Drew McKinney

@2advanced RIP Tony. One of the greats.

In Memoriam: Tony Novak, CTO & Co-founder, 2Advanced Studios. 1971-2025

@hemeon @mobbin I absolutely agree designers don't do enough competitor research. Especially for understanding core functionality/workflow. I do think it's important to do some kind of user research upfront, in spite of clear requirements. Even if it's secondary user research.

If you were just starting with me on a new project as a deisgner - I’d have you do this: 1. Make a list of all the competitors and then download all their apps and use them and take screenshots and notes about what you like and don’t like. You can use @mobbin to get most screenshots. 2. I’d have you write down the top 2 or 3 things our app has to do - and they have to be specific - get a good seat at a movie theater for a new movie. Meet someone you’re romantically interested in in a safe and successful way. Order a pizza prepared exactly how I like it - etc. 3. Now describe your problem to ChatGPT and ask it to outline a UX flow on how to solve this problem / since you have familiarized yourself with the problem area in step 2 you have some discernment now on what to take from AI and what to leave. 4. You can ask AI to come up with some UI but it’s just not there yet - so take the flows from 3 and get creating in Figma - if you want to go faster there are countless Figma UI kits out there - grab one so you don’t waste time with login, keyboards etc. oh and while you’re at it be sure to use an icon plugin, avatar plugin and any content making plugins to go fast. Speed is your friend here. Don’t visually design here - choose helvetica and get making… 5. Get stakeholders involved here and see if you’re on the right track, is your solution clear and smart? Are you solving the problem with little fluff? 6. Ok nooowww you get to make it look beautiful and amazing with your own touch and visual design - choose great fonts, colors, illustrations, dimension etc. the thinking of solving the problem should give your mind the freedom to create and invent and put your magic in. If they get this far I’d be pretty stoked and imagine we’d have a great set of mocks to code against… This isn’t exhaustive by any means - a nice general workflow you can use and do in a day for almost any idea or app you’re designing. What works for you? I’d love to hear.

@mattrothenberg I've had the same thought. I want to be able to have multiple genre/artist explorations going on at once.

I have a random sticky note that says "Spotify should have tabs" and I don't exactly remember what I meant by this. I think it's like, if you're searching/exploring a specific genre, it'd be cool to open a new tab for new explorations so you don't lose that trail or history

@hemeon "My son is sick..." [hangs up phone] "...of your bullshit" 😎🎤🫲

A school absence is only excused if your child is sick - if I say - I wanted to spend the day with my son - it’s unexcused and he’s penalized. Feels broken.

@flyosity Vibe coding: truly a “golden” shower

My dad used to tell me that there are only 2 kinds of jobs: Jobs where you shower before work And jobs where you shower after work But now with AI and vibe coding there’s a 3rd type of job where you don’t need to shower at all Much to think about

I decided to build a 3-d farm sim using Cursor instead of doing my taxes.

Made this announcement on LinkedIn today but sharing it here as well!

i hate how being mean to LLMs give you better results than being nice to them

@flyosity In fairness that's 7 in Celsius, but still a 40-degree Fahrenheit day.

@drewmck hahah oh no

Saw today's high temp starts with a 7 and all the happy chemicals rushed back into my brain

@mattrothenberg Are you sure? It's a volunteer position and your boss will be a <s>22-year-old with hygiene issues</s> real go-getter

@drewmck that's gonna be a NO from me, dawg

uh oh

@levelsio "Do you pine for the days when men were men and wrote their own device drivers?"

Yes exactly Like someone said "GPT wrapper" is just the new "CRUD app" term

@asmartbear If a seasoned corporate employee is out of a job, their best bet is to find a new job. Creating a stream of income is comparatively novel/daunting. For an entrepreneur, creating a stream of income is familiar. They're already "financially independent", even if they have less.

From the outside, it can appear that an entrepreneur making the same or even less take-home money than a regular job is “failing” because “you could have just had a normal job.” They’re wrong. Entrepreneurs know why. They’re probably right for themselves, just not about you.

@flyosity Single ingredient!

The look on someone's face when they learn these are actually dried penises is priceless

@levelsio Sometimes we plan things for our house that people advise us "will ruin the resale value". When that happens we double-down, perhaps out of spite.

Yes that's my point, when all goes to shit you have the paper that you own it and you hold a gun and go stand on the roof to defend it like Koreans in LA

Any well rounded designers looking for a project? - well funded seed stage co by top VCs - need website, brand, product design - fintech + AI with early traction at major companies Cc/ @jkantro

@flyosity I love the rich icons, inset groups, and themed buttons. I know this would get you scorched in a UX review but UIs used to be way more fun...

Some old interface work from 2011 Real ones know that’s Adium in the background

@BrettFromDJ It also provides a clarity of role. Too many designers (specifically UX) spin their wheels trying to elevate their strategic value, which is often only applicable to a single company. They would be better served focusing on their craft.

I've talked to nearly 1,300 clients in the last 3 years. One thing I'm convinced of: Companies want generalist designers. Designers who can design landing pages, while designing logos, while designing slide decks. Restricting yourself to just one thing is a really bad idea.

@flyosity My wife: “Why do people vote against their own self interest?” Me: “We are technically doing the same.”

The biggest flex is being rich but not a Trump voter Yeah I care more about people than my taxes, get on my level