First of Kind Mercurial Artifacts with Nicholas Jitkoff
Jun 5, 2025
Nicholas Jitkoff, software designer and builder behind Quicksilver and several side‑project platforms, with leadership stints at Google, Dropbox, Meta and Figma. He discusses hiring early designers and hybrid skill sets. He talks about pathfinding in design, rapid experimentation platforms, rethinking interfaces for AI and LLMs, input modalities, and how side projects feed product and platform thinking.
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LLMs Break Old Design Assumptions
- LLMs demand rethinking design beyond layering conversation UI on top of old patterns.
- Jitkoff warns that treating everything as a chatbot pigeonholes solutions and requires broader product and engineering innovation.
Voice Is A Useful Fallback Not A Single Modality
- Voice is often a fallback, not a primary input, because it's interruptive and error prone.
- Jitkoff envisions voice layered with other inputs (typing, touch) where users switch modes based on context.
Hire Breadth With Focus
- Hire designers who can think broadly but focus deeply on one or two platforms.
- Jitkoff prefers designers able to reason across modalities yet refine a single compelling experience under tight headcount.