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Design Current

10 Design gems we are thankful for this year

Published 5 months ago • 1 min read

Hi friend,

This is Design Current, your go-to newsletter about user experience design.

And to those celebrating: Happy Thanksgiving! ✨

As a little gift of gratitude, we pulled together a handful of design gems our team at Koi Studios fell in love with this year. They sparked a ton of inspiration for us, and we hope they do the same for you.

Design candy

​Understand neural network visually →​

Epic visual storytelling that turns a complex topic into something truly digestible.

​Poolsuite →​

An internet radio playing dance-pop music. The year is 1997.

​Yamauchi No. 10 →​

Perhaps the coolest investment firm website out there, created by the Yamauchi family, the founders of Nintendo.

​In Common With →​

A clever site from the lighting brand In Common With. You can turn on and off the fixtures.

​Dropbox's brand system →​

We’re blown away by Dropbox’s new brand system and the site that showcases it.

​Historical tech tree →​

A visual history of tech and how it all connects, from 3 million years ago to now.

Food for thought

​Software is emotional →​

A short video about how software is an emotion-shaping medium, not just a utilitarian tool, and yes, even for B2B SaaS.

​Can better words lead to better climate action? →​

Author Becca Warner argues that if we want people to truly grasp the climate crisis, we must use sharper, more visceral language, like “heat dome” and “thirstwaves” to actually make us feel what’s at stake.

​The most valuable commodity in the world is friction →​

In a world of "solutioning", are we eliminating friction, or are we simply redistributing to those who are less privileged?

​AI psychosis →​

A phenomenon where AI induced delusional thinking. The Federal Trade Commission received 200 complaints mentioning ChatGPT between November 2022 and August 2025.

Bonus: Food (literally) for thought

​Veggie personality test →​

What kind of vegetable are you?

​The war kitchen →​

An editorial exploring culinary aesthetics and food writing.

​Medieval cookery →​

A website of medieval recipes. I'm really obsessed with this.

Thanks for reading!

Anyi & Andrea

Cofounders @ Koi Studios​

If someone forwarded this to you → join us​
If you're looking for product design help → chat with us

600 1st Ave, Ste 330 PMB 92768, Seattle, WA 98104-2246
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