Gene Ross

Visual Systems @roblox — previously @twitter @uenodotco

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@iamharaldur LOL — guess we're really.... back

[Gene Ross @generosss]

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

[Halli @iamharaldur]

Hi.

My name is Halli. I'm the founder and CEO of Ueno. First of all, I want to say yes, @uenodotco is back.

I'm kind of surprised myself. I wasn't really planning on it. I started Ueno in my apartment in Reykjavík, Iceland in 2014. And seven years later I sold it to Twitter for a lot of money.

But it wasn't the money. That's maybe hard to believe but that wasn't the reason. Business was great, I didn't need money. I needed a new challenge.
Ueno had grown over those seven years to multiple offices and over 100 people. We were working with the biggest brands in the world on some really exciting projects. But still, I felt like something was missing.

I had been on the outside for a long time, working for companies to make something and then we’d hand it off to them to nurture and grow it. I wanted to be on the inside of a big company and see things through, to see them grow.

I wanted a challenge and the biggest one I could find was Twitter. To help people make better connections, to find their communities, engage more earnestly.

Things didn't turn out like I expected. But in hindsight that's not really what matters. We did some great work and I learned more than I could have imagined. About corporate ups and downs, and about my own ups and downs. I saw things you wouldn’t believe.

And then suddenly I was free and I went and made some other things. I built a lot of wheelchair ramps, I built a restaurant and movie theater, a bank, a recording studio, a community for creative people. I started a podcast, released a visual album, acted in some movies.
I did everything I always wanted to do.

And it was great.

But after four years away from Ueno it kept picking at me.

This little itch. The feeling I get when someone comes with something that's just an idea and they want our help to see it become real. It feels like magic. Like alchemy. I missed that feeling.

And so, yes, Ueno is back.

Blammo!

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@iamharaldur @uenodotco Thank you papa 🥹🥰

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@uenodotco Hey, hi, can I be the intern again?

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@bonniekatewolf @saysAaron Because it’s fire 🔥

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@iamharaldur Now you know how I feel — my ex boss used to call me Gebe

[DANN© @DannPetty]

Our design industry is rapidly changing and so many people are about to be left behind.

AI is going to destroy design careers.

Use it as a tool for now, but sooner than you think, design careers as we know will never be the same. Some of them needed to go anyways, but it's going to take so many more.

If you think that's false, you should hear about all the ways design has changed in my 20+ year career. How many new design tools I had to learn. I was designing websites before there were iPhones. I was designing websites before we over complicated the process and needed teams of hundreds of people to make them.

We already know change is coming. Change is constant. It's unwise to think otherwise.

While some design leaders are embracing it, starting business around it, those that are not are getting further and further behind. And you won't notice it until it's too late. Then you'll rush to play catch up.

Every website and product practically looks the same already. And we're ok with that. We're becoming ok with average looking stuff. We're ok with cookie cutter (it seems). It's proven. It works. It's fast. It's super easy to replicate. AI will only make it easier.

The designers that can only replicate are going to be replicated themselves...by AI.

Designers are so lost we're now on how to be creative, they result to exhausting everyone with motion everywhere possible to counteract the identical designs in an attempt to provide some level of uniqueness.

We also have all these cliques in design now. The tool gurus. The Awwward chasers. The design founders. The design influencers. The UX-only club. The UI dreamers. The design reply guys here...and so many others.

While we all use to be one, now everyone thinks they're better than the other but the only true king might soon be AI. So maybe, just maybe, we should all become one again? Stop fighting each other every day on this website and behind each others backs. No better time than now.

AI is the new design leader.

Even our design tools are attempting to take away majority of the process by designing for us. Sure, it's a tool to take advantage of now, but what happens next? We never wanted AI to design for us. We wanted AI to help us.

Basically, use it to your advantage before it takes advantage of you.

I fear for the average designer. That job is changing and that makes me sad. Design is the greatest job in the world. Especially when you're allowed to be creative with it.

I'll never forget what one of my teachers told me in design school ages ago. They said, "Design is the best job in the world because I get to be creative all day." I've pursued my career with that mentality and I badly hope everyone reading this does too.

We have our jobs now because these companies need profit. To get profit, they need design. To get design, they need us.

But what happens when that changes?

If you're early career or the average designer out there, maybe my advise right now is to master AI before it masters you? I don't know. But don't ignore it.

And if you think I'm being fearful, dishonest, out of character, or whatever you want to call it - this is just me sharing my current thoughts just as I have done since 2009 here. If you hate it, feel free to unfollow and leave. This is my Twitter account. Not yours.

If you're building a product with AI and want to quote to me with your shoulders held back and head high, cool. We're looking at you to teach how to shift the career of the next generation designers. Not just bulldozing for profit.

I don't hate AI. I embrace it. I challenge it. It AIn't taking my job anytime soon and it won't yours if you learn to adapt when necessary.

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@NoviaStudio @brijanp @BrendonJos34209 You got this dad dude

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@ericatwell_ 😍😍

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@krispuckett Ugh man that’s scary - I hope she gets better soon!

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@j_smith 🥵

[Gene Ross @generosss]

After 3.75 years Covid has finally taken me out 😷

[Gene Ross @generosss]

I might be biased but my kid is the fucking cutest

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@bonniekatewolf @discord

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@amfonte Stressed about how complex this proto must be 🥵

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@dotconor I’ve almost bought it like 5 times do I pull the trigger?

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@mds

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@JensNielsen81 @iamharaldur Same — Hi @halli I hope you remember me — I am your son

[Gene Ross @generosss]

@NoviaStudio My camera reel is 80% kiddo 19% doggo and 1% awkward accidental selfies