If you've read How I Use AI as a Design Tool, you already know where I stand on AI in the design industry — and I have a lot more to say on the economic side of things in an upcoming post. But "it's just a tool" isn't specific enough to be useful — because what that tool does for you depends entirely on where you are in your career. A hammer means something different in the hands of someone framing a house for the first time and someone who's been building for twenty years. Same tool, completely different relationship.

One year ago today, I was laid off from Vernier Science Education. I've thought about how to write that sentence for a while. Whether to soften it, contextualize it, lead with something else. But it's the fact at the center of this post, and it deserves to just be said.

I applied for a job on Friday, May 25th. Not a design job.

After months of sending applications into what feels like a void — portfolios reviewed, maybe a screening call here and there, but rarely anything that turns into a real conversation — I made a decision.

For years, my portfolio homepage was a clean grid of client logos. No context. No story. Just names — and the assumption that visitors would connect the dots between a recognizable brand and what I actually did for them.