Why a top designer just quit design
Hey—it’s Matt.
Suff’s piece below hit a nerve I’ve been circling for a while.
With Figma’s IPO this week, design looks alive and well. But the ground is shifting. Interfaces are turning into commodities. AI-assisted coding is killing off the craft layer—pixels, polish, and prototypes—in favor of systems, agents, and orchestration.
What felt like core skills now feels brittle. As creative founders, our edge depends on seeing these shifts early—and moving with them.
Have a great weekend and enjoy Edition #115.
MOST INTERESTING
Why I’m leaving design
Suff Syed walks away from a 15-year design career—not from burnout, but because the discipline itself no longer holds leverage or autonomy in the AI era. Prompt engineering and system shaping are now the skills driving real impact. Designers, take note.
TOOLS + RESOURCES
Pattrn
Pattrn blends daily journaling with behavioral analytics. Less tracking for tracking’s sake, more genuine habit formation. Think of it as quietly upgrading your OS.
Monotype
Minimal, nostalgic, and friction-free. Monotype strips writing back to basics, prioritizing focus and flow over feature overload.
IdeaBrowser
Real-world problems, validated by trends and data. No more “solutions in search of a problem.” Skip ideation paralysis and build something people actually need.
INSIGHTS + OBSERVATIONS
We Live Like Royalty and Don’t Even Know It
Most people today enjoy comforts—instant communication, climate control—beyond what historical elites could dream of. Yet, ironically, modern comforts rarely register as wealth because our benchmark has shifted from survival to status.
Meta’s Personal Superintelligence Is Betting Big on Deep Personalization
Meta’s vision for “personal superintelligence” learns from you continuously through always-on devices like smart glasses. It’s a platform shift away from passive assistants to AI systems that proactively shape your day.
How to Build a Profitable MicroSaaS Business
MicroSaaS isn’t just hype—it’s quietly creating sustainable, niche-focused success stories. This guide is for the bootstrappers and solo founders ready to turn validated ideas into reliable monthly income.
CLOSING THOUGHT
Yes, the tools are changing. But they’re always changing. Don’t wait for permission to re-skill, reframe, or rebuild.
You’re not behind—you’re still so, so early.
Cheers,
Matt Downey
digitalnative.news • 𝕏 • Threads
P.S. Forward this to a friend who ships faster than they tweet.
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MY STACK
These are the tools that help me run my business every day. I happily pay for each of them—they’re worth every penny. I hope you find them useful, too.
- Beehiiv → How I send this newsletter every week. 10/10 would recommend.
- Brain.fm → How I kickstart my productivity and find flow-state.
- Mercury → The best business banking I’ve ever used.
- Screen Studio → How I record engaging videos.
- Typefully → How I post content to my socials.
- Kick → My bookkeeping on auto-pilot.