Issue 154

Liquid ass as a minimum viable brand tool

Hello, dear readers! 👋

In this issue, among other things:

• Framework for creating minimally viable branding (MVB)

• The impact of AI capabilities within a product on UX

• Why does the iOS "glass" interface seem logical

• 7 ways to integrate AI into an interface

• The story of the mysterious and ubiquitous Gorton font

• A book with an orange peel cover

• …and much more!

Enjoy reading!

🗞 News and articles

Why is quality so rare?

Karri Saarinen, co-founder and CEO of Linear, explained why, despite the development of technology and design, quality products are becoming less common.

He argues that craft disappears with every turn of technological progress.: first, a tool appears that simplifies the creation of something, and then the desire for efficiency increases, killing intuition and taste. Today, AI makes this gap even stronger, distancing the creator not only from work itself, but also from thinking.

Separately, Curry drew attention to the fact that many companies rely on metrics rather than quality, considering the artisanal approach unnecessary and expensive. For comparison, he spoke about the principles of Linear, in which quality, on the contrary, is a business strategy.

Internal Linear Principles:

• All decisions are evaluated through the question: "Will this improve quality?"

• Intuition and customers are more important than data. You need to listen to the intuition and users.

• They only hire people with a craft background.

• Teams of three to five people are better than large departments.

• It is important to avoid inconsistent assembly line "piece by piece". The entire team should be equally involved in the creation of the product from start to launch.

• No MVPs. Only within the company for testing

• All bugs must be fixed within seven days.

• Recording of a speech at Figma Config 2025, based on which the note was written.

Physicality: the new age of UI

A week before the WWDC 2025 presentation, Sebastian de Wit reviewed the history of Apple's interfaces and predicted that the next step in visual design would be the glass effect. The last presentation showed that his thoughts were correct.

Sebastian also drew his own concept of a "glass" iOS. In some places, it looks more thoughtful and convenient than what Apple showed.

Brand5 is Your Most Efficient Minimum Viable Brand Tool

Anastasia Butrym spoke about Brand5, a framework for creating minimally viable branding (MVB). It can be useful when the budget is low, deadlines are tight, or when brand development is not an important business goal.

The essence of the method is to define the brand image through five archetypes and adjust the positioning according to five basic parameters.

In the second part, Anastasia spoke in more detail about the advantages of the framework, showed how to use it in practice, and separately explained its value to business owners, managers, designers, and product directors.

Scope in GenAI Features

NNGroup explained why it is important to take into account the range of AI functions in the product when designing. According to their research, new users are better able to master narrowly focused AI functions rather than broad and unlimited ones.

In many scenarios, highly focused AI assistants can make UX better. For example, it's easier to generate a playlist using Spotify's built-in AI function than asking ChatGPT to make a list and then add songs manually.

New technologies

Apple hosted the WWDC 2025 conference, which featured a significant update to its operating systems. Beta versions will be released in July, and stable versions in the fall of 2025. Developer versions are already available.

Shortlist:

• Liquid Glass is a new design language based on the effect of transparent glass and inspired by visionOS. The largest visual redesign since iOS 7

• Liquid Glass will be used on all platforms. It can adapt to a light, dark, and color theme, as well as be displayed in a fully transparent style.

• All operating systems were numbered by year: iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, visionOS 26

• The Camera, Photo, Phone, FaceTime and CarPlay apps have been updated on iOS, as well as the lock screen.

• Added the Call Screening mode. It accepts calls from unknown numbers in the background and asks for the reason for the call, after which it shows the user

• Added a built-in real-time translator. It can work when communicating in FaceTime with an interlocutor speaking another language.

• Visual Intelligence can now recognize objects on the screen in any application.

• Real-time translation and new contextual actions have been added to the Messages app on watchOS 26.

• Spotlight Search on macOS has received smart recommendations based on the user's actions, habits, and current work.

• Apple Intelligence features have been integrated into visionOS 26 and digital avatars have been redesigned.

• Vision Pro has added support for the PlayStation VR2 Sense controller and Logitech's Mise drawing pen.

• Vision Pro has added the ability to place widgets directly in real space.