Murphy Trueman
@murphytrueman.bsky.social
Diablo & design systems. Product designer. Probably building custom keebs, playing with cars, or crying over Boston sports.
https://bento.me/murphytrueman
https://bento.me/murphytrueman
The world feels awfully empty once baseball season ends.
November 6, 2025 at 10:11 AM
The world feels awfully empty once baseball season ends.
Figma’s Schema 2025 quietly set the stage for something big – design systems that talk back.
The groundwork for bidirectional systems: ones that learn from code instead of just dictating to it.
👉 Check out the my latest article: open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#DesignSystems
The groundwork for bidirectional systems: ones that learn from code instead of just dictating to it.
👉 Check out the my latest article: open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#DesignSystems
The bidirectional design system: When code talks back to design
How AI is shifting design systems from one-way handoffs to continuous, two-way sync – and what that means for how we build products
open.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Figma’s Schema 2025 quietly set the stage for something big – design systems that talk back.
The groundwork for bidirectional systems: ones that learn from code instead of just dictating to it.
👉 Check out the my latest article: open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#DesignSystems
The groundwork for bidirectional systems: ones that learn from code instead of just dictating to it.
👉 Check out the my latest article: open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#DesignSystems
Reposted by Murphy Trueman
Like any other product, design systems need testing and iteration.
Our Design System Audit help your team see whether your system is accelerating delivery, or quietly slowing it down.
💡 Find out more: www.thinkmill.com.au/services/des...
#DesignSystems
Our Design System Audit help your team see whether your system is accelerating delivery, or quietly slowing it down.
💡 Find out more: www.thinkmill.com.au/services/des...
#DesignSystems
Design System Audit | Improve product velocity and alignment – Thinkmill
Understand how your design system supports – or slows – product delivery. Thinkmill’s Design System Audits reveal gaps between design and engineering, helping teams align, scale, and deliver faster wi...
www.thinkmill.com.au
October 22, 2025 at 10:56 PM
Like any other product, design systems need testing and iteration.
Our Design System Audit help your team see whether your system is accelerating delivery, or quietly slowing it down.
💡 Find out more: www.thinkmill.com.au/services/des...
#DesignSystems
Our Design System Audit help your team see whether your system is accelerating delivery, or quietly slowing it down.
💡 Find out more: www.thinkmill.com.au/services/des...
#DesignSystems
If changing a token feels scary, you’ve already built infrastructure.
My latest post breaks down what that means – and how to make it safe again.
Your tokens have become infrastructure →
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
My latest post breaks down what that means – and how to make it safe again.
Your tokens have become infrastructure →
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
Your tokens have become infrastructure
How to build systems that survive scale, governance, and AI
open.substack.com
October 23, 2025 at 1:09 AM
If changing a token feels scary, you’ve already built infrastructure.
My latest post breaks down what that means – and how to make it safe again.
Your tokens have become infrastructure →
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
My latest post breaks down what that means – and how to make it safe again.
Your tokens have become infrastructure →
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
Love seeing this shared. Accessibility is most powerful when it’s treated as part of how we build, not what we fix after.
Accessibility isn’t just about compliance.
It’s about making products work for everyone and everything, with fixes that teams can actually maintain.
Take your first step towards better A11y with our new offering: Accessibility Audits
👉 www.thinkmill.com.au/services/acc...
It’s about making products work for everyone and everything, with fixes that teams can actually maintain.
Take your first step towards better A11y with our new offering: Accessibility Audits
👉 www.thinkmill.com.au/services/acc...
Accessibility Audit | Unlock reach and reduce compliance risk – Thinkmill
Identify accessibility risks and opportunities across your product ecosystem. Thinkmill’s accessibility audits help you reduce risk, align with WCAG and EAA standards, and deliver better experiences f...
www.thinkmill.com.au
October 16, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Love seeing this shared. Accessibility is most powerful when it’s treated as part of how we build, not what we fix after.
Accessibility problems are often system problems. Fixing them means understanding where they start – in patterns, components, and process.
This is how we help teams make accessibility scale at @thinkmill.com.au
If that’s what you’re aiming for, let’s talk about how to get there 🫶
This is how we help teams make accessibility scale at @thinkmill.com.au
If that’s what you’re aiming for, let’s talk about how to get there 🫶
Most accessibility audits stop at what’s broken – not why, or where to fix it.
Our Accessibility Audits give practical guidance tied to your environment – code, components, and patterns – so you can fix problems once, at their core.
💡Find out more
www.thinkmill.com.au/services/acc...
Our Accessibility Audits give practical guidance tied to your environment – code, components, and patterns – so you can fix problems once, at their core.
💡Find out more
www.thinkmill.com.au/services/acc...
Accessibility Audit | Unlock reach and reduce compliance risk – Thinkmill
Identify accessibility risks and opportunities across your product ecosystem. Thinkmill’s accessibility audits help you reduce risk, align with WCAG and EAA standards, and deliver better experiences f...
www.thinkmill.com.au
October 15, 2025 at 12:46 AM
Accessibility problems are often system problems. Fixing them means understanding where they start – in patterns, components, and process.
This is how we help teams make accessibility scale at @thinkmill.com.au
If that’s what you’re aiming for, let’s talk about how to get there 🫶
This is how we help teams make accessibility scale at @thinkmill.com.au
If that’s what you’re aiming for, let’s talk about how to get there 🫶
Reposted by Murphy Trueman
Design tokens promised to simplify design systems, but for many teams, they've become the biggest source of complexity instead.
Check out "When design tokens become technical debt" by @murphytrueman.bsky.social, now on the @zeroheight.com blog: zeroheight.com/blog/when-de...
Check out "When design tokens become technical debt" by @murphytrueman.bsky.social, now on the @zeroheight.com blog: zeroheight.com/blog/when-de...
October 7, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Design tokens promised to simplify design systems, but for many teams, they've become the biggest source of complexity instead.
Check out "When design tokens become technical debt" by @murphytrueman.bsky.social, now on the @zeroheight.com blog: zeroheight.com/blog/when-de...
Check out "When design tokens become technical debt" by @murphytrueman.bsky.social, now on the @zeroheight.com blog: zeroheight.com/blog/when-de...
Design tokens promised to simplify your design system. For many teams, they've become the biggest source of complexity instead.
Check out my latest piece for @zeroheight.com on how this happens, and what you can do about it: zeroheight.com/blog/when-de...
Check out my latest piece for @zeroheight.com on how this happens, and what you can do about it: zeroheight.com/blog/when-de...
When design tokens become technical debt - zeroheight
zeroheight.com
October 7, 2025 at 1:51 AM
Design tokens promised to simplify your design system. For many teams, they've become the biggest source of complexity instead.
Check out my latest piece for @zeroheight.com on how this happens, and what you can do about it: zeroheight.com/blog/when-de...
Check out my latest piece for @zeroheight.com on how this happens, and what you can do about it: zeroheight.com/blog/when-de...
Things are really starting to come together 🥹
August 17, 2025 at 4:46 AM
Things are really starting to come together 🥹
The teams with highest adoption rates aren't necessarily building the best components. They're building the clearest processes for collaboration.
🔗 I explored this idea further in my latest article:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
🔗 I explored this idea further in my latest article:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
We're still terrible at the people parts
Why teams with perfect systems still build around them instead
open.substack.com
August 14, 2025 at 8:24 PM
The teams with highest adoption rates aren't necessarily building the best components. They're building the clearest processes for collaboration.
🔗 I explored this idea further in my latest article:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
🔗 I explored this idea further in my latest article:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
Praying for good weather so I can work on my car over the weekend 😩
I’m dying for some garage time.
I’m dying for some garage time.
August 1, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Praying for good weather so I can work on my car over the weekend 😩
I’m dying for some garage time.
I’m dying for some garage time.
Reposted by Murphy Trueman
Most systems start with components.
The strategic ones grow into infrastructure.
My latest article explores the shift toward systems that actually scale product decisions, not just pixels.
👇 Check it out below:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
The strategic ones grow into infrastructure.
My latest article explores the shift toward systems that actually scale product decisions, not just pixels.
👇 Check it out below:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
From component library to product engine
How design systems evolve to drive strategy and scale business intent
open.substack.com
July 28, 2025 at 11:50 PM
Most systems start with components.
The strategic ones grow into infrastructure.
My latest article explores the shift toward systems that actually scale product decisions, not just pixels.
👇 Check it out below:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
The strategic ones grow into infrastructure.
My latest article explores the shift toward systems that actually scale product decisions, not just pixels.
👇 Check it out below:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
Some of the most useful early conversations I’ve had on projects came from something deceptively simple: mapping out the app’s routes, together.
No wireframes. No flows. Just: what are the pages, and what happens on them?
It’s a simple move that sets the tone for everything that follows.
No wireframes. No flows. Just: what are the pages, and what happens on them?
It’s a simple move that sets the tone for everything that follows.
Before wireframes. Before prototypes. Before tickets.
We start with Route Mapping – our go-to method for aligning teams early by co-designing structure as a shared UX blueprint.
Learn how in our open playbook 📖
www.thinkmill.com.au/method/playb...
We start with Route Mapping – our go-to method for aligning teams early by co-designing structure as a shared UX blueprint.
Learn how in our open playbook 📖
www.thinkmill.com.au/method/playb...
July 25, 2025 at 12:11 AM
Some of the most useful early conversations I’ve had on projects came from something deceptively simple: mapping out the app’s routes, together.
No wireframes. No flows. Just: what are the pages, and what happens on them?
It’s a simple move that sets the tone for everything that follows.
No wireframes. No flows. Just: what are the pages, and what happens on them?
It’s a simple move that sets the tone for everything that follows.
Some of the best product calls I’ve ever made started with something someone almost didn’t say.
Design ethnography helps you notice the stuff that matters, but hides in plain sight.
Great write-up from the team at @thinkmill.com.au 💡
Design ethnography helps you notice the stuff that matters, but hides in plain sight.
Great write-up from the team at @thinkmill.com.au 💡
Sometimes the biggest insight isn’t in the data – it’s in what someone says off-hand while trying to get a task done.
Design Ethnography helps us tune into context, habits, and friction as they surface.
We walk through it in our Playbook 👇
www.thinkmill.com.au/method/playb...
Design Ethnography helps us tune into context, habits, and friction as they surface.
We walk through it in our Playbook 👇
www.thinkmill.com.au/method/playb...
July 17, 2025 at 11:47 PM
Some of the best product calls I’ve ever made started with something someone almost didn’t say.
Design ethnography helps you notice the stuff that matters, but hides in plain sight.
Great write-up from the team at @thinkmill.com.au 💡
Design ethnography helps you notice the stuff that matters, but hides in plain sight.
Great write-up from the team at @thinkmill.com.au 💡
AI isn’t just in your toolbox, it’s in the org chart.
Designers aren’t being replaced, but the role is getting rewritten in real time.
This is what I’m seeing from inside the work.
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#Design #AI #Product
Designers aren’t being replaced, but the role is getting rewritten in real time.
This is what I’m seeing from inside the work.
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#Design #AI #Product
Signals from the top
What CEOs, research, and your own workflow are already telling you about design’s AI future
open.substack.com
July 14, 2025 at 11:49 PM
AI isn’t just in your toolbox, it’s in the org chart.
Designers aren’t being replaced, but the role is getting rewritten in real time.
This is what I’m seeing from inside the work.
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#Design #AI #Product
Designers aren’t being replaced, but the role is getting rewritten in real time.
This is what I’m seeing from inside the work.
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#Design #AI #Product
One thing I love about working at @thinkmill.com.au is that frameworks like DACI aren’t just theory – we actually use them, tweak them and make them part of how we move fast and thoughtfully.
Shoutout to the team for continuing to turn complex challenges into repeatable practices 🫶
Shoutout to the team for continuing to turn complex challenges into repeatable practices 🫶
Some decisions feel impossible to land.
Too many voices, conflicting priorities.
That’s when we reach for DACI – a decision-making framework we picked up from working with Atlassian.
It’s part of our Playbook 👇
www.thinkmill.com.au/method/playb...
Too many voices, conflicting priorities.
That’s when we reach for DACI – a decision-making framework we picked up from working with Atlassian.
It’s part of our Playbook 👇
www.thinkmill.com.au/method/playb...
July 11, 2025 at 1:59 AM
One thing I love about working at @thinkmill.com.au is that frameworks like DACI aren’t just theory – we actually use them, tweak them and make them part of how we move fast and thoughtfully.
Shoutout to the team for continuing to turn complex challenges into repeatable practices 🫶
Shoutout to the team for continuing to turn complex challenges into repeatable practices 🫶
Rebuilding a 180SX taught me more about design, legacy, and systems than I expected.
🛠 New post:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
🛠 New post:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
What a car taught me about control, collapse, and creative repair
How rebuilding a Nissan 180SX changed everything I thought I knew about design
open.substack.com
June 30, 2025 at 10:23 PM
Rebuilding a 180SX taught me more about design, legacy, and systems than I expected.
🛠 New post:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
🛠 New post:
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
A great example of the kind of work we love at @thinkmill.com.au – long-term, cross-functional, and collaborative.
Design systems, infra, and team support with AnywhereWorks.
👉 Read the full case study here: thinkmill.com.au/work/anywher...
Design systems, infra, and team support with AnywhereWorks.
👉 Read the full case study here: thinkmill.com.au/work/anywher...
June 27, 2025 at 5:01 AM
A great example of the kind of work we love at @thinkmill.com.au – long-term, cross-functional, and collaborative.
Design systems, infra, and team support with AnywhereWorks.
👉 Read the full case study here: thinkmill.com.au/work/anywher...
Design systems, infra, and team support with AnywhereWorks.
👉 Read the full case study here: thinkmill.com.au/work/anywher...
AI doesn’t fix your design system – it reflects it.
With Figma’s MCP server, structure is the interface.
If your system’s messy, your output will be too.
👇 Read: The hidden cost of design system entropy
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
With Figma’s MCP server, structure is the interface.
If your system’s messy, your output will be too.
👇 Read: The hidden cost of design system entropy
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
The hidden cost of design system entropy
How AI tools surface every shortcut and inconsistency
open.substack.com
June 19, 2025 at 10:27 PM
AI doesn’t fix your design system – it reflects it.
With Figma’s MCP server, structure is the interface.
If your system’s messy, your output will be too.
👇 Read: The hidden cost of design system entropy
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
With Figma’s MCP server, structure is the interface.
If your system’s messy, your output will be too.
👇 Read: The hidden cost of design system entropy
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
Your next design system user won’t be human.
Agents are already interpreting components and assembling UIs like your system is an API.
❌ Ambiguous names
❌ Visual-only intent
❌ Undocumented conventions
Structure scales. Vibes don’t.
🧠 Read → open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#designsystems #ai
Agents are already interpreting components and assembling UIs like your system is an API.
❌ Ambiguous names
❌ Visual-only intent
❌ Undocumented conventions
Structure scales. Vibes don’t.
🧠 Read → open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#designsystems #ai
Your next design system user is an agent
How to structure components for machine readability, semantic clarity, and long-term resilience
open.substack.com
June 3, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Your next design system user won’t be human.
Agents are already interpreting components and assembling UIs like your system is an API.
❌ Ambiguous names
❌ Visual-only intent
❌ Undocumented conventions
Structure scales. Vibes don’t.
🧠 Read → open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#designsystems #ai
Agents are already interpreting components and assembling UIs like your system is an API.
❌ Ambiguous names
❌ Visual-only intent
❌ Undocumented conventions
Structure scales. Vibes don’t.
🧠 Read → open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
#designsystems #ai
Me hitting publish on another silly, little blog post, and hoping the algorithm will put it in front of the right people.
a man is standing on the beach looking at his phone
ALT: a man is standing on the beach looking at his phone
media.tenor.com
May 26, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Me hitting publish on another silly, little blog post, and hoping the algorithm will put it in front of the right people.
Modern design is dynamic, data-driven, and deeply connected to APIs — and that’s why designers should understand JSON.
You don’t need to code. But reading API responses + design tokens makes collaboration faster and your work more resilient.
📝 New post
You don’t need to code. But reading API responses + design tokens makes collaboration faster and your work more resilient.
📝 New post
JSON demystified: A field guide for designers
How understanding data structure improves your design process
open.substack.com
May 20, 2025 at 2:20 AM
Modern design is dynamic, data-driven, and deeply connected to APIs — and that’s why designers should understand JSON.
You don’t need to code. But reading API responses + design tokens makes collaboration faster and your work more resilient.
📝 New post
You don’t need to code. But reading API responses + design tokens makes collaboration faster and your work more resilient.
📝 New post
🧩 New article: Why your UI components break when they meet real API data – and what to do about it.
I share 5 systematic approaches I've used to create interfaces that thrive (not just survive) when faced with messy production data.
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
I share 5 systematic approaches I've used to create interfaces that thrive (not just survive) when faced with messy production data.
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
Why your components break in production (and how to fix it)
How to build design systems that gracefully handle the complexities of real-world API data
open.substack.com
April 28, 2025 at 11:03 PM
🧩 New article: Why your UI components break when they meet real API data – and what to do about it.
I share 5 systematic approaches I've used to create interfaces that thrive (not just survive) when faced with messy production data.
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
I share 5 systematic approaches I've used to create interfaces that thrive (not just survive) when faced with messy production data.
open.substack.com/pub/murphytr...
I’ve posted a new article on #designsystems and the psychology behind their success.
Give it a read and subscribe to my newsletter! murphytrueman.substack.com/p/the-compon...
Give it a read and subscribe to my newsletter! murphytrueman.substack.com/p/the-compon...
The component adoption gap: Understanding the psychology behind design system success
Why some elements become team favourites, while others gather digital dust –and what you can do about it.
murphytrueman.substack.com
April 8, 2025 at 7:28 AM
I’ve posted a new article on #designsystems and the psychology behind their success.
Give it a read and subscribe to my newsletter! murphytrueman.substack.com/p/the-compon...
Give it a read and subscribe to my newsletter! murphytrueman.substack.com/p/the-compon...