From Efficiency to Imagination with Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred

About this episode

The episode discusses how AI can transform design by enabling new interaction models and encouraging designers to embrace creativity over efficiency.

AI is opening the door to a new era of design—but most teams are still focused on making their existing work faster rather than reimagining what’s possible. Lou talks with Josh Clark and Veronica Kindred about their new book, Sentient Design, and what it takes to design truly intelligent interfaces. They introduce the idea of “practical magic”—starting with bold, even impossible wishes and then working backward to create real, deliverable experiences. Rather than defaulting to chatbots and efficiency gains, they argue that AI enables entirely new interaction models, from adaptive interfaces to agents that collaborate directly within products. The conversation also explores how design systems and past UX practices lay the groundwork for this shift, while designers themselves must unlearn habits that limit creativity. Through their “sentient design sprint” and “minimum magical product” framework, Josh and Veronica offer a structured way to move from imagination to implementation. At its core, this episode is a call for designers to reclaim their role as inventors—embracing AI not just as a tool, but as a new design material for creating more responsive, dynamic, and human-centered…

People in this episode

Host: Lou

Guests: Josh Clark, Veronika Kindred

Topics covered

• AI in design
• intelligent interfaces
• design innovation
• creative processes
• adaptive interfaces
• human-centered design

Keywords

• AI
• design
• intelligent interfaces
• practical magic
• creativity
• user experience
• innovation

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Sentient Design

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