem-Solving
10:50 – Recognizing Product-Market Pull
13:32 – Why Design is the Differentiator in the AI Era
16:34 – Figma’s AI Product Launches & Expanding Beyond Design
18:56 – The Blurring of Design, Development, and Product
21:00 – The “MS-DOS Era” of AI Interfaces & Future Surfaces
23:26 – The Role of Design in AI Research & the Future of Designers
27:36 – Audience Q&A: AI Tools, Open Source, Principles, and Advice
I'm hiring! We're looking for 3 UX practitioners to join AffiniPay in improving the lives of SMB legal & accounting professionals.
Lead Product Designer: affinipay.com/job-descriptio…
Senior Product Designer: job-boards.greenhouse.io/aff…
Senior Content Designer: opens next week
I recently had the pleasure of contributing to a fantastic discussion with 15 design veterans, led by Christopher Wong on a critical topic — how design leaders and organizations can effectively demonstrate their value.
Dive into the full article here: lnkd.in/gNnE3QQg
Gerren Lamson retweeted
More designers should be founders. And we want to back them at YC.
Over the next decade, as new coding tools make it easier than ever to build and ship products quickly, great design is going to matter even more.
Gerren Lamson retweeted
Designers, it's time to build
2025 is shaping up to be the "year of AI agents".
We've put together a list of startup ideas that we think are especially promising— some draw attention to trends that are already in full swing, and some of them are where we think things are going next.
ycombinator.com/rfs
Leverage this synthesized user behavior principles & insights doc across the product lifecycle — influencing critical decisions from strategic direction and roadmap planning to granular workflow and feature designs.
Field Guide #2: Broad User Insights
medium.com/@gerrenlamson/ux-…
"Building the right product is still a human responsibility of understanding user needs, prioritizing features, and crafting a great UX. The true differentiation might shift to brand, data, and UX when the basic functionality becomes cheap to replicate." uxtigers.com/post/vibe-codin…
Gerren Lamson retweeted
we believe high-quality websites should reflect a brand's identify. To do that well with AI, we have to bring AI to the user, not the user to AI. this is our first attempt at this!
Looking forward to hearing what you think 🙇♂️
try it here: webflow.com/ai-site-builder
If you're on the job market and open to working at a startup, you might want to check out Y Combinator's WorkAtAStartup. workatastartup.com
"I’ve seen both the promise and the pitfalls: How AI can uncover patterns in user data or even suggest a variety of solutions, but also how teams can get seduced by AI’s speed, rushing to solutions before truly understanding the problem." medium.com/design-bootcamp/b…
Recently compiled high-level data on the impact of UX on business and customer outcomes. Hope it helps UX professionals to successfully advocate for better UX! medium.com/@gerrenlamson/ux-…
ICYMI: A few noteworthy brand/web redesigns from the last 6 months:
1. @funsize - stories.funsize.co/introduci…
2. @envato - author.envato.com/hub/envato…
3. @DocuSign - docusign.com/blog/next-brand…
4. @sweetgreen - sweetgreen.com/brand-refresh
5. @PayPal - pentagram.com/work/paypal
Stumbled upon variable font experiments that might be worth checking out:
1. VarType vartype.com/
2. Space Type spacetypeco.com/
3. Font Gauntlet fontgauntlet.com/
4. Font Playground play.typedetail.com/
5. Wakamai Fondue wakamaifondue.com/
Considering piloting these approaches to improve measuring design impact:
1. Follow Ozan's attempt to crack the code of UX metrics: linkedin.com/pulse/cracking-…
2. Leverage Tanner's approach using jobs-to-be-done (amzn.to/3Ygty0H): tannerchristensen.com/notes/…
Try these if you need to offset a lack of impact metrics for your product design work:
1. Before, during, after framing: linkedin.com/posts/mattprzeg…
2. Focus on emotion & behavior response:
linkedin.com/posts/danwiner_…
3. Free user funnel analysis template: linkedin.com/posts/crystalwi…
"The stakeholders who wouldn’t give you time or resource to talk to users can also be the first to demand evidence to support your design." - @h_locke
medium.com/@h_locke/what-can…
Thanks for the chat @cottonbureau @nathanperetic!
Had the opportunity to chat with the good folks
@cottonbureau for a Feature Friday post that was published on their blog today!
blog.cottonbureau.com/featur…
All of my products are 15% off now through 3/1 with code "featurefriday15" on Cotton Bureau: cottonbureau.com/people/nosm…









