Journal

Notes on product design.

Practical thinking on product design, UX and working with designers, from the Studio Ariel team.

Three ways to add design compared: a freelancer delivering one project, a full-time hire across five days, and a fractional design lead embedded in the team two days a week

Hiring · Design leadership

Fractional design lead vs freelancer vs full-time hire

Three ways to bring design into your team, and how to choose between them: what each one owns, what it costs and when it’s the right fit.

· 4 min read

A prompt generates six dashboard designs; one task-focused design is marked as right for the job

Product design · AI

Why you still need a product designer in the age of AI

AI can generate a screen in seconds. Deciding which screens should exist, and why, is still the job.

· 4 min read

Two working weeks compared: five mid-level days of briefs, reviews and rework, or three self-directed senior days of strategy, interface, design system and build

Hiring · Design teams

Why a senior part-time designer can beat a full-time mid-level hire

Three days a week of senior design often outperforms five days of mid-level: better work, delivered faster, without the hand-holding.

· 4 min read

A claims table with filter chips, a result count, a sort indicator, labelled statuses, right-aligned figures and a bulk-action bar

UX patterns · Enterprise software

UX best practices for data tables

Tables are where enterprise software does its real work. Small decisions make them faster to scan, safer to act on and easier to trust.

· 7 min read