Guy Segal
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guysegal.com
Guy Segal
@guysegal.com
Design director working on design systems and people systems.
Can fake a decent guitar riff. Black lives matter. Trans lives matter. He/him. Views are my own.
🩷💜💙

I talk to cool design folks on my podcast http://designdowntime.com/

Toronto, ON, Canada
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Hello new followers! I'm a design director from Toronto, working on design systems.

I also host a podcast called Design Downtime, where I talk to design professionals about a hobby or interest of theirs that has nothing to do with work, because it's ok to not be about productivity 24/7!
Design Downtime
"Design Downtime" celebrates the joys of living a balanced creative life outside the pixels and wireframes. Join your host, Guy Segal, a design director, on this journey to redefine what it means to b...
designdowntime.com
Reposted by Guy Segal
Neither Saddam, nor Bashar al-Assad, nor even the Rwandan genocide killed 12,000 of their own people in just two days. But Khamenei did!
January 13, 2026 at 4:51 PM
Reposted by Guy Segal
Just one day left to get your answers in for The Question! I’m joining @bencallahan.com to explore the design system learning curve.

Do you work with design systems? Are you just starting out in design systems? We’d really love your input…

bit.ly/answerTheQue...
January 13, 2026 at 3:23 PM
Slightly diminish a band:

The vice presidents of the United States of America
Slightly diminish a band:

L6
Slightly diminish a band:

Sleat Kinney
January 11, 2026 at 12:15 AM
“Being against AI is the same as when we moved from assembly to higher level languages, in both cases you have less control over the resulting code.”

1. I don’t think you understand what deterministic programming means and why it’s good.

2. I don’t think you understand anything about computers.
January 10, 2026 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Guy Segal
Sometimes you just have to let @lopatto.bsky.social say it out loud www.theverge.com/policy/85990...
Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai are cowards
Once you’ve traded your principles for proximity to power, do you even run your own company?
www.theverge.com
January 9, 2026 at 9:29 PM
Nutella! You Black Emperor
Nutella! In the hot pot
nutella! in the moka pot
January 9, 2026 at 1:28 AM
Sitting in a small coffee shop and listening to music feels wonderful.

Opening a new board game and punching out the cardboard pieces feels wonderful.

Eating popcorn in a theatre as they turn down the lights and the movie starts feels wonderful.
In this week's newsletter we talk about things that make us feel wonderful. Not because we’re copping out, but because remembering, and holding on to things that make us feel wonderful are fuel. buttondown.com/monteiro/arc...
How to feel wonderful
New art studio taking shape! This week’s question comes to us from Kylie Gusset: What makes you feel wonderful? Ok, yeah. So… the last couple of newsletters...
buttondown.com
January 9, 2026 at 12:53 AM
And we’re back! Listen to me annoying @jmillspaysbills.bsky.social by mispronouncing New Orleans.
Jeremy Miller Loves New Orleans | Podcast Episode on RSS.com
You don’t need a Cajun accent to enjoy this episode, when Jeremy Miller tells us all about his hometown of New Orleans. He explains what makes New Orleans unique, including its complex history as a ci...
rss.com
January 8, 2026 at 1:43 PM
Robin makes awesome games! Anyone wants to build great static sites for them?
Does anyone know a good web designer who can make some really nice looking but also functional static sites? I'd like to improve the official Roottrees and Evil Trout Inc. websites, plus make one for Galley House. Contact info is on eviltrout.com! Bonus points if they're a puzzle game fan.
Evil Trout Inc.
eviltrout.com
January 6, 2026 at 5:24 PM
Watching “Werckmeister Harmonies” in a nearly empty theatre was one of the most profound film viewing experiences of my life.

RIP Béla Tarr
Werckmeister Harmonies (Opening Scene - GR-EN sub)
YouTube video by Aldimitris
youtu.be
January 6, 2026 at 2:11 PM
Silver lining of so many people publishing on substack, is that I have a more manageable list of essays to read. 🙃

(Read: please get off substack)
January 6, 2026 at 2:01 PM
Reposted by Guy Segal
A reminder to all design sytem folks - the Design System Report survey closes in less than 10 days! We've already had 88 folks fill it in, but we'd love loads more, so if you could fill it in (and then share it!) I will love you forever

report.zeroheight.com
Design System Report 2026 - brought to you by zeroheight
Help shape the future of design systems. Contribute to the longest running design system industry report. Take the survey and be the first to receive the completed report in 2026.
report.zeroheight.com
January 6, 2026 at 9:54 AM
Reposted by Guy Segal
The 2026 Reset Challenge officially kicks off tomorrow! If you’re signed up, Day 1’s email will be in your inbox at 6am ET.

If you’re not signed up, you still have time!

👉 modernleader.is/reset
2026 Manager Reset Challenge | The Modern Leader
Get quick, actionable insights to elevate your engineering leadership in just 5 minutes a week. Trusted by 6,000+ professionals.
modernleader.is
January 5, 2026 at 1:09 AM
Reposted by Guy Segal
Can you all stop using Substack already? If you were mad about Bari Weiss becoming editor-in-chief of CBS News, why are you willing to hand over actual substantial support — your time, money, and energy — to the platform that literally partnered with her in December? www.theverge.com/2024/12/17/2...
Substack partners with Bari Weiss to launch an ‘enterprise offering’ website builder.
[Link: The new media, powered by Substack | https://on.substack.com/p/the-new-media-powered-by-substack? | on.substack.com] This expansion is described as capable of supporting a “fully-fledged ...
www.theverge.com
November 28, 2025 at 8:59 PM
I hate that when people see well executed art/craft these days, they react with “it’s AI”:

“I could never reach that level of quality, therefore it must be AI”.

AI is not only stealing from artists, but also denying them their expertise.
January 4, 2026 at 8:34 PM
“While it is tempting for product professionals to think of ourselves as lone guardians of the vision, nothing could be further from the truth. The rest of our team can be our greatest allies, given the opportunity” is my favourite part of this week’s Product Picnic from @spavel.bsky.social
Your metrics are an avoidance strategy
Being able to quantify outcomes doesn't make them meaningful. Moving past artificial metrics requires building shared intention with colleagues.
productpicnic.beehiiv.com
January 4, 2026 at 8:17 PM
1. Character says on a phone call “I’ll pick you up” and hangs up without ever discussing time or place.

2. No coffee cup has liquid in it. Ever.
#FilmSky, a quick question; what is the pettiest thing you have had to be annoyed at a film? I ask because I am watching The Gift from 2000, and the main character does divination with Zener Cards, which are not the same thing as Tarot at all. Why go for a more boring looking option?
January 4, 2026 at 7:02 PM
Reposted by Guy Segal
i just found out trump can't do all that stuff cuz it's illegal
January 4, 2026 at 12:05 AM
Reposted by Guy Segal
When someone says 'punk is dead' they don't mean there are no punk bands. They mean there are no punk bands that meet their specific criteria for authentic punkness - criteria carefully constructed to exclude everything that currently exists...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xt_...
Everything Is Dead And It's All Our Fault
SaaS is dead. Punk is dead again, for approximately the four hundredth time since Sid Vicious actually died in 1979. Rock is dead. The novel is dead. Cinema ...
www.youtube.com
January 3, 2026 at 10:36 PM
I resent @emilymbender.bsky.social for making me read this AI fanboy crap /s
Not sure why this dross, dated Dec 1, seems to be circulating now (and why it didn't cross my feed a month ago), but wow what a terrible essay.

A few comments, in a short 🧵>>

bigthink.com/the-present/...
The rise of AI denialism
Computer scientist Louis Rosenberg argues that dismissing AI as a “bubble” or mere “slop” ignores the tectonic technological shift now unfolding.
bigthink.com
January 3, 2026 at 9:34 PM
The one good thing that came out of Stranger Things season 5 is that the Butthole Surfers’ Locust Abortion Technician is tending
January 2, 2026 at 11:52 PM
Reposted by Guy Segal
2026 #promosky

im veronica, im a library worker, musician, metalhead, gym rat, and gamer!

💜 pc games (kcd2, cyberpunk, msfs)
🖤 weightlifting
💜 running
🖤 playing guitar
💜 drumming
🖤 power metal, nwothm, nwobhm
💜 indie bands
🖤 cooking
💜 anti-consumption
🖤 ownership > subscriptions

↻+♡ appreciated!
January 2, 2026 at 3:03 PM
Recently, @annaecook.com tagged me in their "newsletters that regularly hit my inbox these days" post (annaecook.com/writing/2026...). I usually read updates through RSS feeds, as I'm very selective in what I allow in my inbox, but here are the newsletters that make the cut:

1/5
January 2, 2026 at 2:31 AM
This show could have been an email
January 1, 2026 at 5:21 PM
There were hearings in congress because songs said "fuck".

How many people died because they were exposed to those songs?
December 31, 2025 at 9:48 PM