John Maeda

Daily life is mostly waiting for good news or bad news. With time, you realize no bad news is the good news you were desperate for.

Fixed vs Variable Costs useful.mba/lessons/fixe...

From Reactive Graphics to the Agent Era: Reflections on the Evolution of Design and Code | John Maeda’s Blog https://vimeo.com/198494483 Looking back at my path through design and technology, I’m often struck by how much the landscape keeps shifting—and how much there is to learn at every turn. In the early ...

Tools will keep changing, but our job is to shape the work with humanity and purpose. maeda.pm/2025/04/27/f...

Why Art Still Matters (Especially Now) Artists comfortably work within and with the many enigmas in life — sharing their research as concrete evidence of a different path taken.

Artists comfortably work within and with the many enigmas in life—sharing their research as concrete evidence of a different path taken. johnmaeda.medium.com/why-art-stil...

Simplicity and Agentic Experience (AX) We find ourselves these days at a fascinating intersection where simplicity and agency are converging. As I’ve explored in my previous work…

Simplicity and Agentic Experience johnmaeda.medium.com/simplicity-a...

The Art of Creative Leadership I remember standing in my father’s tofu factory as a child, watching him transform simple ingredients into something nourishing through…

The Art of Creative Leadership johnmaeda.medium.com/the-art-of-c...

YouTube video by John Maeda: Design & AI 2025 Design in Tech Report 95% AI Video 1

95% AI-ONLY: I wanted to find a way to compress the info in my ultra-long form video so I tried the new gpt-4o to see what it would create as infographics, and then went down a rabbit hole to create a short video. It definitely got the general "information shape" correct
youtube.com/shorts/RfYVk...

YouTube video by NBC Sports Alysa Liu brings the house down in Boston, wins figure skating world championship | NBC Sports

🪩🏆 youtu.be/tW-XnKjykuQ?...

Tokens that span words versus just parts of them 👉 superbpe.github.io

YouTube video by John Maeda: Design & AI 2025 Design in Tech Report (Unedited): Autodesigners on Autopilot

2025 #DesignInTech Report in super long form is up on Tuesday: Autodesigners on Autopilot
youtu.be/mMcVKWCQmv8

So I find solace, not jealousy, with GenAI keeps on genning away. I feel drawn to compete against the creative locomotives out there.

I want to make better reruns for as long as I can.

Pursuing originality is a wonderfully human endeavour. It is a useful form of hallucination that all creatives willingly subscribe to.

Why? Because they feel like there is no other choice. The vibe, the Force, the feelz, the myth, the ego … there is warmth and fire there: the desire to survive.

Most new, interesting design trends are reruns. Some improve on the original, others just have better FX.

Originality is a wonderful delusion—sometimes it leads to a timely twist, sometimes to a successful remix (see Lessig).

Footnote: A tiny ounce of crafting can still matter a great deal to an observer. Or, a giant heap of crafting can matter nothing to an observer. It’s why people who make things tend to come to realize it is best to feel something about making just for themselves.

- Note: "Handmade" has never meant just hands alone. Tools, power tools, and even teams of makers have always been part of the craft tradition. The human element remains central and remains as long as humans don’t give up and retire with 💯% auto-making …

- The 💯% match case leads to deepest empathy — painters naturally understand other painters' work. Today's AI builders are pioneers in a new craft domain that's v alien.

- As long as humans make things, craft appreciation will endure. And yes, what we create with AI can absolutely qualify as craft.

- Earning the badge of high craft comes from the deep respect one maker has for another maker's work.

- Appreciating crafted experiences and objects is about empathy. It requires understanding the creator's journey, especially when your own making experiences resonate with or match their process.

I-assisted software dev can encourage laziness, but it can also push you to be more ambitious. Getting to a goal within the expected timeframe has become easier. At the same time, reaching for higher, riskier goals within the same timeframe has also become more achievable. The latter point is key.

YouTube video by Hikaru Utada 宇多田ヒカル「traveling」(HIKARU UTADA SCIENCE FICTION TOUR 2024)

Hikaru Utada’s Science Fiction Tour is available on Prime and one of the most beautiful shows I have ever seen on many dimensions — esp the ending. youtu.be/jiJTBW6kGC4?...

Helped vs Hugged vs Heard youtu.be/lg48Bi9DA54?...

“If you don’t fail regularly you are not trying hard enough things.” —Ivan Sutherland maeda.pm/2020/09/21/t...

Courage is knowing danger and taking it on; audacity is ignoring the situation and jumping in. (From 2011 — when I was peak audacious :-)

I brought back design.co thanks to GenAI + tryptophan 🦃

Real science to science to scientific to design to artistic to art to real art

Design is both “artistic” and “scientific” -- it’s a hybrid discipline with the accent on *hybrid*.

The software industry is poised to embrace its craft heritage. www.forbes.com/2010/04/08/j... (2010 on 2020)

Great design is the right combination of aesthetics, ergonomics, and economics. (2010)