The Feed & The Thread - February 3, 2026

This episode covers Paz Perez's argument for adapting traditional UX practices with AI, Jeff Gothelf’s view on permission bottlenecks in an AI-driven world, and community discussions on design inspiration beyond mockups and networking events in the Bay Area. It also announces the UX Camp Winter online event on February 21st, featuring presentations accessible from anywhere for a minimal fee or free with complimentary passes available. Show Notes In This Episode The evolving role of UX designers in an AI-influenced world, emphasizing the need for them to understand AI systems better and contribute to evaluation strategies. Jeff Gothelf's argument on how traditional permission-seeking practices are slowing down progress in an AI-driven environment. Practical tips by Nick Babich on leveraging Claude, a powerful AI tool, for more efficient UI component coding. Articles Mentioned "The new UX Toolkit: data, context, and evals" by Paz Perez (UX Design.cc) "In an AI World, Permission Is the Slowest Bottleneck" by Jeff Gothelf "3 Practical Tips for Making Most of Claude for Coding UI Components" by Nick Babich (UX Planet) Community Discussions r/UI_Design - Finding real design inspiration beyond pretty mockups r/UX_Research - Recommendations on networking events and job fairs in the Bay Area r/UX_Design - Debate on whether product designers should be pulled into event or marketing design tasks r/UX_Design - Discussion on having a long career without constant stakeholder presentations r/UX_Design - Struggles of showcasing non-visually flashy product design work Announcement Event: UX Camp Winter Date: Saturday, February 21st Format: Online Price: $13.50 (Complimentary passes available) More Info & Tickets: ChicagoCamps.org About The Feed & The Thread The Feed & The Thread is a daily summary of UX articles found in the industry and some light-touch updates from the UX Community found in online forums. It’s brief, and meant as a light-touch overview of what’s happening across UX.