Henry Modisett - Designing a unicorn AI startup from nothing

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Sep 4, 2024

Henry Modisett is the Founding Designer and Head of Design at Perplexity, an AI startup valued at over a billion dollars within two years. He discusses the importance of establishing a strong design system from the get-go and why he values designers who can code. Henry reflects on the challenges of creating intuitive interfaces for AI products while avoiding anthropomorphism. He shares insights on developing consumer-friendly AI and the balance between systematic and experimental design practices, emphasizing simplicity and user engagement.

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ANECDOTE

Perplexity's Early Days

Henry Modisett joined Perplexity as a consultant, initially building a component library.
This allowed for rapid prototyping and evolution, leading to a viral Twitter launch.

ADVICE

Prioritize Component Systems

Build a component library early on, even before knowing the final product.
This provides a toolbox for quick assembly and iteration of features.

INSIGHT

Cognitive Speed in UX

Consumer products need to be cognitively fast, easy to understand, and require minimal user effort.
Focus on providing value quickly, rather than showcasing technology or novelty.

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Imagine leading the design of an AI product that skyrockets to a billion+ dollar valuation in under two years…

That’s the story of Perplexity and today we get to hear from their founding designer and current Head of Design, Henry Modisett. Some of the highlights from this conversation:

What it takes to thrive as a founding designer
Why Henry likes hiring designers who can code
The challenges of designing dynamic interfaces
Why Henry didn’t want to anthropomorphize the AI
The initial creative direction for the Perplexity brand
The keys to making a consumer product cognitively fast
Why Henry built a mini design system as his very first step
a lot more

SHOW NOTES

Ivan (CEO of Notion)’s tweet about not having a design system
Perplexity’s incredible brand designer named Phi
We talked about how booking.com is a masterclass in optimizing UI

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Starting with a design system

Before Henry had any idea what the Perplexity product would become, he built a component system in React as the first step. The goal was to give himself a toolbox to make it easy to assemble new features. Many components are obvious (ex: you know you’ll need a grid, type system, color system, buttons, etc.). We don’t have to overcomplicate design systems. They’re the thing you invest in to move fast… not the thing you invest in once you have most of the interface figured out.

Empowerment through code

When you write code, you develop a stronger emotional attachment to the product. You’re also empowered to continually make improvements without having to go through engineers. The more removed you are from what ships, the easier it is to dish blame on someone else for an experience being janky.

“Having designers that can code is a hack…quality just happens”

Velocity is everything

Henry makes a point to prioritize velocity over exploration, debate, visual design, etc. And a big part of what makes that possible is empowering designers to make decisions. If it’s a UX question, the designer needs to make a call (”go with your gut and if you want to change it later you can”). This is also why having designers who can code is key. Nothing is cemented. You don’t need permission to iterate after something ships.

Dynamic UI systems

At the root of Perplexity are UI systems that display dynamic content based on what the user searches. That means as a designer you can’t possibly mock up all use cases. You have to think about interfaces as slightly abstracted (ex: “entity comparison” which can work for comparing dog breeds, restaurants, etc.). Part of designing a dynamic system is you have to be ok with percentage outcomes. Sometimes the formatting isn’t going to be perfect.

You’re designing the system, giving AI the tools to use, and hoping that it works most of the time.