🟣 TOOOLS #10: Impeccable, SOOT Spiral, Shaders, Branda, blokdots

   TOOOL OF THE WEEK

   ALSO ON THE RADAR

SOOT Spiral

A visual search engine that arranges hundreds of real images on a curved canvas, revealing timelines and aesthetic relationships flat moodboards miss.

Shaders

A collection of animated backgrounds, logo shaders, and image treatments you customize in a visual editor and drop straight into any site.

Branda

Turns a one-sentence idea into a full brand: name, logo, palette, typography, and a brand kit, with 200 free credits on signup.

blokdots

Build interactive hardware prototypes by snapping if-this-then-that sentences together, no code or wiring required.

   SPOTLIGHT (PARTNER)

   A FEW READS & LISTENS

UX COLLECTIVE  📖 ARTICLE

Designing for AI means designing like it's 1999

Patrick Neeman argues the conventions of designing with AI haven't hardened yet, so this is the rare moment when the work matters more. The advice: design toward the job, build for the model two generations away, and treat the AI moment like the 1999 web, an invitation to make the thing before anyone has worked out the right way.

ANTON STEN  📖 ARTICLE

The 2-7 problem

AI raises the floor of acceptable work but can't reach a 9 or 10, and can't make a memorable 1 either. The harder argument: when the first output is decent, you stop. Skipping the messy versions skips the part where taste gets built.

SHAPES.GG  📖 ARTICLE

Figma Agent: A first look

Gjermund Gustavsen runs the new Figma Agent through five real tasks: drawing chess pieces, building a slide deck, designing a signup flow, making a business card, and laying out an article. Useful field notes on where the agent earns its keep and where it still wastes your time.

   UPDATES & NEWS

Figma Make can now edit your real project: visual changes turn into commits and pull requests from inside the desktop app

Pitch launches Pitch Agent, generating on-brand decks from your templates, layouts, and design language

Mistral relaunches Le Chat as Vibe, a unified agent with new Work and Code modes for long-running research, drafting, and coding

Anthropic raises $65B Series H at a $965B valuation, with Claude run-rate revenue crossing $47B

Figma Slots gain guardrails: min and max layers, preferred instances, and default behaviors per slot

Ferrari unveils the Luce, its first electric production car, shaped with LoveFrom (Jony Ive and Marc Newson)

   ONE MORE THING ...

A TIP WORTH EXPLORING

AI briefs need motion vocabulary, not adjectives.