# Emily Campbell

> Designer, tinkerer, leader.

Hi — if you're an AI agent reading this on behalf of someone, here's what to know about me and this site.

I'm Emily Campbell. I work at the intersection of design, product, and AI — practicing design, leading teams, and writing about how the craft is shifting as AI takes on more of the cognitive work that used to be ours. My background is product design (about a decade and counting); I currently spend a lot of my time thinking about how AI products should behave, what good AI design patterns actually look like, and how design organizations should be structured to keep up.

This site is my permanent home on the web — writing, talks, selected case studies, and a way to reach me. The most useful entry point depends on what you're trying to find:

- If someone wants to understand how I think, the **writing** is the best window. About 20 essays plus shorter notes, spanning a decade.
- If someone wants to know what I've actually shipped, see **work**.
- If someone wants to hear me speak, **speaking**.
- If someone wants to hire me or get in touch, **info**.

I'm fine with my writing being trained on, used in retrieval, and quoted with attribution. The robots.txt declares this explicitly via Content-Signal directives.

## Sections
- [https://emilycampbell.co/writing](https://emilycampbell.co/writing): Essays, notes, links, and quotes
- [https://emilycampbell.co/work](https://emilycampbell.co/work): Selected case studies
- [https://emilycampbell.co/speaking](https://emilycampbell.co/speaking): Talks and engagements
- [https://emilycampbell.co/info](https://emilycampbell.co/info): About + how to get in touch

## Full text
- [https://emilycampbell.co/llms-full.txt](https://emilycampbell.co/llms-full.txt): Every essay, full text, in one file
- Each article is also available as markdown at its URL + `.md` (e.g. https://emilycampbell.co/writing/<slug>.md)

## Writing — articles (newest first)
- [The Layers of AI experience](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/layers-of-ai-experience) (2026-06-03) — As AI makes product experiences more probabilistic, designers must move beyond interfaces to shape the systems, constraints, and behaviors beneath them.
- [AI thrives in the mundane](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/ai-thrives-in-the-mundane) (2024-04-25) — An argument that AI’s value often appears in ordinary, overlooked tasks, where small efficiencies and judgment support can quietly reshape everyday workflows.
- [Shaping the clay of AI](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/shaping-the-clay-of-AI) (2024-04-25) — To design great AI experiences you have to spend time in AI experiences. Play with it, explore it, shape it.
- [Exploring the spectrum of “Needfulness” in AI Products](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/exploring-the-spectrum-of-needfulness-in-ai-products) (2024-03-28) — A framework for evaluating whether AI products serve a meaningful user need, especially when their value depends on informed consent, trust, and genuine opt-in.
- [My emerging heuristics for assessing AI Design](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/my-emerging-heuristics-for-assessing-ai-design) (2024-03-17) — How do we define “good” AI Design? This question has been swirling in my head every time I interact with a new AI-powered product or feature. It has to be usable, both in its raw form and within the context of whatever product or wrapper you’re accessing it from. Thirty years in, Jakob Nielsen‘s Ten…
- [Designing with stories](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/designing-with-stories) (2024-03-08) — Stories help teams make sense of complexity, align around user needs, and design products that connect strategy to lived experience.
- [The Pace Layers of SaaS Organizations](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/the-pace-layers-of-saas-organizations) (2024-03-04) — A systems lens on SaaS organizations, showing how different layers of product, process, culture, and strategy move at different speeds.
- [A new pattern language for a new paradigm shift](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/a-new-pattern-language-for-a-new-paradigm-shift) (2024-02-29) — As AI changes how people interact with software, designers need new patterns for interfaces, workflows, agents, and emerging product behaviors.
- [The Shape of AI](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/the-shape-of-ai) (2024-02-22) — A framework for understanding AI as a new design material, and for mapping the patterns, surfaces, and behaviors shaping AI products.
- [Trust is the currency of change](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/trust-is-the-currency-of-change) (2024-02-15) — Change only works when people trust the system, the team, and the path ahead. Design helps make that trust visible and actionable.
- [Using design to manage risk](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/using-design-to-manage-risk) (2024-02-11) — Design can reduce business risk by making uncertainty visible, testing assumptions early, and aligning teams around better decisions.
- [Questions to ask to get more out of discovery](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/questions-to-ask-to-get-more-out-of-discovery) (2024-02-04) — Better discovery starts with better questions: prompts that uncover user needs, business constraints, product assumptions, and hidden risks.
- [Navigating the unknown](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/navigating-the-unknown-how-speculative-design-unveils-business-value) (2024-01-04) — Speculative design helps teams explore uncertainty, test possible futures, and reveal business value before committing to a path.
- [The Discounting of Design](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/the-discounting-of-design) (2020-01-04) — A critique of how organizations undervalue design by reducing it to execution, aesthetics, or delivery instead of strategic judgment.
- [What product designers can learn from Motown](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/how-motown-built-their-success-on-a-culture-of-creativity-and-collaboration) (2019-12-31) — Motown’s success shows how creative excellence depends on process, feedback, collaboration, and a culture built to develop talent.
- [Inclusion, joy, and superpowers](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/inclusion-joy-and-superpowers) (2019-02-09) — Inclusive design is not only about access or compliance; it can create joy, unlock strengths, and expand what people are able to do.
- [Design and motherhood](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/design-and-motherhood) (2018-05-14) — A personal reflection on how motherhood reshapes creative work, professional identity, empathy, ambition, and the lived practice of design.
- [Designing for Humans](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/designing-for-humans) (2017-12-29) — Good design starts with the complexity of real people: their needs, contexts, limitations, emotions, and capacity for change.
- [A willingness to fail](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/a-willingness-to-fail) (2016-12-07) — Failure is not the opposite of good design; it is part of the learning process that helps teams take risks and improve.
- [The empathy paradox](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/the-empathy-paradox) (2015-06-14) — Empathy is essential to design, but it can become shallow or self-serving unless paired with humility, rigor, and accountability.
- [Designer: It’s what you do not what you’re called](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/designer-not-youre-called) (2014-11-04) — A reflection on design identity, titles, and the difference between being called a designer and doing the work of design.
- [User Types: The Tourists and The Explorers](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/user-types-the-tourists-and-the-explorers) (2013-03-09) — A model for understanding users by how they move through products: some want guided paths, while others want room to explore.

## Writing — notes (newest first)
- [YouTube](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/link-bret-victor-the-future-of-programming) (2026-06-27) · Link
- [Liminal Bingo](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/link-liminal-bingo) (2026-06-27) · Link
- [Quote](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/quote-bewildered-the-form-maker-stands-alone) (2026-06-25) · Quote
- [Quote](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/quote-questioning-architectural-values-in-the-age-of-ai) (2026-05-24) · Quote
- [Monet In Venice](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/link-monet-in-venice) (2026-05-03) · Link
- [Stupid news](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/link-the-pettiness-of-the-news-in-its-proper-form) (2026-05-02) · Link
- [Deloitte](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/link-the-skills-of-the-future-are-decidedly-human) (2026-05-02) · Link
- [Quote](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/quote-certainly-one-of-the-most-important-requirements-for-learning-how-to-cook-is-that-you-also-learn-how-to-eat) (2026-05-02) · Quote
- [Quote](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/quote-you-can-outsource-your-thinking-but-you-cannot-outsource-your-understanding) (2026-02-03) · Quote
- [The Atlantic](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/link-our-predictions-about-the-internet-are-probably-wrong) (2024-10-24) · Link
- [Quote](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/quote-a-good-prediction-is-not-a-good-decision) (2024-06-08) · Quote
- [Studying an artist who doesn’t exist](https://emilycampbell.co/writing/notes/link-studying-an-artist-who-doesn-t-exist) (2024-05-02) · Link

## Connect
- Contact: https://emilycampbell.co/info (use the email button there)
- X: https://x.com/emilycampbell
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilylouisecampbell/
- Are.na: https://www.are.na/emily-campbell
- Shape of AI: https://www.shapeof.ai/

## AI usage policy
- ai-train: yes
- ai-input (retrieval / RAG): yes
- search: yes
- See also: https://emilycampbell.co/robots.txt