Ivan Bel

Founding Product Designer helping startups build from 0→1 ▪️ break down real product design decisions from early-stage startups

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

I’m a Product Designer. Over my career, I’ve helped build 50+ apps and services. Sometimes with a tiny 3-person team, sometimes inside companies with 1k+ employees.

But I’ve never done it all alone.

So, now I'm building a small payment-subscription tracking app 🙈

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

2013, Moscow
2026, New York City

[Ilya Miskov @ilyamiskov]

2021 – 2026

[Dreameryanyan @yanliudreamer]

我开始做自己的Design Skills 了🎨
今天在Demo day上分享了3个，大家都很喜欢！

先发一个我特别喜欢的：Mono-color Skill。
它不是简单地“把图片变成单色”，而是把一整套编辑设计语言 + 复古印刷质感 + 克制的视觉规则，封装成了一个可以反复调用的 Skill。

它会自动遵循这些设计原则👇
👉 默认使用一种油墨色，必要时加入克制的双色套印
👉 大量，有意识的留白
👉 强烈的Typography和编辑排版感
👉 Halftone/颗粒/套印偏移等复古印刷质感
👉 图片/文字/版式作为一个完整视觉系统重新构图

你可以直接告诉它：
“帮我做一张关于城市骑行的海报。”
也可以上传自己的照片，让它转换成这种带有复古印刷感的Editorial Visual。

它的使用场景也特别多👇
📌 活动海报 / Event Poster
输入活动主题，时间和地点，快速生成一套有设计感的宣传视觉。
📌 社交媒体 / 小红书 / X 配图
不想每次发内容都用千篇一律的 AI 图，可以快速做出有统一风格的视觉。
📌 品牌branding探索
用更克制的色彩与编辑感视觉，快速建立品牌的高级感与独特气质。
📌 音乐 / 播客 / Playlist 封面
这种单色 + Editorial的语言特别适合做带情绪和文化感的 Cover
📌 Zine / Magazine / Editorial
文章头图, 杂志跨页，都可以用同一套语言延展。
📌 个人照片再创作
直接上传自己的照片，把普通摄影转换成复古印刷海报。
📌 Moodboard / 概念探索
设计前期不用急着做完整方案，先快速生成一组视觉方向，看哪一种感觉最对。

为了保证生成效果稳定
我还加入了很多design system来约束：颜色/字体/组件/构图/风格，欢迎大家试试看，给我反馈！

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

@dariusdan My wishes are simple: just upgrade my 14 Pro with 76% battery health to an 18 Pro

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

Toggle icons have two ideas: show what you'll get, or show what you have.

I ship the first. An icon should predict the click.

Codex does the second. It works, but only bc the active button gets a filled bg, that's what tells you it's on.

Take that away and the icon is a coin flip.

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

Working a little late

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

@ilyamiskov Before I started making YT videos, I did a 30-day experiment.

Every day, I recorded myself on the iPhone, just talking about random stuff. I did it everywhere. Not just where I felt comfortable.

I went from “God, I hate looking at this face” to “You know what? It could work ”

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

@thesamirho Light for text, dark for graphics

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

@ilyamiskov Everything becomes outdated eventually. Maybe we’ll like these illustrations again in 2036, just like we did in 2016 ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

happy I switched to the @_phosphoricons library

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

@heydamir What the purpose of todo? Things that I have to do, right?

But in your case the things I’ve already done are highlighted with a bright color and a green icon, while the things that still need to be done are faded and somewhere after.

Except that, everything is so cool.

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

@shl Yes, please ✌️

[Jozef @jozef_gherman]

Why does @AnthropicAI need to watermark AI text? Why do they need ai detectors like @pangram?

Take it to its logical conclusion, they want the ability to discriminate and isolate. For what purpose? To negatively punish the end user.

AI is being used to usher in a golden age of productivity for companies. Every major corporation is rushing to integrate AI into their stack, whilst every new start up sprouts with a seed of how to utilize AI in unique ways to boost human productivity.

There is no penalty for them, save for a minor, rancorous few social media who protest anything AI related.

No, no. These systems are not being put in place to punish the corporations. It is being pushed to punish the every man. The employee who wants to leverage AI to get their work done faster, the start ups who want to scale their web copy to rank higher on search engines, the student who want to answer pointless questions quicker.

A line in the sand is being drawn, and the powers that be want to decide how YOU use AI, they want to track each instance of it. If it falls out of line with their own subjective and draconian morality, they want YOU punished for it.

I created @stealthgpt in the Spring of 2023 because I knew that days like these would come. When the gatekeepers would start lifting up the ladder they happily climbed. I predicted there would one day be a mass need for an AI everyday people could use with peace of mind that they would not be punished for using the same tools the elite uses to now build multi-billion dollar empires.

We are bootstrapped with no VC funding at all. We stand ready to meet every challenge head on to protect user’s rights to use AI without fear of looking over their shoulder. StealthGPT was built for YOU!

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

@robinspells What’s the reason for having numbers there?

[Ilya Miskov @ilyamiskov]

I still stand by what I said earlier.

You can view design as solving business problems in order to generate revenue, a discipline of utilitarianism, a sequence of actions that can be taught and fed to some AI models that will then replicate it as a result.

Personally, I think it's way more than that. It's the ultimate enabler, a means to create something extraordinary, novel and beautiful or solve problems in ways that have never been considered before. I wouldn't call design art, but it definitely has a lot in common with art and human expression, just like music or dance or acting.

Now, AI is excellent as a complimentary tool in the toolbox. It helps designers immensely already and saves a ton of time, but designers are still holding the wheel, driving the car. And companies are ever more willing to fight for top tier design talent, more than ever before.

I do think the big shift is eventually going to happen however, but it won't put an end to the design discipline in itself, but rather design will become a more exclusive craft with a high entry threshold, maybe even boutique-esque and artisanal.

Like those highly regarded self-taught or multi-generational watchmakers and bootmakers who have been doing this for a very long time, making extremely high quality products for a high price. Now, you can buy a mass-produced watch or boots made on the conveyor belt, but people still value and appreciate good quality stuff made by hands. And demand for it will never just vanish.

If anything, I feel like especially for this past decade people have been yearning for more "soulful" and true experiences, high quality products produced in the past or a handful of today's folks who care enough. And this is where design will shift in my opinion. And companies will be ready to pay the top dollar to those very few who can maintain a high skillset earned for years/decades in addition to all the AI tools that make the job more effective.

Embrace AI but don't expect it to tragically take away and cancel everything you've been doing to this point. If you are willing to keep up and be invaluable that is.

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

@DopeOblivion I like the https://t.co/4sZ5nhXKJE design on the second screen

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

@TimoBuilds_ Both. Each setup for a dif tasks, but my fav is this

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

@ilyamiskov The comments like “telling your age, without telling your age”

[Ivan Bel @lebeliv]

My Monday throughs:

It’s easier to build a simple product, not because it’s easier to build, but because it’s easier to sell.

[Wise @trikcode]

Tech has entered its funniest era.

You can spend 3 months building a product

just to discover the real job
is making short videos about the product.