Frank Chimero
Designer, illustrator and writer; author of The Shape of Design and of widely read essays on design and the web.
Frank Chimero did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
Latest Mastodon
What they believe
-
AI should be treated as an instrument to play rather than a tool to use, because there is no purpose to better machines if they do not also produce better humans.
You use a tool, but you play an instrument. It’s a more expansive way of doing, and the doing of it all is important, because that’s where you develop the instincts for excellence. There is no purpose to better machines if they do not also produce better humans.
frankchimero.comSaid 20 Oct 2025This on korrents
-
A design system built for the right reasons is reparative and one built for the wrong reasons is a weapon for displacement, because tools are always beholden to values.
A well-made design system created for the right reasons is reparative. One created for the wrong reasons becomes a weapon for displacement. Tools are always beholden to values.
frankchimero.comSaid 4 Feb 2020This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Feed
As its own page →Hiding
13 November 2025
24 October 2025
20 October 2025
From one piece Beyond the Machine 4 beliefs · frankchimero.com
-
Their words
An average email or line of code is fine. Average art isn’t. To make something alive with AI, we have to resist its pull towards average by working beside it, shaping what it gives, and listening for what’s missing.
-
Their words
So while vibe coding may be useful for short-term work, it’s not a suitable approach for anything intended to last longer than a tub of yogurt. Time saved is not strength gained, so I went looking for other examples about how to work with the machine.
-
Their words
The fractures fell neatly along disciplines: engineers using AI to wish away designers, designers wishing away engineers, product managers wishing away both. In this climate, AI becomes frenemy identification technology, another way to avoid working together.
+ 1 more
-
Their words
You use a tool, but you play an instrument. It’s a more expansive way of doing, and the doing of it all is important, because that’s where you develop the instincts for excellence. There is no purpose to better machines if they do not also produce better humans.
30 September 2025
29 September 2025
19 August 2025
31 August 2021
3 August 2020
4 February 2020
-
Their words
A well-made design system created for the right reasons is reparative. One created for the wrong reasons becomes a weapon for displacement. Tools are always beholden to values.
19 September 2019
6 June 2018
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 14 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
AI should be treated as an instrument to play rather than a tool to use, because there is no purpose to better machines if they do not also produce better humans.
You use a tool, but you play an instrument. It’s a more expansive way of doing, and the doing of it all is important, because that’s where you develop the instincts for excellence. There is no purpose to better machines if they do not also produce better humans.
Beyond the Machine Said 20 Oct 2025
AI has become a way for engineers, designers and product managers to wish each other away instead of working together.
The fractures fell neatly along disciplines: engineers using AI to wish away designers, designers wishing away engineers, product managers wishing away both. In this climate, AI becomes frenemy identification technology, another way to avoid working together.
Beyond the Machine Said 20 Oct 2025
Vibe coding is fine for short-term work but not for anything meant to last longer than a tub of yogurt; time saved is not strength gained.
So while vibe coding may be useful for short-term work, it’s not a suitable approach for anything intended to last longer than a tub of yogurt. Time saved is not strength gained, so I went looking for other examples about how to work with the machine.
Beyond the Machine Said 20 Oct 2025
Show 11 more
To make something alive with AI you have to work beside it and resist its pull towards the average; an average email is fine, average art is not.
An average email or line of code is fine. Average art isn’t. To make something alive with AI, we have to resist its pull towards average by working beside it, shaping what it gives, and listening for what’s missing.
Beyond the Machine Said 20 Oct 2025
A design system built for the right reasons is reparative and one built for the wrong reasons is a weapon for displacement, because tools are always beholden to values.
A well-made design system created for the right reasons is reparative. One created for the wrong reasons becomes a weapon for displacement. Tools are always beholden to values.
Who cares? Said 4 Feb 2020
The cheapest way to deal with complexity is not to invent something to manage it but to avoid it with a cleverer plan.
So, I thought it would be useful to remind everyone that the easiest and cheapest strategy for dealing with complexity is not to invent something to manage it, but to avoid the complexity altogether with a more clever plan.
Everything Easy is Hard Again Said 9 Feb 2018
The legibility of the source is one of the most important properties of the web, because it keeps the door open to the next generation.
Illegibility comes from complexity without clarity. I believe that the legibility of the source is one of the most important properties of the web. It’s the main thing that keeps the door open to independent, unmediated contributions to the network.
Everything Easy is Hard Again Said 9 Feb 2018
Twenty years of making websites may really be five years of experience repeated four times, because nothing on the web stays settled.
I wonder if I have twenty years of experience making websites, or if it is really five years of experience, repeated four times. If you’ve been working in the technology industry a while, please tell me this sounds familiar to you.
Everything Easy is Hard Again Said 9 Feb 2018
Directness is best: a great photo, a memorable illustration or a pitch-perfect sentence does most of the work, and fancy implementation has never moved the needle for clients.
Directness is best in my experience, so a great photo, memorable illustration, or pitch-perfect sentence does most of the work. Beyond that, fancy implementation has never moved the needle much for my clients.
Everything Easy is Hard Again Said 9 Feb 2018
Every material has a grain, including the web, and designs that work against it end up weaker.
I believe every material has a grain, including the web. But this assumption flies in the face of our expectations for technology. Too often, the internet is cast as a wide-open, infinitely malleable material.
The Web’s Grain Said 18 Feb 2015
Convergence and simplicity make for poor goals in technology; aim for clarity instead.
Clearly, convergence and simplicity make for poor goals. Instead, we must aim for clarity. You can’t contain or reduce the torrent of technology, but you can channel it in a positive direction through proper framing and clear articulation.
The Web’s Grain Said 18 Feb 2015
Technology only adds more: it is never this or that, it is always this and that.
Technology only adds more—it is never this or that; it is always this and that.
The Web’s Grain Said 18 Feb 2015
Convenience means someone else makes your choices for you: the less you have to do, the less say you have.
To create convenience—particularly the automated convenience technology trades in—someone else must make our choices for us. In other words: the less you have to do, the less say you have.
The Web’s Grain Said 18 Feb 2015
Designing for screens means arranging the elements first and assigning them a size afterwards, not drawing the box first.
The size of what we’re making is unknown until we know what we’re putting there. So, it’s better to come up with an arrangement of elements and assign them to a size, rather than the other way around. We need to start drawing, then put the box around it.
The Web’s Grain Said 18 Feb 2015
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 8 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Mixed on iPhone 4
I have an iPhone 4. This is my side-kick, and makes me feel like a superhero. It is also, unfortunately, my pacifier.
usesthis.com 18 Apr 2011
Liked Muji pens
I like Muji notebooks and Muji pens because they work well, yet don't feel precious.
usesthis.com 18 Apr 2011
Liked Muji notebooks
I like Muji notebooks and Muji pens because they work well, yet don't feel precious. In my case, the more I treasure a tool, the less likely I am to use it.
usesthis.com 18 Apr 2011
Show 5 more
Uses Apple TV
I have an Apple TV hooked up to the television. It's a Netflix machine and right now I'm investigating the classics I've never seen.
usesthis.com 18 Apr 2011
Loved Panasonic Lumix GF1
I just bought a Panasonic Lumix GF1 a few months ago and I love it. It makes me feel skilled rather than like an idiot. That's what good technology does.
usesthis.com 18 Apr 2011
Mixed on iPad 1
I have an iPad 1. It is heavy and a tiny bit awkward, but it's a joy for video and Instapaper.
usesthis.com 18 Apr 2011
Uses MacBook Air
I have a 13" MacBook Air. No other machines. People ask me all the time if this is enough computer to do the work that I need to do.
usesthis.com 18 Apr 2011
Loved Kindle
I have a Kindle. I love it, unabashedly. I think good technology turns us into the people we want to be, and since getting the Kindle, I've probably increased my reading two-fold.
usesthis.com 18 Apr 2011
Where they publish
Blog frankchimero.com His site and essays.
Recent
- Beyond the Machine Extras 24 Oct 2025 Every talk leaves a lot of scraps, and Beyond the Machine is no exception. I read a couple books, watched about 20 hours of interviews with Brian Eno, listened to 10 hours of podcasts with Rick Rubin to make sure I wasn…
- Beyond the Machine 20 Oct 2025 This talk was given on October 14, 2025 at Kinference in Brooklyn, New York. Spoiler alert: the last part of the talk covers plot points of the movie Spirited Away. Another warning is included right before the spoilers…
- Selling Lemons 30 Sept 2025 I’ve been researching a new talk the last few weeks and along the way stumbled across a concept that’s been rattling around in my head. I am writing to share, because I find it a satisfying description for the tech flop…
Show 7 more
- Eel-evation 29 Sept 2025 Today, I learned that eels are fish. This was a disappointment. I knew of fish, I knew of snakes, yet I always assumed eels were some secret third thing. But, nope, they’re just fish. Or are they? A little digging revea…
- Time is On My Side 19 Aug 2025 Ah, summer, my worst season. Summer and I do not get along. Too much heat, too much light, too much noise, too much cultural baggage. I burn, I sweat, I fester, I sulk. Which is why it came as a surprise that I took the…
- The Green Ray 31 Aug 2021 Last week, early morning, the sky flushed that fuzzy summer cirrus peach: I wake up inspired to send a brief newsletter with one nice idea. An admirable goal—let’s finally get to writing! But of what? I walk to get coff…
- Hands TV 3 Aug 2020 When is tricky these days, but it’s the only question my expectant monkey mind can ask. Time feels especially squishy this year, as my daily schedule drifts further and further away from the traditional 9-5 work window…
- Who cares? 4 Feb 2020 Last week, I shared some thoughts on creative dispositions. I personified two attitudes, architects and gardeners, to show how a writer’s inclinations produce a certain kind of text, thus affecting the design. But the g…
- Monkey Trap 19 Sept 2019 Every once in a while you come across a fact that is so sumptuous it begs to be considered a metaphor. And then, there are other facts that are so perfectly just-so that they need to be viewed as apocryphal. I have read…
- When the Work Looks Back At You 6 Jun 2018 A few weeks ago, the folks at Milanote asked to interview me and brought along an unexpected brief: “let’s sit down and talk through the process of one of your projects.” As someone who is consistently banging the drum…
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Mastodon @frankchimero@typo.social Where he also posts.
Recent
Link verified 5 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
Bluesky frankchimero.com Where he posts.
Link verified 5 Sept 2026.
About the English under a post
Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.
The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.