Jono Davidoff

So i decided to spin up this account for all my design related stuff to save people from my endless commentary on rugby 😅 Hope to reconnect with y'all here!

@douges Hi 👋

if you see this say hi

@benblumenrose Agree with you Ben. Unfortunately I think a lot of designers (and others!) measure self worth by their outputs rather than the skills that contribute to those outputs. Intent, authenticity, adaptability & critical thinking will become even more valuable commodities moving forward

Even if AI can make better “output” (which I still don’t think it can compared to the best) that doesn’t mean we quit. I managed plenty of designers who make better / different output than I make. Didn’t make me irrelevant. My role was to ensure the company understood how to work with that output, look at ways to expand where we needed more/better design (sales, customer support, etc), help us determine what good design even was in different parts of the company and help the company understand how to use good design to achieve business goals. This expansion of role is what many may need to do. Same with engineers - if you just want to do the output that may not be enough.

I definitely feel this. The way i frame it is that AI outputs like code etc aren't really forms of interpersonal forms of communication. Humans value authenticity when interacting with each other regardless of the tech involved. We've had chatbots, robo emails, one word answers via text etc doing the same for years. I think AI replies amplify that feeling of betrayal and disregard because it does a decent job of masquerading as something that is authentic.

I'm pondering why I have such a violent, offensive reaction to AI writing or replies that are sent to me, yet I love and use it for many other things like writing coding. I think it has something to do with the fact that when I read something from one of you, I assume that you thought about it and wrote it yourself. And so then I am thoughtful in reading it, and crafting my own reply. When I write, it's really just manifesting a lot more thinking that I've done in an attempt to distill it into words. When I come across (with sadly increasing frequency) things that are clearly AI slop, it feels like a betrayal of trust or complete disregard for my time and thought. At the same time, I use AI regularly to create code for me (and by extension others) and I don't have nearly the same reaction at all. I wonder if it's in part because with coding, there's a long history of using and creating templates or frameworks that are in effect already shortcuts. But I think the bigger reason is just I'm not asking or suggesting that anyone read it, nor representing it as mine. Anyone else feeling this way?

@maybe_im_sam Reminds me of the game Raptor from like 25 years ago that I use to play! Looks good 👏

Some more weekend progress on my #shmup game Hellchain. The biggest design challenge has been deciding how all the elements (fire, ice, lightning, etc) can combo together into different weapons. Starting to feel very fun though. Here's a couple mins gameplay

@LiliLanXin @mobbin @UseCorgi @trudythecorgi @rzakirov10 @HeElwin @JulienChen19 @jamestuffdemon @RyanTuffDemon @StartupInc25523 Thanks for having me! We had a great game of Catan

tysm everyone (almost 100 ppl!) for showing out to the Startup Incubator UCSD x @mobbin x @UseCorgi post config mixer (my first time hosting an event in sf, was kinda nervous ngl) i met so many amazing people in the past two weeks, so grateful to you all and hope to see you guys at lots more events this summer <3 special thanks to @liaujianjie for making this happen and @rachelhxw for coming despite a series of misfortunate events, @AnamikaKha1 for believing in my very spontaneous plan and securing the @UseCorgi venue, and @JulienChen19 @RyanTuffDemon @rzakirov10 @jamestuffdemon for all the help on the floor while i checked folks in also hi @trudythecorgi, our distinguished guest of the evening 🥰

@johnbai @kenneth_kuh @designmeetuphq @cursor_ai I enjoyed your demo dude. Cool to see your process! @kenneth_kuh 's compile work/process was equally awesome 🙌

Cursor @ Config recap: Designers are discovering new workflows where the output isn’t just the final artifact — it’s the tool that helps create it.   Cursor is being designed dynamically inside Baby Glass, a fully interactive playground for testing ideas in context. For Compile, we didn’t wait for Figma Motion to exist; we built our own interface layer where elements could be fine-tuned in real time.   We’re not just designing the outcome. We’re designing how we get there.

@rachelhxw Sorry to hear that! I feel lucky that all my interactions this week were quite wholesome.

last night at a party in SF, someone walked up to me, shook hands and said they’re from XYZ company. i politely apologized: ‘sorry i’m not from here, what does your company do?’ he said in a sarcastic tone: ‘wow she doesn’t know what we do’ he briefly explained, gave a 🙃 look and moved on to someone else. it was slightly uncomfortable.

@lindaxue It's ok to love both! 😊

As a long time canva lover and figma fearer I have finally come around. I love figma.

@adelwu_ I actually felt this year was a shift back towards product design tools though (as opposed to buzz etc last time). Curious to know what you might have wanted to see more of instead?

why does it feel like figma is drifting from creating products for product designers to becoming a suite of tools for brand and marketing designers? perhaps it’s the post-ipo life where acquisitions and new product lines are needed to gobble up TAM

@melodyshar Still better than getting the soccer ball! 😄

I have such bad luck 🍀. Why did I get such a goofy looking one. 😂

Ok so maybe 50% correct. It makes sense that @figma is doubling down on the canvas as the source of truth/hub. It gives them a point of difference from other competitors focussed on code first paths and caters for designers that want to work and iterate visually. Will be interesting to see how each approach develops.

Prediction time! (or maybe it's a wishlist 😄) I think today #figma will announce 1. Rework to be html/css native 2. Proprietary AI model made for design and code handoff 3. Expansion of design tooling for canvas design 4. Improvements between prompt/canvas/code loop. Let's see how it goes. #config2026

It's time for config again and it could be the spiciest one yet🌶. Keen to see what Figma has been cooking! Many are writing them off, but I think they have some really smart cookies there so I'm hoping for some surprises. Design certainly isnt dead, but designers want to see deeper AI integrations and a tighter prompt/canvas/code loop with quality outputs. #config2026

Syd -> SF if youre attending config or other events around it, hit me up!

@tomjohndesign Ill be at Detach and a few others like contra, blok. Hope to see you again!

Any good config events next week? I've got a few scheduled, but looking to find more. Also, who's gonna be there?