Weekly Wrap-Up: Just Life

My Week Wrapped Up

• Inspiring things I’ve seen

• Music that makes me smile

• Tools I’ve used

• Quotes I love

• Things I’ve written

Inspiring Things I’ve Seen 

An Event on Future of Design

Alright, folks, let me give you the TL;DR on this Sydney UX meetup that had us all buzzing about the future of design (and jobs, AI, and, well, humanity). Picture this: a packed room of job seekers—a mix of marketing grads, former architects, and app developers—all trying to crack the UX code. The panel? A dream team: a bootcamp founder (aka me), a design educator, an agency owner, and a professor from UTS, all ready to dish out some hard truths and bold predictions.

Key takeaway #1: Automation’s coming in hot—85 million jobs gone by 2025. Sounds grim, but hold up, because 97 million new ones are popping up, too. It's like musical chairs, but with careers. The game plan? Learn how to work with AI, not against it. It’s your new design BFF, helping you automate the boring stuff so you can focus on being a creative genius.

Key takeaway #2: The days of “Figma wiz = hired” are over. Companies want more. They’re after those juicy hybrid skills—critical thinking, business smarts, and strategic problem-solving. In other words, they want designers who know the why behind their designs, not just the how.

Key takeaway #3: Portfolios are still king, but the one-size-fits-all “start-to-finish” project isn’t always the way. Some companies want specialists. Others want generalists. The trick? Tailor your portfolio to show how you contribute to team wins, not just solo stardom.

Oh, and about the “AI-proof” design areas? Sorry, no silver bullet here. Some roles like graphic and basic UI design might feel the AI squeeze, but the real secret is adaptability. Stay curious, learn fast, and lean into collaboration.

We wrapped it up with a big question: What are you most excited about in 2025? For me, it’s seeing how design thinking evolves to tackle the big stuff—sustainability, social justice, and the kind of innovation that makes a real impact.

So, here’s the challenge: UX in 2025? It’s anyone’s guess. But here’s what we know—you’ve got to be ready to learn, to adapt, and to embrace a future where your best job hasn’t even been invented yet. Exciting, right? Let’s go build it.

An enlightening TED Talk given by Gaya Herrington

Never enough —> Enough for all

In this Ted Talk, Gaya Herrington, an econometrics-oriented sustainability researcher puts forward the idea that economic growth will come to an end; either through “design” or “disaster”. She suggests that only if we shift our perspective (as humankind) from ‘growth at all costs’ to ‘growth to avoid costs’, we will be able to design the world to bring ultimate stability and avoid a disastrous end to growth. 

Instead of mindlessly chasing vast developments and expansions putting all the most precious currency available to us (the nature, the environment and the community) at risk, we should look forward to first giving enough to all and eradicating inequalities. Because with these economic worms, growth in any form will be fatal to the economy. 

Music that makes me smile

• West Coast by Lana Del Rey; incredible layered track. It’s inspiration for my second fiction, book (waiting for print samples for book 1 & 2) I’ve added a fun twist, inspired by Lana herself. She’ll either sue me or request to collaborate, I’m hoping for the latter.

• When we all fall asleep, where do we go? by Billie Eilish, incredible track, a question that I’ve pondered in another story :)

Tools I’ve used

This is not sponsored - it’s an exploration of what’s out there.

1. Meshy AI - A ridiculously good AI tool that can generate good MVP 3D models from a single 2D image source; its ability to ‘guess’ the rest of the scene is mind-blowing. Early days yet, but this one is promising. Again, back to the books I’m writing, my team and I are exploring ways we might be able to use such tools for experiments - it’s not good enough yet to warrant a commitment … I’ll keep an eye out.

   I uploaded a portrait photo of me, and the results were (a) I’m slimmer and (b) gaunt. Not great for ego :)

   

2. Slite- AI tool to simplify, modify, beautify and enhance your documents.

Quotes I love

1. “We are the cosmos made conscious and life is the means by which the universe understands itself.” – Brian Cox
   

2. “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt
   

3. “The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and science.” – Albert Einstein
   

4. “The wound is the place where the Light enters you.” – Rumi
   

5. “I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.” – Carl Jung

Things I’ve written

An extract of a poem I wrote recently- 

It’s called “Echoes of Regret in Stone”
Rows of stone, silent witness
To lives lived, dreams unfulfilled
Whispers of regret on the wind

Forty echoes, stories untold
Courage faltered, truth untold
Time ticked away, joy unsold
Feelings bottled, words unspoken

Connections faded, promises broken
Work consumed, life unlived
Present moments, unappreciated
Happiness denied, self-unkind

Challenges dodged, growth left behind
World unexplored, sights unseen …

Read the whole poem here.

What we’re working on

🧞Your wish is my command