Hi! My name is Jan-Paul and this is where I share all the things that inspire me.

Tips for Designers on Making it Through 2026 to the Other Side

A lot has been written about AI replacing parts of the design process, but this article by Mike Davidson is one of the better, more grounded takes I’ve read on what that actually means for product designers.

And it’s also refreshingly practical. He gives actual thoughtful tips on how to stand out as a design candidate and show companies you have the kinds of modern skills they’re looking for.

Definitely worth a read if you work in product or design:

Tips for Designers on Making it Through 2026 to the Other Side » Mike Industries

If you’re in tech and you don’t have at least a little career anxiety right now, you are either overly confident or you aren’t paying attention. Engineers are jittery. PMs are jittery. Designers and Researchers are jittery. The simplest way …

(via Ridd’s excellent 🤿 Dive Club newsletter)

Unearthing My Grandpa’s Lost Adventure Film From 1973

An Alaskan adventurer and his grandson set out to finish a 16mm film he shot more than 50 years ago.

A beautiful short documentary with incredible footage from the Alaska wilderness in 1973 and today.

Thru: Virtual Hiking App

Aaron La Lau, Product Designer at Strava, built an app that transforms your everyday movement into an epic virtual hike.

Every walk to the coffee shop, every run around the neighborhood, becomes progress on a larger journey.

Such a fun and original personal project. He also writes openly about how and why he vibe-coded it, which made it even more interesting to me.

Dialed

Four simple browser games that test your senses.

One has you recreate a color using an HSB picker. Another challenges you to match a sound frequency. There’s also one about timing, and another about remembering scale, rotation, and position.

Made by Geoff Teehan and his son Sam, using AI coding tools.

(Is everything vibe-coded now?!)

Color Memory Game — How Well Can You Remember Colors? | Dialed

We show you colors. You recreate them from memory. Challenge friends to beat your score. It's harder than you think. Play free at dialed.gg.

OHNO BOOK

I finally picked up this fantastic book from OH no Type Co. A richly illustrated deep dive into type design packed with craft, personality, and inspiration.

What I love most is how it makes type design feel playful and accessible while still going deep on process and decision-making.

Exactly the kind of energy that makes you want to go make something.

Highly recommended if you’re into typography.

The Ohno Book ☠️ OH no Type Company

OH no Type Co. Retail and custom typefaces. Life’s a thrill, fonts are chill!

Unsolicited Book Cover Designs

“I really wanted to design book covers but didn’t have any book cover work. So I hired myself to redesign my personal library.”

Love this mindset. 🥰

Jenny Volvovski’s unsolicited redesigns are wonderful, and her published work is lovely too.

Unsolicited / Jenny Volvovski

Jenny Volvovski is a designer by day and asleep by night.

(via Chris Glass)

Train Your Judgement

Design Engineer Emil Kowalski made a great little quiz where you choose which UI animation feels better — and then explains why.

Super simple idea, very well executed. (I got a few wrong… 😑)

Train Your Judgement

Settling for good enough is not good enough.

Austin Bell

Austin Bell is a photographer focused on aerial landscapes and experiential travel.

His recent project SHOOTING HOOPS documents all 2,549 outdoor basketball courts in Hong Kong.

The combination of geometry, color, density, and basketball culture is so good.

austin bell

Well hello there. I'm a photographer who captures aerial landscapes and experiential travel. My recent work is the photobook and exhibition SHOOTING HOOPS, which features all 2,549 outdoor basketball courts in Hong Kong. IG: @austinwonderland , email(at)bellaustin.com

Pica Font Management

Lots of useful features you’d expect from a modern font manager: custom collections, watch folders, and smart organization.

But this one also lets you upload a logo and preview it alongside the fonts you’re browsing, which is actually really handy.

Pica, a MacOS font management app

A better way to manage your fonts

That’s it for another edition of Inspired By
Thanks for reading,
Love,
— Jan-Paul