The Feed & The Thread - January 14, 2026

In This Episode Exploring the challenges and opportunities in design, including the impact of AI on designer roles and user experience. Diving into issues faced by designers when trying to drive change within resistant organizations and strategies to overcome these hurdles. The importance of accessibility guidelines and how they can sometimes complicate rather than simplify discussions around making web content more accessible. Articles Mentioned The WCAG problem“ by Ruben Ferreira Duarte (UXDesign.cc) - https://uxdesign.cc/the-wcag-problem-a1e966d49428?source=rss----138adf9c44c---4 “How can you ensure paying customers don’t worsen the new user experience?” by Kai Wong (UX Collective) - https://uxdesign.cc/how-can-you-ensure-paying-customers-dont-worsen-the-new-user-experience-dbd2dcddfb3c “The dilemma of agency in design” by Martin Tomitsch (UXDesign.cc) - https://uxdesign.cc/the-dilemma-of-agency-in-design-0f50bd93cc8d?source=rss----138adf9c44c---4 “ Community Discussions r/Design - honestly… where does AI leave designers? - https://www.reddit.com/r/Design/comments/1qdgy7n/honestly_where_does_ai_leave_designers/ r/UX_Design - comparing notification design patterns across slack notion linear and what drives engagement - https://www.reddit.com/r/UX_Design/comments/1qddk4y/comparing_notification_design_patterns_across/ r/web_design - How can I improve my UI/UX design skills? - https://www.reddit.com/r/web_design/comments/1qd7lav/how_can_i_improve_my_uiux_design_skills/ r/UI_Design - our shopping cart has 73% abandonment and every change I test makes it worse somehow for reducing shopping cart abandonment - https://www.reddit.com/r/UI_Design/comments/1qda60q/our_shopping_cart_has_73_abandonment_and_every/ r/UXDesign - Why do people say UX is “rough right now” when there seem to be lots of UX jobs? - https://www.reddit.com/r/UXDesign/comments/1qdfvj4/why_do_people_say_ux_is_rough_right_now_when/ r/design_critiques - stopped paying for adobe, here is my free browser-based design stack for 2025 - https://www.reddit.com/r/design_critiques/comments/1qdfj8q/stopped_paying_for_adobe_here_is_my_free/ r/UXDesign - How do you network when you have nothing to offer? - https://www.reddit.com/r/UXDesign/comments/1qdbzhl/how_do_you_network_when_you_have_nothing_to_offer/ r/web_design - Do you design ad banners? How do you handle boring, repetitive requests? - https://www.reddit.com/r/web_design/comments/1qd3lzg/do_you_design_ad_banners_how_do_you_handle_boring/ r/Design - A Confession: I’m an Amatuer Designer of 10 Years seeking to take my Career as a Freelance Designer seriously for the first time. - https://www.reddit.com/r/Design/comments/1qd3k47/a_confession_im_an_amatuer_designer_of_10_years/ r/UX_Design - Need Thoughts: Where does a Figma file break for you? - https://www.reddit.com/r/Design/comments/1qdeetm/need_thoughts_where_does_a_figma_file_break_for/ Announcement Chicago Camps UX Camp Winter 2026, Date: 2026-02-21 - https://chicagocamps.org About Tent Talks Chicago Camps hosts irregularly scheduled Tent Talks with people from all across the User Experience Design community, and beyond. Who really likes limits, anyway–If it’s a cool idea, we’d love to hear about it and share it! What is a Tent Talk? That’s a great question, we’d love to tell you. Tent Talks are short-form in nature, generally lasting from 10-20 minutes (ish) in a recorded format–we like to think of them as “S’mores-sized content” because that’s pretty on-brand. Tent Talks can be a presentation on a topic, a live Q&A session about the work we do, or the work around the work we do, or really just about anything–we don’t want to limit ourselves, or you. You should send along an idea or topic of your own so we can learn from you, as well! You don’t have to be a published author or a professional speaker on a circuit to be good at your job, so please, put yourself forward, and let’s have some fun, talk, and share your experience with others! 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. 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.