Dave Snyder (NYC)
@davesnyder.bsky.social
Musings on design, tech and culture. Partner and Head of Design + Creative at Siberia, Formerly Head of Design at Slice 🍕 / Twitter, UENO, Chief Creative Officer at Firstborn x Dentsu
From a year ago. Quite prescient. open.substack.com/pub/davidjsn...
The Wizards, the Prophets, and the Accelerationist Divide: Our Future Technocracy
Originally published February 2025
open.substack.com
January 5, 2026 at 1:39 PM
From a year ago. Quite prescient. open.substack.com/pub/davidjsn...
Comfort with not knowing” is no longer a virtue in Design. AI doesn’t “know” and answers anyway. And we share it.
What matters now is the refusal of fake knowing. That refusal costs speed, status, and certainty.
Expertise is knowing when orientation is premature.
What matters now is the refusal of fake knowing. That refusal costs speed, status, and certainty.
Expertise is knowing when orientation is premature.
December 30, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Comfort with not knowing” is no longer a virtue in Design. AI doesn’t “know” and answers anyway. And we share it.
What matters now is the refusal of fake knowing. That refusal costs speed, status, and certainty.
Expertise is knowing when orientation is premature.
What matters now is the refusal of fake knowing. That refusal costs speed, status, and certainty.
Expertise is knowing when orientation is premature.
A culture that can’t tolerate being laughed at can’t tolerate being wrong.
December 29, 2025 at 6:12 PM
A culture that can’t tolerate being laughed at can’t tolerate being wrong.
We’ve become a memetic monoculture where replication outpaces meaning.
December 16, 2025 at 2:02 PM
We’ve become a memetic monoculture where replication outpaces meaning.
You don’t see cool quarterly earnings call posters very often (ever). Not sure who made these but very bueno. @quartr.com
December 3, 2025 at 9:14 PM
You don’t see cool quarterly earnings call posters very often (ever). Not sure who made these but very bueno. @quartr.com
“LinkedIn is down. What are we to do?” Said no one ever.
December 3, 2025 at 3:07 PM
“LinkedIn is down. What are we to do?” Said no one ever.
Very cool realtime webGL visualization objectiveunclear.com/airloom.html
Air Loom - 3D Flight Tracker
Real-time 3D visualization of aircraft flight paths. Watch live flights with stunning ribbon trails across the sky.
objectiveunclear.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Very cool realtime webGL visualization objectiveunclear.com/airloom.html
If design is strategy made visible, decency is ethics made measurable.
October 28, 2025 at 10:33 PM
If design is strategy made visible, decency is ethics made measurable.
Stop playing janitor in someone else’s disaster. Power doesn’t reward competence—it rewards a narrative. Write yours before someone else does. Ignore everything else. 💡
#fridayprovocation
#fridayprovocation
October 17, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Stop playing janitor in someone else’s disaster. Power doesn’t reward competence—it rewards a narrative. Write yours before someone else does. Ignore everything else. 💡
#fridayprovocation
#fridayprovocation
The light just now. Bueno.
October 16, 2025 at 5:50 PM
The light just now. Bueno.
👀
“The smartest design move isn’t chasing trends, it’s planting the tree and letting time do the work,” writes Dave Snyder. “Trees don’t pay off tomorrow. They pay off in a decade. They compound quietly, making everything around them better…” [designobserver.com]
October 14, 2025 at 5:35 PM
👀
Whoa! Thanks for the feature.
“The smartest design move isn’t chasing trends, it’s planting the tree and letting time do the work,” writes Dave Snyder. “Trees don’t pay off tomorrow. They pay off in a decade. They compound quietly, making everything around them better…” [designobserver.com]
October 14, 2025 at 5:08 PM
Whoa! Thanks for the feature.
Reposted by Dave Snyder (NYC)
Good design isn’t about adding more. It’s about knowing what not to build. @davesnyder.bsky.social argues for restraint: solve the one core problem, put in the craft, and let time and user behavior do the work. Read the full story:
The compound interest of design: what not to build - DesignObserver
Veteran designer Dave Snyder says the secret to lasting products isn’t hype or clever features. It’s restraint, craft, and solving one core problem so well that the benefits compound over time.
designobserver.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:15 PM
Good design isn’t about adding more. It’s about knowing what not to build. @davesnyder.bsky.social argues for restraint: solve the one core problem, put in the craft, and let time and user behavior do the work. Read the full story:
The goal isn’t to go viral — it’s to be impossible to replace.
October 7, 2025 at 9:38 PM
The goal isn’t to go viral — it’s to be impossible to replace.
Wrote an article for @designobserver.com on this idea I call “the compound interest of design” which is all about knowing what NOT to build. And that is hard. designobserver.com/the-compound...
The compound interest of design: what not to build - DesignObserver
Veteran designer Dave Snyder says the secret to lasting products isn’t hype or clever features. It’s restraint, craft, and solving one core problem so well that the benefits compound over time.
designobserver.com
October 7, 2025 at 4:12 PM
Wrote an article for @designobserver.com on this idea I call “the compound interest of design” which is all about knowing what NOT to build. And that is hard. designobserver.com/the-compound...
Desirability outlives usability.
October 5, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Desirability outlives usability.
Evening provocation: AI won’t democratize leadership, it will calcify oligarchy.
September 24, 2025 at 12:25 AM
Evening provocation: AI won’t democratize leadership, it will calcify oligarchy.
Dune aesthetics.
July 9, 2025 at 10:49 PM
Dune aesthetics.
Haters in the comments! I guess I didn’t create anything useful. Oh well 😂 www.creativebloq.com/3d/vibe-codi...
I tried vibe-coding for the first time – here's why it should be your new superpower
What I made was weird, but it unlocked a new mindset.
www.creativebloq.com
May 20, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Haters in the comments! I guess I didn’t create anything useful. Oh well 😂 www.creativebloq.com/3d/vibe-codi...
So do you like grids?
Me:
Me:
May 3, 2025 at 1:01 PM
So do you like grids?
Me:
Me:
I’m not sure who needs to hear this but If you’re saving your paper school diploma next to a pubic hair removal device that hasn’t been touched in 10 years it’s time to let both go.
April 29, 2025 at 12:55 AM
I’m not sure who needs to hear this but If you’re saving your paper school diploma next to a pubic hair removal device that hasn’t been touched in 10 years it’s time to let both go.
They took the em dash from me.
April 24, 2025 at 8:53 PM
They took the em dash from me.