Weekly Links — 30th September 2026

🕰️ Ten Minute Focus

• What the Bible got right about AI — The article compares AI development to biblical narratives about humans reaching for godlike power and the resulting divine restrictions.
• In the age of AI, the UX field survives on leaders who cultivate juniors — The piece argues that design leaders must continue hiring and mentoring juniors to sustain the field’s future judgment capabilities.

Branding

• Rock, paper, scissors: Why paper is the ultimate luxury technology — The article discusses how paper persists as a luxury medium despite historical predictions that digital technologies would replace it.
• McLaren evolves its identity with a wordmark inspired by Bruce McLaren’s family garage — McLaren updates its visual identity with a wordmark inspired by Bruce McLaren’s family garage while retaining existing brand elements.
• Five or fewer people? Your entry is $275, not $385 — The DIELINE Awards 2027 Independent tier costs $275 for teams of five or fewer, with entries closing September 30.
• Wu Xinlin’s editorial illustrations show solitude in a whole new light — Chinese illustrator Wu Xinlin’s personal editorial illustration series highlights the complex nature of human solitude.
• The Chase’s co-founder Ben Casey steps back as Squad’s founders take the reins — Manchester consultancy The Chase appoints Squad’s founders to lead the business as co-founder Ben Casey steps back.

Design

• Image to ASCII converter — A browser-based tool converts images to ASCII art locally, allowing users to export results as TXT, PNG, SVG, or Markdown.
• The Tie-break — The source describes playing and exploring the new New Balance x Miu Miu collection featuring Coco Gauff.
• The origins, side B — birth of the un-cool — The source discusses how software adoption followed crises of complexity and continued to grow.
• Where does your work go when the tool shuts down? — The source notes that a quarter of the last decade’s web pages have vanished from sites still online.
• Caring vs. knowing — The source presents thoughts on how to DIY sustainably.
• What is a screen made of? — The article discusses how flat design correctly identified screens are not leather but incorrectly assumed this meant screens have no material properties.

Motion

• Motionographer’s 20th celebrations continue this Saturday. There’s still time to join us. — General admission tickets remain available for Motionographer’s 20th anniversary party at Mamacita, following the rapid sale of free party tickets.
• Motion Plus Design New York — The film introduces speakers for Motion Plus Design New York, including Mehdi Hadi, Saad Moosajee, and Spenser Dickerson, scheduled for September 26.
• U.S. Against the World | Good Secrets

AI

• Kiss Branding crafts mature new identity for enterprise AI platform AutogenAI — Kiss Branding developed a new visual identity and brand system for AutogenAI, an enterprise platform for bid and proposal writers.
• Think local — The author discusses using large language models thoughtfully, citing Robin Sloan’s rules for building and naming AI-assisted applications.
• When Should You Disclose AI Use? The PACED Framework — The article explains how audience, context, and the degree of AI use affect reactions to disclosing AI assistance in content.
• Delegative UX: Designing the agent experience — The source lists three roles of context for AI agents, describes AI as boring technology, and discusses image previews.

Misc

• Make Money to Make More Websites — John Gruber argues that prioritizing movie creation over profit fundamentally defines a company differently than prioritizing profit over creation.
• The iPhone Model Hall of Fame — The author lists their personal iPhone Hall of Fame picks, including the original iPhone, iPhone 4, iPhone X, iPhone 12 Mini, and iPod Touch.
• Banjos in the Woods — The author shares short video clips of songs performed during a camping trip with Adam.
• Knife Sharpening — The author states that a HORL®3 knife sharpener failed to sharpen their dull Zwilling J.A. Henckels knives.
• Bass — The author purchased a standup bass via Facebook Marketplace and discusses local online sales platforms.
• The summer of ’26 — The author reflects on summer travel to Spain, Greece, Italy, and Ireland, noting the end of the season.

Nerd Alert

• The Outline: Tartan reimagined, Guinness’ toucan, and a new inhaler – 21/09/2026 — The Outline covers Barbour’s tartan exhibition, an ex-Nike designer’s chocolate milk inspiration, and a student allergy project.
• loading.dev — loading.dev is a lightweight library providing beautiful loading indicators for React applications.
• Navigating change as a designer (video) — The source covers metaphors, loading states, and twelve CSS features usable without a build step.
• Filling in the last row of a responsive grid — The source explains how to add filler cells to CSS grids that have borders.
• How Many Dudes? — Butterscotch Shenanigans released How Many Dudes?, a game where players build teams to fight in arenas.