Beyond the Happy Path: Josh Clark & Veronika Kindred on “Sentient Design”

Commit & Push

Host Damien Filiatrault welcomes Josh Clark and Veronika Kindred—principal and researcher at Big Medium and co-authors of the forthcoming book Sentient Design—for a cross-generational look at how AI changes product and UX. They unpack what “sentient” really means in interfaces, why defensive design matters more than ever, and how to let intelligence co-pilot the presentation layer without giving up control.

What you’ll learn

• A practical definition of sentient design: context-aware, radically adaptive, collaborative, deferential, and ambient interfaces—without implying machine consciousness.
• How Gen Z “AI-native” instincts and decades of UX experience productively clash to re-question sacred “best practices.”
• Patterns for bespoke UI: letting AI assemble trusted design-system components (e.g., Salesforce’s generative canvas) to meet intent in the moment.
• The NPC pattern: AI as a visible participant in multi-user tools (comments, cursors, suggestions) instead of a side-chat.
• Defensive design: guardrails, explainability, reversible actions, and graceful degradation—designing for failure paths when there’s no single “happy path.”
• Why LLMs excel at intent translation (driving presentation choices) but shouldn’t be your source of truth.

Memorable sound bites

• “We can create genuinely new experiences when we weave intelligence into the interface.”
• “There is no happy path anymore—so design guardrails, not just flows.”
• “Delegate decisions, don’t abdicate them—suggest, don’t impose.”
• “LLMs aren’t answer machines; they’re great at interpreting intent.”
• “When the escalator fails, it turns into stairs—your product should, too.”

Tune in for grounded tactics to add AI as a design material: smarter dashboards, safer autonomy, and collaboration patterns that keep users in control while moving faster.

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