This Week In Design: March 3rd Week

A crisis of meaning in UX Design

The article explores the growing sense of meaninglessness many UX designers are experiencing in their profession. Harrison examines how the field has evolved from an era of innovation and influence to one of pure optimization, where designers feel they're merely "pushing pixels" instead of doing stimulating work. The piece traces design's decline from its Apple-inspired heyday to its current state of diminished importance, exacerbated by factors like the pandemic, the rise of AI, and corporate focus on metrics over creativity. While acknowledging the challenges, Harrison offers potential paths forward: better quantifying design's business value, moving into emerging technological fields where innovation still thrives, and proactively leading with ideas rather than settling into complacency.

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Indians will deploy AI but not to reduce cost: Hiring people vs deploying AI

Dharmesh BA challenges the assumption that AI won't be adopted in India due to cheap labor costs. Drawing from his experience building an AI lead automation agent, Ba argues that comparing AI's value solely to human salaries is overly simplistic. He identifies key challenges with human-driven sales processes, including repetitive communication, timing mismatches for customer inquiries, and high workforce turnover. Ba suggests that India's changing labor dynamics—with younger generations preferring white-collar jobs over blue-collar work—is creating efficiency gaps that AI can address. Rather than replacing workers to cut costs, Indian businesses will adopt AI primarily to improve efficiency and competitiveness in the global market, particularly against countries like China where response times and processes are often faster.

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Secure UX: Building Cybersecurity and Privacy into the UX Lifecycle

Jolie Dobre argues that UX professionals must integrate cybersecurity and privacy considerations throughout the design process rather than treating them as afterthoughts. Dobre highlights how data breaches can destroy user trust and brand equity, with significant financial and operational costs for organizations. The author outlines several practical strategies for UX designers to incorporate security thinking into their work: educating themselves about cybersecurity risks, breaking down silos between UX and security teams, conducting security-focused usability testing, developing cybersecurity personas, designing for cross-device security, collaborating with security experts during design reviews, simplifying terms and conditions, evaluating third-party data access, addressing security in content design, and preparing for data breach scenarios. By embracing these approaches, Dobre contends that UX professionals can create experiences that are not only usable but also secure and trustworthy, offering both competitive advantage and fulfilling a moral imperative.

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The state of AI: How organizations are rewiring to capture value

Organizations are rapidly adapting to the rise of generative AI, with larger companies leading the way in restructuring workflows, governance, and risk management to maximize AI’s business impact. McKinsey’s latest global AI survey highlights how businesses are centralizing AI governance, hiring for AI-specific roles, and refining adoption strategies to unlock value. While AI adoption continues to surge—now present in over 75% of organizations—best practices for scaling remain in early stages. Companies are also addressing AI-related risks, particularly inaccuracy, cybersecurity, and intellectual property concerns. As AI reshapes workforce dynamics, businesses are reskilling employees and refining deployment strategies to drive efficiency and innovation.

Full read here