The Feed & The Thread - February 20, 2026

This episode covers Édouard Wautier's article on Dust’s use of prototypes over mockups for better design decisions, Jim Lewis and Jeff Sauro's discussion on effect sizes in research, and community buzz around landing a first UX job and breaking into mental health UX roles. It also announces the free online UX Camp Winter event on February 21st. Show Notes In This Episode Prototypes vs Mockups for Design Decisions The Importance of Effect Sizes in UX Research Why Dialogue is Essential in Design Processes Community Highlights from UX Design and UX Research Subreddits Articles Mentioned "Field study: prototypes over mockups" by Édouard Wautier (UX Design.cc) "An Introduction to Effect Sizes" by Jim Lewis and Jeff Sauro (MeasuringU) "The Skill Your Tools Can't Replace" (MitoWare) Community Discussions r/UX_Design - A 2024 grad celebrating landing their first UX job without networking. r/UX_Research - Breaking into user experience research roles with a focus on mental health companies and recent career shifts within the field. r/UX_Design - Debate over which software reigns supreme for creating flowcharts (Figma vs Miro vs Lucidchart vs Mural). r/UX_Research - Platforms and strategies for recruiting B2B users who aren't typical end-users. Announcement Chicago Camps is hosting UX Camp Winter on Saturday, February 21st. The event will feature great presentations all online, accessible from anywhere in the world! General admission tickets are available for $13.50 at 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.