Pixels of the Week – February 2, 2025

My curated weekly-ish online newsletter, where I share interesting articles, tools, and resources I found during the week. You can expect content about UX, design, user research, accessibility & tech, but also some processes, some inspiration, sometimes books, and a couple of videos and podcasts. Also, don’t forget to, subscribe to the newsletter to get notified, you will get the weekly links directly in your mailbox, and be notified when I publish other articles.

Now: what I’m currently up to

What do you mean, we are already in February? Internet friends, I have no idea where my January month went. Honestly, between recording the accessibility videos for students that take more time than anticipated, scheduling meetups and conferences, my client work (that is currently very intense), the bad news I got this month, and issues with my flat/building, that month just went “pooof”. I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of exhausted at the moment and don’t have much time for my usual curated content. Let’s hope it calms down soon.

Still, happy to announce that my episode of Beyond UX Design is out!!! It was recorded last year, when life was less chaotic. I had such a fun time talking about the fun and challenges of working in enterprise UX with Jeremy Miller on his podcast. Listen to my episode about Enterprise UX on Spotify. Also, reach out if you have questions, happy to bring more people to the enterprise side, come, we have cookies!

Most popular content this week

I knew one day I’d have to watch powerful men burn the world down – I just didn’t expect them to be such losers (5min) “Living your life to impress other men by hating women is one of the most embarrassing things I can imagine. Looking up to any of these men for how to live your life is even sadder.” No notes, perfect summary of what is currently happening, by Rebecca Shaw

Interesting articles that caught my attention

Accessibility, UX and Design

• XR Accessibility: for people with moving disabilities (14min) a great read that shows how creative you can be, when it comes to accessibility and providing alternatives by Joe Lamyman. “We can be more creative when considering the needs of people with moving disabilities because we are not constrained by the physical environment. This allows us to offer choices and alternatives, enabling everyone to interact in ways that work best for them”
• ‘That is a laptop purchase’: Why some travelers refuse to buy flights on a phone (6min) People prefer to book flights on laptops because larger screens + keyboards reduce the likelihood of typos, make comparing options easier, and feel more suitable for expensive purchases. I’m not surprised, with the amount of deceptive patterns on airline websites, it’s easier to spot those on bigger screens.
• How to Avoid Burnout as a Designer (12min) 2025 has only started and most of the people I talk to are, already exhausted. Time for some reflection on burn out, what it looks like, what are the symptoms and a couple of ideas on how to avoid, it by Mateusz Litarowicz
• Why the ‘none of the above’ checkbox pattern worries me some interesting thoughts by Adam Silver on how GOV.UK asked people about their disability. It’s honestly a complex topic, because, indeed, some people might not consider they are disabled, even when having a health condition that falls under the umbrella “disability” term.

All the AI doom and gloom

• Who is the internet for? (10min) on an internet increasingly designed for AI and not humans, search engines prioritize AI generated contents over sending the users to the actual website. This is going to be a giant SEO mess, and a big problem for websites that rely on traffic to survive. Finding a way to survive, and offerings things that machines can’t replicate, will be the key. But, this sounds so depressing. By Christopher Butler
• The Moment AI Surpasses You—and What Comes After (8min) “When we define ourselves primarily by our mastery of specific crafts—writing, design, programming—we become vulnerable to displacement by AI. Instead, we need to recognize that our value lies in something more fundamental: our ability to understand human experience, to identify what matters, and to guide creative work toward meaningful impact.” by Patrick Morgan

Useful tools & resources

• Figma for Print: very niche Figma plugin, to help you prepare print designs of different paper sizes. I use it for my poster design for example.
• Vector Fields: Vector Fields is a generative tool that helps you play, tinker, and hack together patterns made from shapes.
• Coffee Caffeine Calculator: How Much Is Too Much?  For my coffee addicted friend: a tool to calculate how many cups of coffee a day should be your maximum.I played with the settings, and my conclusion: the more you weight, the more coffee you can drink? I’m not sure it’s a healthy conclusion, though.
• Bored of Pinterest? 8 alternatives to try for design inspiration since Pinterest is becoming a place full of *** AI generated pictures, you might be interested in finding inspiration elsewhere
• Iconic: Free, “do wtf you want with” pixel-perfect icons by James and Orman Clark, with new icons added every week.