Dive Club 🤿 Steve Ruiz - Is the canvas the future for AI?
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Dec 1, 2025 Steve Ruiz, founder of tldraw and expert in canvas tooling, dives into the future of AI collaboration through canvas-based UX. He shares his journey from fine art to tech, emphasizing the importance of tool design principles and the potential of canvases in workflows. Steve discusses fascinating concepts like integrating AI agents, playful metaphors like fairies to visualize collaboration, and the unique challenges of real-time AI interactions. His insights shed light on how visual tools can empower both humans and AIs to work together creatively.
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From Fine Art Studio To Prototyping Career
- Steve Ruiz left studio art to learn prototyping and web design, rapidly shifting careers from art to product work.
- He used prototyping tools like Framer to teach himself code and break into tech within a few years.
Obsessing Over Perfect Arrows
- Steve obsessively solved arrow-drawing edge cases while building a state machine tool and open-sourced Perfect Arrows.
- The library became popular because it encoded a subjective design answer into reusable code.
Design Tools Should Aid Decisions
- Build tools as decision-making aids that let users safely explore and compare options.
- Balance precision controls with looser interactions so creators can iterate quickly without overload.