Luke Woodhouse

@signulll The best designers will do this naturally, and the best product managers will be able to communicate a vision and bring people with them. But separating ideas from execution is always a good idea

@signulll This is describing a strategist. It starts with brand strategy but bringing more strategic thinking into product is smart. The mvp ship iterate - doing before thinking - is how lots of products end up in a mess. Think then do, strategy then design.

the most underrated hire right now is a great product person. when i say product person i'm def not talking about a product manager. perhaps i think there has to be somewhat of a new role. i don't have a good name for it yet but maybe something like "product thinker".. someone with an intuitive grasp of the product as it exists, where it's soft, where it sings, & how to iterate it toward something even sharper. in some sense, this person has to cohesively hold in their head where this product should be 2 years from now & work backwards from that. i say this cuz when building was hard, engineering was the bottleneck & the status hierarchy often reflected that. building is no longer hard. which means the variance in outcomes has shifted almost entirely to judgment on what to build, how to sequence it, & how to talk about it. & the story matters as much as the thing. internally, it organizes the team around a shared model of why. externally, it shapes the interpretive frame users bring to their first experience. you can't retrofit narrative onto a product & expect it to land, it has to be load bearing from the start. the rarest version of this person sits at the intersection of culture & deep technology. someone genuinely bilingual. they know what's technically possible & they know which cultural currents are real vs. ephemeral. that combo is what separates products that feel inevitable from products that feel assembled. before ppl clap back with this person has always been valuable, i know.. i am just saying now they might be the most *important* person in the room. their value compounds like never before.

@FonsMans Thanks for the Granola shout! I think this is bigger than aesthetics. As tech becomes more conversational, we’ll create new visual codes to express it. I think this is a conceptual shift - people will follow ‘trends’ - but I think it’ll lead to a more exciting visual landscape.

“Make it feel human” That’s something I’ve been hearing more and more lately. Clients asking for work that feels hand-drawn, more organic, less polished. Shapes that aren’t mathematically flawless. Colors that feel grounded and warm instead of hyper-saturated purples and glowy gradients. More texture, more character. It’s interesting to watch the shift. For years, we leaned heavily into ultra-smooth, gradient-heavy, almost sci-fi aesthetics (Think Stripe, Linear). Everything felt crisp, precise, and digital. But now, as AI-generated design becomes better and more accessible, that kind of perfection feels easier to replicate. And therefore it stops being special. Brands are moving toward something that feels more real. More ownable. More personal. You can already see it happening with brands like Granola. There’s personality in it. It doesn’t scream "look at me". The tone feels grounded. Personally, I’m all for it.

@Chris_McGinn_ absolute gold

Some of the comments here are concerning - designers seriously questioning the lack of a CTA.

@hamburger Such a good name too

There’s no power left in PowerPoint. Meet Faces: interactive presentations that use the full power of the web — to help your biggest ideas land. Such a pleasure to work with this crew! ✨

Time to Granola the notes, NYC.

@johnny_lam_ Well said. Record downloads for Granola this week too.

People are trashing the Granola rebrand. "Hate the new color." "Looks like a wellness brand." "What is that swirl?" Even designers throwing shade. Here's what they're missing: Ragged Edge did this. Same studio that did the Wise rebrand everyone loved. One of the highest talent densities in London. Maybe don't be so quick to dismiss it. The original Granola brand was thrown together last minute when the company was 3 people. Founder literally said: "Every other SaaS has gradient background, let's have that." Watch their 20min rebrand video. They kept asking "How should it feel?" "Kinda human, fun, and calming." One cofounder: "I'm sure people will complain. Then 5 years later, hopefully you can't imagine it was anything different." People said it feels like a wellness brand. That's the point. The product helps you stay present in meetings with calm and peace instead of frantically taking notes. When Granola is working, it sits in the background. A calming presence. But I'm guessing here's what they didn't say out loud: They're bracing for Google/OpenAI's move. Gemini keeps reminding people it can take notes in Meet now. How does a single-product company compete with Google? The default email for every human on the planet has zero adoption cost. You take a stand. Be different. Look slightly odd. Build elevated conceptual associations. Capture a loyal base that buys into the tribe, is the way out. Fashion has done this for decades. Now it's software's turn. Say, why do you wear Acne Studios and not Uniqlo? This is branding as competitive moat. It matters more when platform giants can copy your features overnight. Is your product different enough that people would choose you even if the feature became free tomorrow?

@camworboys @Square @CashApp @blocks This is so beautiful 😍

We’ve been quietly connecting the design languages between @Square and @CashApp. Shared DNA Type, grid, base colors Unique identities Patterns, expression, assets, components More to come as we connect the @blocks

@JustinDanks Always make it weird 👽 good weird. Looks dope

My favorite thing about Cash App is getting feedback like “make it weird” Design should be fun Design should be weird

@tasedan @meetgranola @Ragged_Edge Thanks Dan!

@meetgranola, one of my favourite tools, just rebranded. Done by the good people at @Ragged_Edge. granola.ai/blog/a-new-loo…

@mehedih_ thanks so much!

this Granola rebrand is so so so so so so unbelievably hot

@hamburger Nice one Ellis

Presence is power. Meet the new Granola 🌀

@FonsMans thanks so much!

Loving these new Granola illustrations

@camworboys Exactly mate 🙏

So much to love about this. Human, physicality to it. Swims against the AI branding tide. Most importantly… No gradients.

But standing out once isn’t enough. The Mere Exposure Effect: the thing you see repeatedly is the thing you start to like more over time. No one likes the different thing at first, but this is how branding works.

If everything looks the same, nothing gets remembered. The Von Restorff Effect: the thing that stands out is the thing that sticks.

@VasZhovner i don't know how the Granola team got all of that live in that time. They're a seriously talented bunch.

Massive love to the team who pulled this off 💚

@cjpedregal Congrats Chris! And it's jusssst the beginning 🚀

Little did you know when you woke up... that Granola was going to look different today 🤪 If you're curious, Sam and I chat about the new brand here: granola.ai/blog/a-new-loo…

@_tikhon Love your work Tikhon

Shipping 🚢

@ridd_design @meetgranola Thanks so much for sharing! We (@Ragged_Edge) worked on this with our friends @meetgranola

new @meetgranola brand 👀