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Here's what we're talking about with clients this week...

Web Vitals: Essential Metrics for Measuring Website Performance

Google’s Web Vitals initiative provides standardized metrics to help developers measure real-world user experience on websites, focusing on loading performance, interactivity, and visual stability to ensure optimal digital experiences.

Key Takeaways:

• Core Web Vitals simplify performance tracking by focusing on three critical metrics: Largest Contentful Paint (loading), First Input Delay (interactivity), and Cumulative Layout Shift (visual stability)

• Real user data drives better decisions as these metrics reflect actual visitor experiences rather than synthetic testing, enabling teams to prioritize improvements that directly impact customer satisfaction

• Business outcomes improve with better scores since Google incorporates Web Vitals into search rankings, making performance optimization essential for visibility and user retention

​Learn more about implementing Web Vitals to enhance your website’s performance and user experience at the original source.​

UX designers face AI disruption anxieties

...as automation tools rapidly evolve, but strategic adaptation and human-centered skills remain irreplaceable advantages in the evolving design landscape.

• AI amplifies, not replaces: While AI excels at generating wireframes and mockups, it lacks the empathy and contextual understanding needed to solve complex human problems that define exceptional user experiences.

• Evolution demands adaptation: Successful designers will shift from pixel-pushing to strategic thinking, focusing on research, storytelling, and stakeholder alignment—areas where human intelligence provides irreplaceable value.

• Collaboration creates opportunity: Rather than competing with AI, designers who embrace these tools as creative partners will deliver faster, more innovative solutions while maintaining the human touch that elevates digital experiences.

​Discover how UX professionals can thrive alongside AI and transform uncertainty into opportunity at Venky Myakala’s Medium blog.​

When Design Puts Surfaces Before People

Apple's new “Liquid Glass” feature transforms mundane surfaces into stunning visual displays, but raises critical questions about whether we’re prioritizing aesthetic innovation over meaningful user experiences in our rush toward an AI-enhanced future.

Key Takeaways:

• Surface-first mentality emerges: AI tools enable designers to create visually spectacular interfaces on any surface, potentially shifting focus from user needs to visual novelty—a concerning trend as complexity increases without corresponding improvements in usability.

• The empathy gap widens: As AI accelerates design capabilities, the industry risks losing sight of diverse user perspectives and accessibility needs, with automated design decisions potentially excluding communities that don’t fit predetermined patterns.

• Opportunity for intentional design: Rather than abandoning AI tools, designers can leverage them to prototype faster and test more variations, freeing time to focus on understanding root causes of user challenges and crafting genuinely helpful experiences.

Discover how the design community can balance AI innovation with human-centered principles by reading Aleksandra Smith’s full analysis at Surface-first…user-last? What is the future of UX in the age of Liquid Glass?​