Dive Club 🤿 Gunnar Gray - Designing Perplexity, shaders, and voice interfaces
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Jul 18, 2025 Gunnar Gray, Product Design Lead at Perplexity, dives into the intricacies of crafting AI-native experiences. He shares insights on rapidly prototyping voice interfaces and how AI is reshaping design methodologies. Gunnar discusses his unique approach to integrating brand identity into product design, emphasizing the role of curiosity and adaptability. He also highlights the transformative impact of dynamic coding tools and the balance between artistic flair and technical proficiency in the evolving landscape of design.
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Design Mindset for AI Products
- AI-native products demand a new mindset for design focused on outcome-driven, context-aware, and multimodal interactions.
- Designers must work dynamically and closely with engineers to create fluid user experiences in AI contexts.
Iterative Voice Mode Design
- Gunnar Gray deeply collaborated with engineers on Perplexity's voice mode to iteratively shape the user experience.
- He tested output speeds, performance, accuracy, and explored many edge cases through real usage.
Designing The Iconic Orange Button
- Gunnar led the redesign of Perplexity's voice mode V2 featuring a big orange push-to-talk button.
- The button improved interaction speed, added haptics, and visually created a unique delightful experience.