Human Side of Design
@eaglesimbeye.bsky.social
Principal Design Consultant writing about the messy, human side of digital work. Exploring where AI, leadership, product thinking, and design practices collide. www.eaglesimbeye.com | medium.com/@eaglesimbeye | www.linkedin.com/in/eaglesimbeye
The prototype used to come with an implied disclaimer. Now it looks like the actual product. That's useful. It also means the moment you show it, the bar is set. Make sure you can clear it. medium.com/design-bootc...
The New Expectation Gap in Prototyping
When prototypes look finished, expectations start running ahead of delivery
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AI in automotive isn't coming. It's already here, shaping what people experience, making decisions most users don't know are being made. My chapter in AI Everywhere, Vol. 1 asks the only question that actually matters: who's holding the wheel? #AIEverywhere…
There is something quietly humbling about being a UX designer who cannot locate a file they uploaded to Teams 20 minutes ago. I know exactly why this happens. I designed against it for years. And yet here I am. #EnterpriseUX #MicrosoftTeams #UXDesign https://eaglesimbeye.medium.com
20 years in doesn't give you certainty. It gives you calibration. A better sense of which problems are actually hard, which ones just look hard, and which ones you've quietly been avoiding. #UXLeadership #DesignStrategy #ProductDesign https://eaglesimbeye.com/the-decade-long-education/
I've been consulting long enough to know that clients who push back hardest in week one are often the most committed by week six. The resistance is usually about trust, not disagreement. Showing up consistently matters more than convincing them… #UXDesign��� https://eaglesimbeye.com/design-thinking/
You start to notice a pattern. Teams doing good work. Thoughtful work. And still, something isn't moving. The answer is almost never in the interface. It's usually somewhere upstream, in a layer of the product that design never got close to. 👉 medium.com/design-bootc...
The Four Layers of Experience Strategy
You can feel when something in a product isn’t working, even if you can’t explain why. These four layers help you locate the problem, not…
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Design has been fighting for a seat at the table for as long as I can remember. I've started to wonder if the framing itself is the problem. Sitting at a table someone else built, on their… #UXLeadership #DesignStrategy #ProductDesign https://eaglesimbeye.com/the-problem-with-seat-at-the-table/
The book is out. AI Everywhere, Vol. 1 — 26 perspectives on what AI is actually doing to the world we live in, from people doing the work, not just writing about it. Proud to be part of this one. #AIEverywhere #WomenInAI #AIBook https://aieverywherebooks.com/
Deadlines are rewarded. Burnout is tolerated. But what if the magic happens in between—in the care, the slack, the “I’m not sure yet” moments?
Care is a Strategy: Leading with Depth, Not Deadlines
Care is a Strategy: Leading with Depth, Not Deadlines Work harder. Hit every deadline. Prove your worth. Too often, design leadership is reduced to relentless hustle and constant delivery. But if …
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@eaglesimbeye.bsky.social on building resilience for when plans inevitably change. ow.ly/V0yy50WXw4V
Design strategy is only as strong as the handshake between design and product—and yes, I mean that metaphorically (but maybe also literally). 👉 Dive in: buff.ly/0nZqkSo #DesignStrategy #ProductDesign #DesignLeadership #TeamDynamics
Design Strategy Is Only as Strong as Your PM Partnership
Different PMs, different lessons. Together, they changed how I lead design.
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Becoming a senior designer doesn’t happen overnight. There’s no secret ceremony, no badge that arrives in the post. It happens quietly, through habits that build trust and consistency over time -
The Habits That Turn Good Designers into Seniors
You don’t level up by winging it. You level up by building repeatable plays that make the hard bits easier.
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Mockups look great in the room. But what holds when things scale? 👉 medium.com/design-bootc... #DesignLeadership #TeamCulture
Designing Beyond the Screen
Mockups are cheap. Operating models are rare.
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A playbook isn’t fancy visuals. It’s the daily methods, prompts, and rituals that turn chaos into consistency. Ask your team: – Are we reinventing processes—or learning from them? – Are we clear on stakeholder questions—or hoping we recall them later? medium.com/p/9466e28a4cb5
Do You Have a Playbook, or Are You Winging It?
Why systems, not late nights, are what separate confident designers from those still scrambling.
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Culture isn’t set by values statements. It’s shaped by tools, guardrails, and everyday choices. Ask with your team: – Does this tool connect us or fragment us? – Do our meetings build trust or compliance? – Are we trading speed for care? 👉 medium.com/human-side-o... #TeamCulture #DesignLeadership
What Kind of Culture Are We Building Here?
Company culture isn’t a vibe. It’s a system. And we’re all part of it.
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Feeling lost in the sea of AI-generated AWS options that miss the mark? We're transitioning from creators to curators—choosing thoughtfully, cutting through the clutter, and designing for real impact. Discover more → buff.ly/5hywp3N #AILeadership
Curious to hear your take on this Have you ever seen something technically impressive—AI-generated layouts, slick prototypes, polished UIs—but walked away thinking… but why? medium.com/human-side-o...
They Had AI. What They Didn’t Have Was Design.
AI was in the room. What wasn’t: anyone thinking about real users, real needs, or real-world context.
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Imagine what design could feel like if we weren’t always rushing. What if we had time to explore? To think before we solve? To ask the hard questions without fearing they’d slow us down? medium.com/design-bootc...
Shallow Work, Shallow Impact
When speed becomes the metric, design suffers. So do the people doing the work.
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