Jacalin Ding

Natural born rebel & mis-fit / Product Design Leader & Coach / Question everything / Done is better than perfect 🚀
Top Design Course on Maven

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

Early in my career I thought making myself smaller would work.
"It's just a small usability issue"
"Can we just tighten the navigation?"
Every time. Deprioritised.
Small asks don't feel safe to executives.
Stop shrinking your asks.
Make the value impossible to ignore.

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

Designers are the ones moving the needle.
They just don't know it yet.
Every time you shift a button, rewrite a label, simplify a flow.

It's about time to start learning how to connect those dots

And when the A/B test comes back?
The data is measuring exactly what you change

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

Most designers stop at step 1.
"We built a design system." Cool. And?
There are 4 steps between your work and what the business cares about.
→ What you built
→ How it changed behaviour
→ What that did to metrics
→ How that moved revenue
Almost nobody connects all the way

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

#ux #designleadership #designstrategy #productdesign

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

Nobody told me this early enough.
Designers get cut first not because design isn't valuable.
But because of where we sit in the org.
A salesperson closes a deal → money hits the account. Direct.
A campaign runs → downloads go up. Clear.

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

The further you are from a financial outcome, the harder your value is to defend.
The fix isn't working harder.
It's getting closer to the numbers.

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

"Design shipped. Not just documented." - Figma has never been the source of truth, live product is.

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

Uncomfortable reality: if you can't translate your design decisions into business outcomes, an AI agent will do it for you. And it'll do it badly.

Because it doesn't have your context.
Don't outsource your own product intuitive and narrative. #aibuilder #productsense #design

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

Nobody cares that you used GPT5.2, NanoBanana, or Midjourney.
What hiring managers want to see: how AI changed the SHAPE of your process. #productdesign #aitransition

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

Kicks off NEXT WEEK 🥁 Claude Code for AI Product & Design Velocity .
Suitable for PM, Designers and Founders 👇🏽

#productdesign #aiproductmanager #productsense

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

The strongest signal in a design portfolio right now isn't "I used AI."

It's "I knew when not to."

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

Instead of fear - start action.
Pick an archetype route you want to level up with.
Build evidence for it in 30 days.

#aibuilder #productdesign #careerchange

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

There're 3 Designer Archetypes companies want to hire now, and 'senior who ships polished UI' is not one of them. These are👇🏽

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

Traditional senior is in pile zero. Pile zero designers are being passed over for promotions, made redundant first, and seeing offers stall at the same band they hit 3 years ago.

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

If you are seeing this gap in your organization, drop a reply.
I want to hear how you are handling the "AI mandate" vs. the reality.
Like and follow for more no-BS takes on design business strategy.

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

Your enterprise AI strategy is failing.
And it’s not because the technology isn’t ready.
It’s because your leadership team has no idea what is actually possible.
They are buying Ferraris for people who only know how to ride bicycles.

[Jacalin Ding @JacalinDing]

The companies that win won't just have the best AI.
They will have the bravest leaders who admitted they didn't know everything.
And then learned.
The rest will just have expensive subscriptions and confused employees.