Chris Freitag

Who Will Lead When the Juniors Are Gone? | AI's Threat to the Talent Pipeline | Creative Friday Design AI is replacing junior designer and developer roles, but those positions are how future leaders learn. A conversation with Claude about the real cost of cutting entry-level jobs and why short-term thi...

I read that letter going around today from the AI safety researcher who left Anthropic. And so I decided to ask Claude about it.

www.creativefriday.com/blog/who-wil...

Home page design that reads: "You don't need a better design. You need a better strategy. I work with teams who are shipping features but not making progress."

In this new year, I'm making a bold statement.

If you or anyone you know is looking for some help to take your AI-Generated go-to-market design and turn it into something people want to use, contact me. That's the general message.

www.creativefriday.com

I didn't want to get ahead of myself and say anything before people signed the paperwork but I got two new contracts last week for my design business! I have no idea how I'm doing any of this.

Creative Friday Design | Product Design and UX Strategy Creative Friday offers expert UX strategy, user research, and design services that turn ambiguity into clarity for startups and enterprises alike.

I've updated my #ux and #productdesign site. I'm not sure having this does me any good these days, I don't know if people still search and go through web sites as a lead anymore.

www.creativefriday.com

Here's a quick look at how I'm using AI.

YouTube video by Michael MacKelvie Moneyball Was Supposed to Kill the Human Eye - The Opposite is Happening

This is exactly what I see happening with all the creative jobs that people want to replace with AI.

For a moment, we will feel the pain. But our skills will be desirable, and we will adapt. #UX #design #writing

youtu.be/1gOX7a1kUNQ?...

Design Isn’t Just a Department. It’s a Mindset. | Creative Friday This post explores how design thinking should be integrated into the entire structure of an organization. When design is treated as a shared responsibility across teams, not just a separate phase, the...

New blog post 🎯

Design isn’t just a department, it’s a way of thinking. And when it is integrated and not treated as a separate phase, you build better products.

Read it here: www.creativefriday.com/blog/design-...

I don't care about titles either, Happy to refer to myself as a Designer. But contextually within tech, this means UI.

From my experience, this is a perception that can only be overcome from within, when you win people over. But today, Designers can't get past the portfolio to get in the door.

Something that's bothered me for years in the #ux design space…

How👏 can👏 a👏 professional👏 designer👏 tear👏 down👏 another👏 designer's👏 work👏 without👏 context???

Amplified this week by Apple's new system design decisions.

#apple #design

Instead of waiting for FEMA assistance, the people in those states should protest ICE. He'll have the National Guard down there in no time.

Closing out my 3-part series on perceived performance over real outcomes, my latest post looks at how leadership decisions shape (and sometimes distort) the value of work.

#ux #design #product

https://www.creativefriday.com/blog/leadership-loyalty-and-the-disappearing-workforce

A screenshot of Apple's YouTube video thumbnail where the play button is sitting over the G and the L of the word Glass. So it looks like Liquid ass.

Your #YouTube thumbnail matters, people.

#design #apple

Here’s an opportunity for me to remind people that regardless of how you feel about Apple’s new #UI layer, you’ll use it. And whether you love it or hate it, it will begin to fade as you use it everyday.

But #UX problems that bother you in Apple’s systems will continue to persist.

#Design

My professional consulting site is live, but in an early state. I am working on the Case Studies page and then will take down my old portfolio link.

I'm also moving my blog from Medium to my site.

https://www.creativefriday.com

The word "productivity" abounds throughout LinkedIn and social media. The new holy grail, with AI as the driving force. But this idea that speed is inherently better? That faster output = better outcomes? It's born from…nowhere.

https://medium.com/creative-friday/the-illusion-of-progress-ff0a4d49ff

What Critique Taught Me (And Why AI-Driven Design Needs It Now More Than Ever) When I was starting out as a designer, the toughest part of the job wasn’t the deadlines or the tools, it was the critique.

Critiques used to feel brutal. Over time (and with great mentors), I learned how to explain why a design works.

Now with AI, a lot of people are experiencing the pain for the first time. But skipping critique doesn’t help. It holds us back from making great products.

medium.com/creative-fri...

A long-winded message to inform me that domestic companies are exempt from needing to fill out the form I just filled out.

Went to file my state periodic report for my business today and was instructed to file with the federal FinCEN database (financial crimes enforcement). I go fill out pages of forms and submit my information, and I get this alert message…

*AFTER* I went through the whole process. #ux

Bothers me that designers, especially early-career designers, have not learned how to present their design. Figma has made it seem normal to fly around artboards but it would be a million times better for the viewer if they simply did a click-through prototype which is more like a presentation

In a world obsessed with speed, screens, and stakeholder sign-offs, it's easy to lose sight of the slower, more meaningful parts of the process: discovery, intuition, empathy.

Would love to hear your thoughts. 👇
https://medium.com/creative-friday/fast-cheap-and-thoughtless-the-new-design-crisis-5ac

What's left unsaid when tech leadership says that we need to reskill the workforce, is that is that I like what I do. I chose it for a reason.

And I do not want to use AI to do my job for me, because doing my job is what I love about what I do.

#uxdesign #ux #design

Thank you for taking the time to say that. Helps more than you know.

My heart breaks for what has become of tech leadership. The only vision anyone has now is money.

Real Genius is so often overlooked. And of course, I was an early-teen boy when Top Gun! came out so that was the most hilarious thing in the universe.

It's my desire to try to pivot and try to get my own #ux consulting business off the ground, maybe even sell some of my photography and photography services.

And some days I'm all gung-ho about it, and other days, like today, I can't get moving. I can't afford "off" days now.

Me too, that first receipt is usually it. The rejection letter is also telling as it appears to be written by the same person across multiple companies (AI)

Is it overstepping my bounds to message the hiring manager if we are already connected on LinkedIn somehow? I don't know how we are connected, but we are.

#ux #uxdesign #jobsearch

I feel like I have a new problem brewing in that I don't know how to keep track of and organize all of these AI chats and all this new-found productivity. I have so many open windows these days. #ux

So I'm not being rejected because of any perceived shortcomings, I'm either being cut off due to the influx of resumes or just getting bounced by some AI system before I even have a chance.

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