The process is not often as linear as we [designers] would like it to be, and at times we even get slightly cut out, and something comes out on the other side that wasn't really what we were expecting,
Design Mindset, Yanko Design's weekly podcast, treats the creative process as something you can actively shape rather than something that just happens to you. Each episode digs into the habits, mental models, and practical tools that move designers from tentative to decisive, from endlessly tweaking to actually shipping work. Now in its fourteenth episode, the show is starting to feel like a standing studio critique in audio form, where process and mindset get equal billing with aesthetics.
What if your best AI prompts didn't disappear into your unorganized chat history, but came back tomorrow as a reliable assistant? In this article, you'll learn how to turn one-off "aha" prompts into reusable assistants that are tailored to your audience, grounded in your knowledge, and consistent every time, saving you (and your team) from typing the same 448-word prompt ever again. No coding, just designing, and by the end, you'll have a custom AI assistant that can augment your team.
Designers at every stage - whether seasoned professionals or juniors just starting out - tend to place enormous emphasis on the final artifact. The polished app mockup. The slick responsive website. The cleverly executed logo. These artifacts feel like the fruit of our labor, and naturally, we take pride in them. A finished design is tangible. It's something you can click, hold, or admire on a screen. It feels like proof of progress and evidence that you did something real.
The topic for this article is in reality a sequel to one I wrote about in 2024 (you can read that first installment here). In that article I explained the reasons as to why the Design Process can at times be perceived as a lengthy one, and what factors influence it. I also provided some color to this topic courtesy of some products and engagements I went through in the past that are revelatory of processes that can be labeled "long" and "short". This "sequel-article" is a more succinct follow up, and I'm aiming to dispel the concept of Process as something bloated. Hopefully what I'm about to write will spark some conversations/discussions/reflections, which is ultimately what I always aim to be a catalyst of.
