Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems
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wolfbruening.de
Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems
@wolfbruening.de
Lead UX designer, blogger, speaker, connector of dots and bricks, casual photographer. Creating digital experiences for OTTO. Writing for @produktbezogen.de

✏️ Topics: UX Design, Design Systems, Product Discovery, eCommerce, Lego
🏠 Hamburg, Germany
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Don't compare your work to what Design Systems Teams of 15 built in 5 years and as many iterations.

Don't compare your work to cleaned up "success" stories.

Don't compare your work to stuff from completely different contexts.

Listen to your users and build the right Design System for them.
„Vibe coding is a lot like stock-picking – everyone’s blabbing about their big wins. Ask what their annual rate of return is above the S&P, and it’s a quieter conversation. This is how we end up with a firehose of AI hype, and yet zero signs of a software renaissance“

learnui.design/blog/wheres-...
Where’s the AI design renaissance?
AI design is currently overhyped · Will AI take design jobs? · What should designers focus on in light of rapidly changing AI tools?
learnui.design
November 3, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Reposted by Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems
Dass sich im Laufe der Pandemie die Lügner und die Entsolidarisierer immer stärker durchsetzen konnten, dass sie damit durchkamen, ihren Egoismus als "Freiheit" zu deklarierten und dass sie Wissenschaft "Ideologie" nennen durften, davon haben sich Deutschland und die Welt immer noch nicht erholt.
October 27, 2025 at 9:12 AM
Reposted by Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems
Now that I've done my wikipedia page post, it's time for the daily reminder …

Don't repost rage bait.
Don't repost misinformation.
Don't amplify bad people by reposting.
EVEN to dunk.

Repost what you want to see more of in the world.

If you crave engagement, post a cute animal.
October 24, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems
This hits a lot of the notes I've been shouting from the rooftops: the frictionlessness of both producing and consuming slop, and the value of labor as friction that lets us slow down and think. Rather than "unlocking creativity" it's rendering our collective creativity down into a big vat of slop.
Hi. I wrote an essay about AI slop: How it feels like an invasive species for the internet. How its boosters describe building a future that’s devoid of craft. How frictionlessness can be nihilistic & how this stuff seems to leach part of our shared humanity out of the world. I hope you'll read it.
AI’s Invasive Species
The slop is winning.
www.theatlantic.com
October 21, 2025 at 12:55 PM
„The most successful product leaders I know rarely talk about being product-led. They're too busy actually leading through their work.“

www.thedecisionstack.com/stop-saying-...
Stop Saying "Product-Led." It's Setting You Up for Failure.
Your CEO's eyes glaze over when you say 'product-led.' Here's the reframe that gets product teams the influence they actually want.
www.thedecisionstack.com
October 5, 2025 at 12:53 PM
If you tell ChatGPT to be the world’s best doctor or investment banker, keep in mind: it won’t actually become that. It’s more like an actor trying to mimic what it thinks the world’s best doctor or banker would say. So be mindful of which advice you take from an actor – unless it’s about acting.
September 10, 2025 at 8:22 AM
Only looking at how to use AI to augment the work you did in recent years won’t cut it. The change brought by AI will be so profound that it will redraw the lines between disciplines. So, how can you prepare your product org for the AI era? 👇🧵 (1/10)
September 9, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Reposted by Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems
In my experience "full stack" often means: backend dev who reluctantly does some frontend but most of the time neither really good nor efficient because she/he never thoroughly learned frontend because frontend is still looked down upon by many devs as "not real programming". ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
August 19, 2025 at 9:08 AM
Hey folks. If you want to vote for my wife‘s #therookie LEGO Ideas project do it now or it’s too late 😉 beta.ideas.lego.com/product-idea...
The Rookie - LAPD Mid-Wildshire Police Station | LEGO® Ideas
Why I built this set? I’m a huge fan of the TV show The Rookie and a passionate LEGO builder. Since 2022 (Season 4), I’ve been recreating iconic scenes from The…
beta.ideas.lego.com
August 18, 2025 at 3:54 PM
Reposted by Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems
If your timebox only allows for one iteration, then you're going to need three timeboxes: one to do it, one to learn how you fucked up, and one to redo it.
If you’re doing your work properly, you’ll do it at least 2.5 times.

The first time you build a document, project, character, sound, whatever it may be, it won’t be great. You’ll probably restart from scratch.

The second version, it’s better, but you have to re-iterate half of it.

This is normal.
July 24, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Reports are emerging of companies being silly enough to lay off designers – because of AI.

I do believe that AI will fundamentally change how we work, how we build products, and which role will do what. Still, I am convinced the companies letting go of their designers are harming themselves.

👇🧵
July 21, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Fabian, wir müssen reden. 🤣
July 18, 2025 at 3:57 PM
If you as a UX Designer are afraid that some day you will be replaced by a Product Manager using ChatGPT, sit down and learn how to replace your Product Manager with AI before that happens. 😉
June 30, 2025 at 1:07 PM
A big round of applause to all the organizers, speakers, hosts and participants of tonight’s Into Design Systems Hamburg. I had a blast and I am definitely looking forward to the next time. ❤️
June 16, 2025 at 9:35 PM
So happy I haven’t deleted my Twitter account yet. 🤣
June 5, 2025 at 8:50 PM
Reposted by Wolf Brüning 💙 Design Systems
My latest post on @OReillyMedia. Many Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs even seem to view putting people out of work as a massive opportunity. That idea is anathema to me. It’s also wrong, both morally and practically.

www.oreilly.com/radar/ai-fir...
AI First Puts Humans First
www.oreilly.com
May 28, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Hamburg! There is a new Design Systems meetup in town. Two interesting talks and hopefully lots of interesting people. June 16th, 18:30, downtown Hamburg. Register here: lu.ma/ids-hamburg?...
Into Design Systems at Jakala - Hamburg, Germany · Luma
Join us for an exciting Into Design Systems Meetup at the JAKALA office in Hamburg! 🎉 Agenda ⭐ Design Systems × Figma: What’s New, What’s Next?Whether you're…
lu.ma
May 15, 2025 at 11:40 AM
Spannend! "UX auf Staatsniveau: Warum der neue Koalitionsvertrag ein Wendepunkt für UX-Professionals sein könnte." germanupa.de/blog/ux-auf-...
UX auf Staatsniveau: Warum der neue Koalitionsvertrag ein Wendepunkt für UX-Professionals sein könnte | German UPA
germanupa.de
April 14, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Aus aktuellem Anlass eine Begriffsklärung, um peinliche Missverständnisse zu vermeiden:

Fröhliche Menschen marschieren durch die Straßen: Fasching

Fiese Menschen marschieren durch die Straßen: Faschos

Fiese Menschen klauen einem die Zugangsdaten: Phishing

Bitte. Danke.
March 3, 2025 at 8:31 AM
The kids are alright.
(In Hamburg)
Hamburger Schule.
March 2, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Respekt, ChatGPT! 👍
March 2, 2025 at 5:59 PM
Heute verstehe ich endlich, wie das mit dem antifaschistischen Schutzwall gemeint war. 😕
February 24, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Die 4,97% der BSW sind doch wohl ein Honeypot für Russische Einflussnahme. Mal gucken, wo noch ganz plötzlich Säcke voller Wahlzettel auftauchen.

(Ansonsten von meiner Seite ganz viel Schadenfreude für deren Ergebnis parallel zum sehr guten Abschneiden der Linken)
February 24, 2025 at 9:01 AM
At first I read „world of ironic dinosaurs“ and boy, would I have gone to see that.
February 15, 2025 at 9:16 AM