Design Table Podcast

Nick Groeneveld, Tyler White
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  • Design
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Get a seat at the table and build the design career you want. This podcast is for designers looking to break in, level up, and take control of their careers—whether you're freelancing, climbing the corporate ladder, or just trying to get noticed. Every two weeks, we dive into career fundamentals, design best practices, and the hottest topics in the design community.

  1. 4d ago

    Do you have to use AI to get a design job? (our listener asks)

    One of our listeners wrote us while being stuck between two things: loving the product design craft and needing a job badly. He likes doing the actual product design work by hand, because that's how he learns and how he gets better. That's how he finds solutions. Yet, every job posting wants you to be "AI native" with a ton of "AI experience." So what do you do? Fake it? Give in? Hold the line and risk staying unemployed? Or something in between? In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick answer a real question from a listener: a recent grad, currently out of work, torn between using AI because "everyone else is" and sticking to the hands-on process he actually loves. They dig into where AI helps, where it doesn't, and why using it doesn't have to mean losing your craft. They talk through the difference between using AI in a way that touches your pixels and AI that just clears the annoying stuff out of the way. You know, things like meeting notes, research, and transcripts. Tyler shares how he feeds meeting transcripts straight into Claude to turn messy feedback into a task list. Nick shares how a Figma plugin took a redraw job from hours to minutes, while every design decision stayed within his control. The conversation gets personal, too. Both tell stories on early day jobs they had to do just to get started and why the early, unglamorous grind is not something to skip. In this episode you'll learn:🔸 Where AI actually helps your job search, and where it doesn't🔸 How to use AI without losing your craft or your taste🔸 Why chasing every LinkedIn hot take wastes your time🔸 How to turn meeting transcripts into a real task list with AI🔸 Why the "grind" phase of your career isn't optional🔸 How to find your own path instead of copying someone else's Chapters:0:00 - A listener's dilemma: love the craft, need a job1:07 - AI is a tool, not a threat to your craft3:31 - LinkedIn isn't the job — stop treating it like gospel6:44 - Why a minimum level of AI use is non-negotiable now8:02 - Use AI for the boring stuff, not the pixels8:48 - How a Figma plugin turned hours into seconds14:05 - Feeding meeting transcripts into Claude for real output15:44 - Are you actually having fun as a designer?18:24 - Stop copying someone else's playbook20:04 - Learn to eat shit for a while (Pepsi factory & mail route stories)25:14 - The Darwin trick: fit in first, be yourself later28:37 - Bottom line: use it. It's fine. Subscribe to The Design Table Podcasthttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/subscribe Resources to help you level up your design career:Get your portfolio and career strategy reviewed with a Design Table Audithttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/design-table-audit Download the Product Design Blueprinthttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/product-design-blueprint Join our UX and product design communityhttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/ux-and-product-design-community In need of support? Take a look at our resourceshttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/learn More about Tyler and NickTyler: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/tyler-whiteNick: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/nick-groeneveld

  2. Jul 8

    Is Everything You Design Already Copied?

    Every product. designer has had this thought at some point: "Someone's already built this. Am I even doing anything original?" It creeps in during a login screen, an onboarding flow, a pricing page, and it makes you second guess whether you're actually adding value or just repeating and copying something else. In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick tackle a listener question: is it a problem if your designs look like things that already exist? They dig into why copying isn't the same as stealing, why juniors should absolutely study and replicate great work before they try to reinvent it, and why chasing "never been done before" is a fantasy that doesn't hold up in practice. From there the conversation gets very practical. Nick is deep in pricing page work for multiple clients right now, and the two of them break down the psychology behind free trials, forced plan selection, upsells, and smart business strategy becomes a dark pattern. They also get into why product design best practices exist for a reason, why users don't like unfamiliar patterns even when they're technically better, and how uniqueness in product design shows up underneath the surface, in the business logic, the user base, and the tiny decisions you can't see on a screenshot. The episode also covers Dribbble and pattern recognition, why copying UI without understanding UX gets you in trouble with engineers fast, and how prototyping is changing the feedback loop between designers and developers, including a story about a "faster horse" redesign that only became a real breakthrough once a developer challenged the whole premise. Tyler closes it out with a surprising story about connecting Claude, GitHub, and a Mixpanel AI agent to diagnose a UX problem in an afternoon instead of a multi sprint investigation, and how it completely changed the scope of what needed to be fixed. In this episode you'll learn:🔸 Why copying is a normal and healthy part of learning design🔸 Why "nothing new" isn't actually a problem worth panicking over🔸 The psychology behind pricing pages, free trials, and forced choice🔸 Where the line sits between a smart upsell and a dark pattern🔸 Why best practices exist and when it's actually safe to break them🔸 How to use Dribbble for inspiration without copying blind🔸 Why prototyping is closing the gap between designers and developers🔸 How connecting AI tools to real product data can shrink weeks of work into hours🔸 Why the real uniqueness in design lives beneath the surface Chapters:0:00 - Is it bad if your design looks like something else?1:06 - Building a better mousetrap2:47 - Does this apply to designers at every level?4:02 - Why juniors should copy to learn5:48 - Real example: designing pricing pages right now8:00 - One button vs. forcing a plan choice9:59 - Using forced choice to measure intent11:34 - Giving full access during a free trial as an upsell14:02 - Dark pattern or just smart business?15:30 - Full circle: why pricing pages all look the same16:55 - The iceberg model of design17:50 - Why "200 high-converting templates" packs don't actually work20:47 - A quick word from the Design Table community21:39 - Explaining what you do for a living to non-designers24:06 - Using Dribbble for pattern recognition, not one-to-one copying25:33 - Prototyping and the designer-developer feedback loop26:50 - The faster horse problem and the developer's breakthrough idea28:53 - Killing main character syndrome in collaboration31:16 - AI win of the week: Claude, GitHub, and Mixpanel solving a UX mystery36:04 - Wrap up Subscribe to The Design Table Podcasthttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/subscribe Resources to help you level up your design career: Get your portfolio and career strategy reviewed with a Design Table Audithttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/design-table-audit Download the Product Design Blueprinthttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/product-design-blueprint Join our UX and product design communityhttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/ux-and-product-design-community In need of support? Take a look at our resourceshttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/learn More about Tyler and NickTyler: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/tyler-whiteNick: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/nick-groeneveld

  3. Jul 1

    You Are Not Behind: A Mental Health Check for Product Designers in 2026

    Every new product design AI tool feels like a deadline. You have to use it or you're left behind. That's what you read on social media at least. In this episode, Tyler and Nick have perhaps their most important talk of the Design Table Podcast so far: the anxiety of constant updates, managers demanding you become a '10x product designer', and how the product design community's mental health under a lot of pressure. They discuss what's causing burnout for product designers on the job hunt, comparison culture, the disappearing joy of problem-solving, and why "you're not behind" might be the most important sentence a designer hears all year. What we cover in this episode:🔸 Why chasing every AI update is partly self-inflicted (and social media's role in it)🔸 How to reset your baseline instead of just shipping faster🔸 Why constant context-switching between AI tasks is spiking anxiety🔸 What gets lost when problem-solving disappears from the job🔸 Why "just prompt it" misunderstands what AI can actually replace🔸 How to say 'no' to unrealistic AI mandates without losing your job🔸 The catch-22 of job hunting as an "AI-first" designer🔸 Why 'build it and they will come' fails regardless of how you use AI🔸 A real message of hope if you're burned out or stuck right now You don't have to master every tool the moment it drops. You have to solve the right problem, ship something people actually use, and give yourself permission to take a break. That's the product design job. Always has been. SUBSCRIBE TO THE DESIGN TABLEhttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/subscribe LEVEL UP YOUR DESIGN CAREERGet your portfolio and career reviewed: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/design-table-audit Join our UX and product design community: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/ux-and-product-design-community Download the Product Design Blueprint: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/product-design-blueprint All resources in one place: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/learn MORE ABOUT TYLER AND NICKTyler: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/tyler-whiteNick: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/nick-groeneveld

  4. Jun 24

    "Go Fix It Yourself" (The Best Thing A Senior Developer Told Me)

    Product design is becoming more collaborative, more technical, and a lot harder to control. In this episode, Tyler and Nick talk about what happens when your design work stops being “yours” and starts becoming a shared thing across designers, developers, PMs, stakeholders, AI tools, and codebases. We get into the emotional side of design work too. Why product designers get protective, why feedback can feel personal, and why letting go might be one of the most important skills designers need to build. What we cover in this episode:🔸 Why designers get emotionally attached to their work🔸 How to collaborate without losing control of the design quality🔸 Why developer and PM ideas should not automatically feel threatening🔸 The value of visual QA and why polish is not just “nice to have”🔸 How design documentation helps protect decisions when teams move fast🔸 Why designers need to think in skills, not just roles🔸 What merge conflicts taught Nick about becoming more technical🔸 How AI helps, but still cannot replace communication and decision-making🔸 Why over-communicating might be the most underrated design skill right now The big theme: collaboration is not about everyone doing your job. It is about knowing when to let people contribute, when to bring the designer back in, and how to protect quality without protecting your ego. SUBSCRIBE TO THE DESIGN TABLEhttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/subscribe LEVEL UP YOUR DESIGN CAREERGet your portfolio and career reviewed:https://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/design-table-audit Join our UX and product design community:https://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/ux-and-product-design-community Download the Product Design Blueprint:https://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/product-design-blueprint All resources in one place:https://www.designtablepodcast.com/learn MORE ABOUT TYLER AND NICKTyler: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/tyler-whiteNick: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/nick-groeneveld

  5. Jun 17

    Everyone's Switching Design Tools - I'm Not. Here's Why

    Product design workflows are changing fast and nobody has a clean answer for what to do about it. In our first ever live episode, Tyler (in-house at a fintech SaaS company) and Nick (freelance product designer working with clients across the world) get honest about what modern design actually looks like right now. Neither of us have touched a wireframe in months. We talked about why. And then we get a comment from a live viewer that made us thinking again about our choices. What we cover in this episode:🔸 Why wireframing is disappearing and what is replacing it🔸 The real difference between in-house AI pressure and the freelance reality🔸 Tool fatigue: when does adding new tools actually make you slower?🔸 Nick's minimalist stack (Figma + Claude, nothing else) vs Tyler's workflow (ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, GitHub)🔸 How design thinking holds up when clients have no patience for the process🔸 AI changing the speed of design without changing the hard part🔸 Whether it is still actually fun to be a designer right now This was our first live episode. Thirty comments, four reposts, and a lot of real questions answered in real time. SUBSCRIBE TO THE DESIGN TABLEhttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/subscribe LEVEL UP YOUR DESIGN CAREERGet your portfolio and career reviewed: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/design-table-auditJoin our UX and product design community (use code LIVE20 for 20% off forever): https://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/ux-and-product-design-community Download the Product Design Blueprint:https://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/product-design-blueprintAll resources in one place: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/learn MORE ABOUT TYLER AND NICKTyler: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/tyler-whiteNick: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/nick-groeneveld

  6. Jun 10

    I Spent a Month Trying to Quit Figma. It Failed.

    Everywhere we look, product designers are sick and tired of AI this, AI that. It feels like every day, there is a new tool, a new workflow, a new “Figma is dead” post, a new vibe coding demo, and another person telling designers they are either 'cooked', obsolete, or about to become '10x'. Reality is completely different. So try and relax! In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Tyler and Nick talk about whether AI is making product design more fun, less fun, or just more overwhelming. They get into the current AI chaos around product design, vibe coding, designers touching code, Figma, Claude, Cursor, transcript-driven workflows, AI bloat, and the blurry line between prototypes, production, and things that only look real but secretly are not. Nick shares his first real experiments with vibe coding, including using Claude to make an interactive prototype he could not easily show in Figma. Tyler shares why he has been trying to skip Figma, why that keeps falling apart, and why polished product design still needs taste, craft, spacing, typography, and all the tiny pixel-level decisions AI does not magically understand yet. They also discuss the return of the builder-designer, why more designers may need to understand code again, and how AI is changing expectations around prototyping, collaboration, and product development. The conversation explores the emotional side of AI too. The fear that craft is disappearing. The weirdness of everyone creating prototypes. The source-of-truth problem. The mental load of keeping up. And why the most useful AI workflows might not be flashy demos, but boring things like transcripts, summaries, prompts, and turning messy meeting feedback into actual next steps. This episode is about staying useful in a design world that keeps changing, without losing your taste, your craft, or your mind because someone on LinkedIn discovered a new tool before breakfast. In this episode you’ll learn:🔸 Why designers should stop chasing every new AI tool🔸 How to decide whether AI actually helps your workflow🔸 Why vibe coding can be useful for exploring ideas🔸 Where AI-generated prototypes create confusion🔸 Why designers touching code still need to understand developer thinking🔸 Why Figma is not dead just because someone made a shiny demo🔸 How transcripts can improve prompts, workflows, and follow-up work🔸 Why AI bloat can make communication feel less human🔸 Why product design still needs taste, polish, and craft Chapters:0:00 - Trying to escape Figma with AI for a month0:57 - Don't fall for the hype — filter by your own workflow3:58 - Roles are flattening and the field moves 3x faster6:12 - Going back to the generalist skillset7:41 - The hidden gap: designers need a developer's mindset9:35 - When everyone prototypes, what's a designer worth?11:17 - Is design still fun in the AI wave?16:53 - "I vibe coded a thing today"21:33 - Five terrible AI ideas that led to the right one23:27 - Transcripts as context: the real AI unlock30:43 - AI-written messages kill human connection34:07 - Quick-fire: will AI take your role?35:25 - Stay positive, think for yourself Subscribe to The Design Table Podcasthttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/subscribe Resources to help you level up your design career: Get your portfolio and career strategy reviewed with a Design Table Audithttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/design-table-audit Download the Product Design Blueprinthttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/product-design-blueprint Join our UX and product design communityhttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/ux-and-product-design-community In need of support? Take a look at our resourceshttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/learn More about Tyler and NickTyler: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/tyler-white\Nick: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/nick-groeneveld

  7. Jun 3

    Product Design Perfectionism: Why 97 Out of a 100 Is Not Good Enough

    Two episodes of telling their career stories, and Nick and Tyler kept noticing the same thing: the lessons that actually mattered came from the rejections, the steps backward, and the ego traps nobody warns you about. In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Nick and Tyler sit down for a third session to digest their two previous story episodes and pull out what they actually learned. No new hero's journey. Just two designers comparing notes on the messy, non-linear reality of building a career that lasts. They get into luck and whether you can create your own, why eight months of rejection letters might mean it's time to step back instead of sending out 500 more applications, and how Tyler stumbled into web design through a newspaper ad for a trade program he wasn't even looking for. Nick talks through coaching two people at very different stages, and the hard call of telling someone their skills aren't ready yet instead of just fixing their CV. Tyler shares the ADPList portfolio-review strategy, treating mentor feedback like research data, and why comparing yourself to a 20k-follower influencer is the fastest way to feel like you're never good enough. They also dig into the "I'll show them" drive that pushed both of them forward after getting let go, why it's a double-edged sword, and how it shows up as the 97-out-of-100 perfectionism trap (the Loom recorded 25 times, the Lighthouse score that ruined an afternoon). And they close on the mental tax of staying current in an industry that reinvents itself every five minutes, especially now with AI. This episode is about surviving the messy middle of a design career, knowing when to step back to leap forward, and remembering that your only real competition is your past self. In this episode you'll learn:🔸 Why luck in a design career is mostly preparation meeting opportunity🔸 When to stop applying and go back to sharpen your craft instead🔸 How to use free mentor sessions as portfolio research🔸 Why comparing yourself to influencers quietly wrecks your confidence🔸 How the "I'll show them" mindset can fuel you and burn you🔸 The perfectionism trap of chasing 100 when 97 is already done🔸 Why hating your old work is actually a sign you're improving🔸 The mental tax of staying current as AI reshapes design ⏱ Chapters00:00 What's the difference between 97 and 100?00:43 Why a third recap session01:32 Is a design career all about luck?02:09 Creating your own luck after 8 months of rejection03:12 The hero's journey and the bright-eyed junior myth03:50 Taking a step back to leap forward04:38 Handing out demo reels and getting rejected by mail05:14 When 300 applications get you nowhere06:10 How Tyler chose what to go back and study06:44 The trade school stigma and the newspaper ad08:13 Are they ready, or just presenting it wrong?08:57 The danger of improving your portfolio forever09:47 Replicating designers you admire to find your style10:20 Progress you can't see in the moment11:26 The day-to-day of a demotivated job hunt11:36 Using free mentors as portfolio research12:45 Coaching two people at very different stages13:59 The hard call: skills first, applications later14:54 "I'm not good at math" vs "not good yet"15:28 Compare yourself to your past self, not influencers17:03 Reopening an old file and cleaning up your own mess18:15 Hating your old work means you're getting better18:43 Resilience after being let go early on19:21 Shame, rent, and the reasons you keep going20:53 The volatility and thrill of startup design21:23 Being told you can't build your own thing22:30 The itch to build your own thing23:12 The "I'll show them" superpower and its double edge24:55 The 97-out-of-100 Lighthouse trap26:53 Recording the same Loom 25 times28:47 The performance tax of staying up to date29:49 Why design feels harder than ever with AI30:18 Everyone's journey is different30:44 Get all the help you can: reviews, community, mentors Subscribe to The Design Table Podcasthttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/subscribe Resources to help you level up your design career: Get your portfolio and career strategy reviewed with a Design Table Audithttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/design-table-audit Download the Product Design Blueprinthttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/product-design-blueprint Join our UX and product design communityhttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/ux-and-product-design-community In need of support? Take a look at our resourceshttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/learn More about Tyler and NickTyler: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/tyler-white\Nick: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/nick-groeneveld

  8. May 27

    I Got Let Go Twice. Here’s How I Still Built a 16-Year Design Career

    Most product designers want to have the clean career story. First, you go to school. You build a portfolio and get hired. Then you get promoted and become a senior product designer. Post something painfully inspirational on LinkedIn about “the journey” and you're there. Cute, but Tyler’s path was not that. It started with trying to get into animation. He soon realised the job market did not care about his art school confidence, so he had to go back to learn graphic design, web design, and coding landing pages. After, he started mailing resumes like it was the stone age and slowly figuring out how to turn all those skills into an actual product design career. So… how do you build a long-term design career when the industry keeps changing every five minutes? In this episode of The Design Table Podcast, Nick interviews Tyler about his 16-year journey in design, from animation school and trade programs to web design, e-commerce, agency work, AI products, design leadership, layoffs, and eventually becoming a principal product designer. Tyler shares what he learned from being a designer who could code before that was cool, asking for raises, leaving jobs when growth stalled, getting let go twice in one year, spotting red flags in companies, and finding a role where mentorship, product strategy, and modern design work finally came together. We also get into AI, vibe coding, designers opening pull requests, why the builder-designer might be making a comeback, and why the core thinking behind product design still matters even when the tools change. This episode is about surviving the messy middle of a design career, staying useful as the industry shifts, and not letting one bad job, one layoff, or one weird CEO turn your career into a smoking pile of career anxiety. In this episode you’ll learn:🔸 How Tyler accidentally moved from animation into web design🔸 Why early career confidence can disappear fast in the real job market🔸 How coding helped Tyler stand out as a designer🔸 Why staying current matters more than clinging to one process🔸 How to ask for raises when you can actually back it up🔸 What layoffs taught Tyler about career risk🔸 How to spot red flags before joining a company🔸 Why AI and code are changing the product design role again ⏱ Chapters00:00 Why the design industry feels unstable right now02:00 Tyler’s accidental start in design04:30 When art school confidence meets the job market06:20 Learning graphic design, web design, and code08:00 Why old skills still show up later in your career10:11 Going into monk mode to get better12:13 Landing the first internship14:06 Applying for the first real design job16:15 Negotiating salary before knowing what you’re worth19:16 Struggling in the first job21:14 Becoming the only designer23:44 Designers who code and the builder-designer comeback25:39 Leaving a job to keep growing29:38 Taking a pay cut to learn something new32:18 Spotting company red flags34:38 Moving from web designer to UI/UX designer36:23 Agency work, AI, and design leadership40:30 Asking for a $15,000 raise43:03 Fighting for user research44:21 Becoming a solo product designer47:00 Building trust with engineering48:30 Getting let go after four years51:54 Updating the portfolio after a layoff54:04 Joining a sinking ship58:21 Getting let go twice in one year59:19 Finding green flags in the next role01:01:05 Why designers may need to touch code again01:03:59 What designers should do to stay relevant01:06:23 Why your only real competition is your past self Subscribe to The Design Table Podcasthttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/subscribe Resources to help you level up your design career: Get your portfolio and career strategy reviewed with a Design Table Audithttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/design-table-audit Download the Product Design Blueprinthttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/product-design-blueprint Join our UX and product design communityhttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/products/ux-and-product-design-community In need of support? Take a look at our resourceshttps://www.designtablepodcast.com/learn More about Tyler and NickTyler: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/tyler-whiteNick: https://www.designtablepodcast.com/hosts/nick-groeneveld

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About

Get a seat at the table and build the design career you want. This podcast is for designers looking to break in, level up, and take control of their careers—whether you're freelancing, climbing the corporate ladder, or just trying to get noticed. Every two weeks, we dive into career fundamentals, design best practices, and the hottest topics in the design community.

Information

  • Creator
    Nick Groeneveld, Tyler White
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    54
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Nick Groeneveld, Tyler White
  • Show Website
    Design Table Podcast

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