MEMBERSHIP / Media + community for designers
AI can make things now. What the field needs next are designers who put AI to work and take responsibility for the results. We publish carefully written articles on how to make work with AI, the skills people are now expected to bring, and reviews of AI tools we’ve finished testing.
Five tools tested, and our verdict on each
6 min read
You can now hand off edits that follow your design system. Naming, though, should still be a human call.
Good enough for internal sharing. For clients, the glitches in the details still show.
You gain speed, but every brand decision drops out along the way.
01 — The shift
If it’s just making,
AI can do it.What’s needed nowis people who deliver.
The more your work has been about simply giving things form, the clearer it becomes that this is no longer yours alone.
Layer your instructions to AI, and you can realize what you had in mind with far less effort. The difference comes down to judgment: knowing what “good” looks like.
Web designers can move into SEO, AEO, ad operations, and social media marketing. Graphic designers can move into UI/UX, copywriting, 3D, and illustration. Animation, video, and development are within reach too, at close to specialist quality.
This shift isn’t stopping. If we keep working the way we do now, only a handful of designers will make it through.
02 — What’s needed from humans
Using AI is now a given. On top of that, what people are expected to do is take responsibility and deliver results through high-quality design. In concrete terms, that means these four things.
Average design, scoring 60 to 80
Take it to 100, or beyondDecide what “good” means, and keep refining AI’s output all the way to the finish.
Generic needs, as AI imagines them
Build on insights that are realGet the honest feelings and hard facts that AI doesn’t know, straight from real users.
A website that merely looks the part
Make it drive resultsWork backward from visible outcomes like conversions and traffic.
Shipping whatever comes out
Own the outcomeCheck for yourself, right to the end, that the work truly meets the client’s needs.
03 — Our mission
Designers who thrive:
not a lucky few,
but all of us.
If only a handful of designers make it, the design that reaches the world will drift toward AI’s average. If every designer becomes one who can make it, better things get made, and the world gets better for it. The New Design Research exists to help make that happen.
We share the same ideas with individual designers through this publication, and with design teams through our support for teams.
04 — Four kinds of content
Make work faster and better with AI. Deliver results with skills only people have. Tell good new tools from bad. And come to terms with anxiety about change and AI fatigue. We cover what designers need to make it, in carefully written articles.
How to streamline design work with AI while raising the quality. From layering instructions to branching into neighboring fields, shared alongside real work.
A good eye, user insight, outcome-driven design, and ownership of results. Each month, one theme with an exercise to work through. Answers are critiqued live.
We spend a month testing new AI tools and models on real work, then evaluate them from a design perspective. Each verdict is one of three: “Use it,” “Too early,” or “Skip.”
Feeling uneasy about how fast AI is moving is a sign you’ve taken your work seriously. We write about how to face this shift, tailored to different career stages and roles. These articles are generally free to read.
Article titles are examples.TBD
05 — How it’s delivered
Instead of chasing trends with breaking news, we focus on articles that stay useful over time. Methods twice a month, one Training theme a month, and one AI Review a month covering tools we’ve finished testing. Timely pieces arrive now and then, too. From the month you join, you can read every past article and watch every recording.
An archive organized by theme means you can catch up even if you join partway through. After you join, we’ll point you to “5 articles to read first.”
06 — CommunityCOMING SOON
We’re preparing a members-only Slack community. The plan is a place where designers facing the age of AI can share training answers, impressions of tools they’ve tried, and challenges at work. We’ll let members know once it opens.
Tried last week’s Methods workflow for internal wireframes. Got to a first draft in about half the time.
Same here. But the information architecture fell apart when I left it to AI, so I fixed that part by hand.
We’ll cover that difference in the next live session. It would help if you could share the examples that broke.
A mockup of the community in preparation. The screen and conversation are not real.
07 — About the author
08 — Pricing
About half of our articles are free to read in full. Members get every article, training critiques, and live sessions. A Slack community is also in the works.
Tax includedTBD · Cancel anytime
Join within one month of launch and your rate stays at ¥4,000/month for as long as you remain a member.TBD
| FREE | MEMBER | |
|---|---|---|
| AI Review | Headlines and verdicts | In full, with reasoning |
| Methods | Selected articles in full | Everything |
| Training | Explanations for selected themes | Explanations and exercises |
| Facing change | In full | In full |
| Submit answers for critique | — | Monthly |
| Monthly live session | — | Monthly, recorded |
| Slack community | — | In preparation |
| Archive | Free articles | Everything |
09 — FAQ
Designers with hands-on experience who want to move beyond just making things, and become designers who put AI to work and take responsibility for results. It’s not a fit if you’re looking to learn the basics of design tools.
Yes. You can read every past article and watch every recording. After you join, we’ll point you to “5 articles to read first.”
You can watch the recording. We take questions in advance through a form. Live sessions are planned for [day & time].
Each month we pick one theme (a good eye, insight, outcome-driven design, and so on) and publish an explanation and an exercise. Submit your answer through the form, and we’ll choose a few to critique in the monthly live session. Not every answer is picked every time, but everyone can see the critiques.
No. There’s no set term or enrollment cap. For as long as you’re a member, new articles and monthly training keep coming.
No, we don’t guarantee results. The Methods and Training are meant for you to try out in your own work.
You can cancel anytime, and your membership stops at the next renewal date. We don’t offer prorated refunds.TBD
For team use, or to discuss bringing AI into your design organization, please get in touch through our page for teams.
About half of our articles are free to read in full. Start reading, and if you want to go deeper, become a member.
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