17 August 2026 | Issue #131 In this issue: Canva wants you to upgrade to access some tools you used to use Claude watermarks its output What if you have bad taste? Design process for a book Aeto iOS app coming soon My favorite design quote! Canva users are unhappy and they're not being quiet about it. Users have been using Canva to create QR codes for years. Now, the QR code comes with a big, fat Canva icon in the middle. If you want to remove that, you have to upgrade your plan again to the...
10 days ago • 7 min read
10 August 2026 | Issue #130 In this issue: If you're outsourcing to AI, you can't cut this role Avoid creating bad AI graphics How to Prevent Good Ideas from Getting Killed Internally Time Tracking and Product Management – Now on the Web and Chrome Design Quote of the Week The Creative Director Isn't the Role AI Is Coming For Somewhere in a budget review this quarter, someone is looking at what AI tools can generate and asking a version of the same question: do we still need a creative...
17 days ago • 4 min read
3 August 2026 | Issue #129 In this issue: I Made the Ugliest AI Visual I Could. On Purpose. Is it Time to Update Your Brand Graphics? Not so Fast How to Prevent Good Ideas from Getting Killed Internally Time Tracking and Product Management – Now on the Web and Chrome Design Quote of the Week I Made the Ugliest AI Visual I Could. On Purpose. Recently I built an infographic so bad it should come with a warning label. Glowy gradients everywhere, zero hierarchy, no focal point, and enough...
24 days ago • 5 min read
14 June 2026 | Issue #128 In this issue: 10 Truths Separating Forgettable Content from Content That Converts Designers are out Ahead on AI. The Rest of Us Can Learn from Them. Recent Podcast Appearance Design Quote of the Week The Visual Marketing Cheat Sheet: 10 truths separating forgettable content from content that converts If you think great design is just a matter of “creativity,” you’re missing the mechanics of how people actually process information. Great design is a system. When you...
2 months ago • 3 min read
01 June 2026 | Issue #127 In this issue: Step-by-step process for creating an animated social image using (mostly) AI Aeto: get paid for the hours you work Recent Podcast Appearance Design Quote of the Week Happy Pride Month! This past week, I was working on a social graphic for my company, Intellect, to celebrate Pride Month. So, I thought you might like to hear the process I went through to take a still image and animate it exactly the way I wanted. I'll go through the process and explain...
3 months ago • 4 min read
26 May 2026 | Issue #126 In this issue: What Is a Visual Value Proposition (And Why Most Brands Don't Have One) Aeto: project management and timers for freelancers Recent Podcast Appearance Design Quote of the Week What Is a Visual Value Proposition (And Why Most Brands Don't Have One) Most marketers can write a value proposition. You fill in the blanks: we help [audience] achieve [outcome] by [method]. That part is well-trodden territory. The harder question is whether you can show it. A...
3 months ago • 4 min read
10 May 2026 | Issue #125 In this issue: The Rise of [job]+ Aeto: The End of the Unbilled Hour Recent Podcast Appearance Design Quote of the Week The Rise of [job]+ Your job title is just the beginning. Everywhere I look, I see people lamenting this awful job market. People are losing their jobs and it's taking a lot longer to find a new one. As someone who looked for a job after the dot com bust, and the housing crisis, and the “efficiency” era we’re now in, I know how hard it is. One of the...
4 months ago • 3 min read
04 May 2026 | Issue #124 In this issue: The Marketing Engineer Project Management for Freelancers and Consultants 8 Tips to Cut Your Claude Token Usage Oscars Addresses New AI Eligibility Rules Institutional AI vs. Individual AI Review of The Visual Marketer Design Quote of the Week Going from T-Shaped to V-Shaped with AI Five years ago, I gave a talk at Keene State College about whether it's better to be a specialist or a generalist. My answer: it depends on where you are in your career and...
4 months ago • 4 min read
16 March 2025 | Issue #123 In this issue: You Accept From AI What You'd Never Accept From a Person Google Can Recreate Your Landing Pages and Bypass Your Site Three Types of Designers Your Team Needs Marketing Jobs Most at Risk Design Quote of the Week You're Compromising With AI. You Just Don't Know It. Most people push harder on the humans they work with than on the AI they use every day. Think about that for a second. You'll send a design back three times. You'll redline a document,...
5 months ago • 3 min read