des

¡Hi! My name is Des and I am a des•igner who ships impact through craftsmanship & code.

[Sweat Equity Podcast @onlysweatequity]

The $2 Billion Copywriting Secret Behind The Most Successful Ad Ever w/ @thesamparr

In this episode, Sam Parr, co-founder of The Hustle and one of the sharpest minds in media and marketing, breaks down the art of copywriting. From classic headline formulas to the slippery slope technique, Sam shares exactly how great copy is crafted. If you struggle writing your scripts, this one will change the way you think about words.

[des @alternoon]

@thekitze Dirk Gently meets Preacher meets The Cather in The Rye 😉

[des @alternoon]

https://t.co/X5NaTaAQCI

[joshpuckett @joshpuckett]

I love how Jony and Flavio predicted the precise, immediate response we're seeing to the Luce.

It's almost like they're good designers who know a thing or two about design!

Clip from @cleoabram's interview, a must watch.

[des @alternoon]

https://t.co/r8qzf4s1HN

[des @alternoon]

It looks amazing. Jony Ive - amazing

[Mike Matas @mike_matas]

Introducing Ferrari Luce, the first electric Ferrari designed by LoveFrom.

[des @alternoon]

This is why Nikita is The Bier and X is becoming a great place again.

[Nikita Bier @nikitabier]

@Rainmaker1973 After sourcing 2759 videos from @ViralRushX over the last 6 months, you're now circumventing attribution by simply cropping out his watermark?

You cannot get more shameless than this. This is your last day in the creator program.

[des @alternoon]

This is super smart!

[Spotify @Spotify]

Introducing Reserved. Concert tickets held just for you based on your listening 🎫 Stay tuned – Reserved tickets are coming to Premium users in the US.

[Andreas Storm @avstorm]

The way Airbnb plays with its UI in these release videos is on another level.

[Evil Rabbit @evilrabbit_]

This.

[des @alternoon]

@RyanHoliday Beautiful packaging for a beautiful series.

[des @alternoon]

Design at its best

[Elon Musk @elonmusk]

Just tap the Grok logo

[des @alternoon]

@jameygannon February 2024? Yes

[des @alternoon]

@edgaralandough Slow down, trust the process.

Focus. Patience. Grit.

Be kind to others and especially to yourself.

Read. Read. Read.

Wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance

[des @alternoon]

This is spot on!

[Nick @nickjsheriff]

Jack, you’re not just right, you’re pointing at something most founders refuse to see: branding decisions driven by corporate ego dressed up as “strategy,” with zero risk mitigation underneath, that’s not opinion. That’s data science folks!

So let me prove the negative impact right here, right now, because the replies telling you to pipe down are personal takes from people who are not trying to be definitive about the impact here.

The Duolingo comparison falls apart on contact. Duolingo has a mascot, a character. Spotify has a design mark that’s more close to an emblem. Those are different categories of brand asset and they fail in different ways tied to impact when you modify them.

Here’s what’s actually happening: brand dilution!

Not IP infringement, dilution is the measurable erosion of a brand identity’s ability to be the sole signal for a product.

Apple has one of the lowest dilution scores in the world after 45 years because almost nothing carrying their visual identity comes from anyone but Apple in Cupertino.

See the mark, trust the source! That’s branding 101.

Spotify just torched that principle, and the consequence is “leakage”, users skipping the update and searching for the trade dress they actually recognize.

The beneficiaries? Third-party Spotify clients that look more like “real” Spotify than Spotify does.

They’re growing organically right now, on Spotify’s dime, because Spotify handed them the visual equity for free.

And for what? Customers didn’t ask for this. The fix wasn’t to poll them either, that just gets you qualitative speculation.

The right move is what Snapchat did for premium users: let people swap the icon themselves. Ship optionality, not edicts driven by your kidneys!

But that requires rigor over reflex, empathy over ego, and a quantitative respect for brand affinity. The problem is incentives, none of that is what gets rewarded in Silicon Valley in 2026. Ego and intellectual laziness are. This is a textbook case of both.

@jappleby Please keep making content like this. Ignore the noise and remember what Da Vinci said:

He categorized humanity into three groups based on perception and awareness:

Those who see:
Individuals with natural intuition, curiosity, and foresight who observe and understand the world around them.

Those who see when they are shown: People who can comprehend concepts and recognize truths, but require guidance, explanation, or a demonstration to do so.

Those who do not see:
Individuals who remain closed-minded, lack awareness, or are unwilling or unable to learn, regardless of whether things are pointed out to them.

Don’t engage with those who have eyes but no sight, the ones who refuse to truly see. They will drain you endlessly.

You have sight, and you’re a seeker. That fills me with hope man.

[des @alternoon]

@sdw CIV VII 🫀

[des @alternoon]

All your questions, answered w/ @ethan_graphite

[Webflow @webflow]

“95% of ChatGPT citations were updated in the last 10 months.”

That’s one of the insights Ethan Smith, CEO of Graphite, shared in our latest Answer Engine AMA on how brands are approaching visibility in AI search.

In the full session, Ethan breaks down:
→ How AI search is evolving into a real growth channel
→ Where teams are misallocating effort today
→ Which tactics are actually influencing citation and visibility in tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini
→ How to think about AEO alongside SEO and paid

Watch the full on-demand session here: https://t.co/trZNHsgavg

[des @alternoon]

https://t.co/iXoTUG9MYp