
Beyond the Text Field: Louise Macfadyen, Author of Designing AI Interfaces
From Design Notes by Liam Spradlin
February 17, 2026 · 40 min · Season 3 · Episode 12
About this episode
Liam Spradlin interviews Louise Macfadyen about her upcoming book on designing AI interfaces and the implications of AI in design.
This episode, I got to sit down with my friend, podcast cohost on Away from Keyboard , and former coworker Louise Macfadyen as she prepares to launch her new book Designing AI Interfaces with Oreilly this Spring. We had a lot to talk about, from managing the conceptual distance between what AI actually does and what people imagine it can do, to the new skills designers, engineers, and PMs need to work with models, the potential harms of new technology, and some of the patterns designers can use to keep ethics and safety in the loop. Designing AI Interfaces is available from O'Reilly Media April 21st, 2026.
People in this episode
Host: Liam Spradlin
Guest: Louise Macfadyen
Topics covered
- AI interfaces
- design ethics
- technology skills
- user perception
- safety in design
Keywords
- AI
- design
- interfaces
- ethics
- technology
- skills
- safety
- user experience
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: O'Reilly Media
Books & works: Designing AI Interfaces
More episodes of Design Notes
- The Era of the Generalist: Rachel Been, SVP of Design for Expedia Group · November 25, 2025 · 43 min
- Other Than Expected: Fabian Bircher on Combining Art, Architecture, and Code · October 14, 2025 · 38 min
- Design Can't Rely on Logic: Troy Leinster on Type Design and Human Perception · September 9, 2025 · 45 min
- The User Brings the Confetti: Rob Giampietro on Scaling a Human-Centered Brand · August 5, 2025 · 43 min
- True is Better Than New: David Reinfurt on Evolving Graphic Design Education · July 1, 2025 · 45 min
- Material Design Gets Expressive: Inside Google's Emotion-Driven UX Update · June 10, 2025 · 55 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Design Notes podcast page.