This week's 6 UXD signals (not noise!) worth sharing

2️⃣ UXD news stories

• Figma enforces trademark on "Dev Mode" even though people everywhere have used it for decades.

• Are product designers up for the challenge? Designing for trust in the age of AI. I think we can do it.

2️⃣ Helpful AI tools for UXD

• Tome: Storytelling made easier

• Relume: A fast way to sketch the shape of a site before you overthink it.

1️⃣ WTF of the week & 1️⃣ Prompt of the week

• WTF: “Synthetic Users” are not users. The fact this even needs to be said 🙄

• 🎯 Prompt of the week: encourages designers to use AI as a critical thinking partner—not a cheerleader or fake user.

2️⃣ Important UXD stories

Figma enforces trademark on 'Dev Mode' to squeeze out AI startup

Last week, Figma sent a cease-and-desist letter to Swedish AI startup Loveable over their use of the phrase “Dev Mode.” The kicker? Figma trademarked the term in November 2024 despite the fact that “Dev Mode” has been a generic phrase used across tech for decades. This feels like a defensive reaction to a new AI-native small team player encroaching on their giant team's corporate turf.

It feels less like protecting a brand and more like squeezing out the little fish.

Honestly, it reminds me of the reverse of Taco Bell’s “Taco Tuesday” moment. In that case, Taco Bell actually fought to free the trademark so everyone could use the phrase. Figma, on the other hand, is doing the opposite by locking down language that was never theirs to begin with. They just have a good team of lawyers and more money. So they win.

I use “Dev Mode” in multiple contexts. So do most teams. It’s descriptive, not proprietary. When a tool that champions creative collaboration starts gatekeeping common language, it doesn’t feel protective, it feels controlling. A smaller command of language leads to smaller work. Designers and dev just got cornered by the very tool that's supposed to empower us.

Figma could’ve been a hero here but instead they just cornered designers and devs.

Are we up for the challenge? Designing for trust in the age of AI

A recent Forbes article called out what many of us already feel: product designers are now on the frontlines of AI ethics.

We’ve always been the user’s advocate. But now we’re also tasked with shaping what responsible AI looks like.

That means:

• Asking who benefits and who doesn’t

• Designing for clarity, not confusion

• Pushing back when speed threatens trust

The real question is: will we win the age-old user value vs business value debate? That remains to be seen. Of course, governments also have a responsibility to properly regulate AI, it's not all up to us but we do have a real opportunity here to shape the future. Which to me is exciting.

2️⃣ Helpful tools

Storytelling made easier

Telling the full story behind a design especially in B2B or messy B2C flows is hard. There are a lot of steps, edge cases, and decisions that don’t always fit neatly in MVP or even after several iterations.

Tome doesn’t solve that, but it helps. It’s good for sketching out a narrative, especially when you already know what matters but need a clearer way to show it. Think of it as a shortcut for turning real work into something shareable.

A fast way to sketch the shape of a site before you overthink it.

Relume is a decent starting point if you’re doing early-stage website exploration. It’s helpful for generating ideas, pulling patterns, and getting a few layouts on the page but let’s be real: it’s not going to give you a final excellent design. It's more of like a brainstorming buddy than a builder.

Where it does shine is sitemap generation. If you’re working on a brand new site, getting that structure in place early is crucial. We've all missed something on step 1 and then had to scrap everything when realized it at step 5. Relume helps avoid that by giving you a quick first pass you can build from (or tear apart).

Use it alongside your usual UXD research tools like Google image search, Pinterest, random website lurking. It’s one piece of the puzzle, not the whole picture.

1️⃣ WTF of the week

"Synthetic Users” are not users. The fact this even needs to be said 🙄

Let’s talk about Synthetic Users which is a real startup offering AI-generated personas, research participants, and even feedback from made-up users. Yeah. That’s a thing now.

On the surface, it sounds cool: skip recruitment, save money, move fast. But here’s the problem users aren’t just data points. They’re real people with context, habits, contradictions, and edge cases. No AI can synthesize a human's real life lived experience.

AI is great at speeding up things we already know work like accessibility checks, pattern libraries, even micro-interactions. But “interviewing” imaginary users? That’s not research. That’s fan fiction.

Use AI to test your dropdown logic. Don’t use AI to validate your product decisions with ghost people.

✅ Awesome: “Tell me if my dropdown has too many items.”

❌ Ridiculous: “Tell me what my fake user thinks about this concept.”

This is called starting off with the wrong assumption. It is far better to start off what what another human thinks (psst. this can be you, the designer!) is the solution than a fake AI "person". You'll get far closer to the most effective and impactful solution.

1️⃣ Prompt of the week

Encourages designers to use AI as a critical thinking partner—not a cheerleader or fake user.

🎯 Prompt of the Week
“Act as a skeptical design reviewer. I’m going to describe a user persona, a user journey, and a proposed design flow. Your job is to challenge my assumptions, point out gaps in user trust, and ask tough questions about ethical implications.”

This prompt helps designers use AI as a critical thinking partner—someone to push back, stress-test, and sharpen your ideas. It’s a reminder that AI is most valuable when it’s challenging your thinking, not pretending to be a user.

That’s it for now. Linda ✨