Metalab has spent the last 20 years designing products for Windsurf, Midjourney, Suno, The Atlantic, and Uber. AI has made feature parity between products fast and cheap — anyone can ship the same baseline in a fraction of the time it used to take. Design Director Myles Palmer's answer to that isn't "taste." He thinks that word is a hollow way to dodge a much harder question.
Myles discusses what actually separates Metalab's AI-native design process from how most teams are building right now, why a vibe-coded prototype can create a dangerous false sense of confidence, and what design looks like once a product moves past the chat box.
In this episode we cover:
➜ Why Metalab's 20-year discipline, not any single tool, is what actually differentiates its AI-native design process.
➜ Myles Palmer on why "taste" is a hollow answer, and what actually differentiates once AI makes feature parity cheap.
➜ Brittany's own vibe-coded travel app cost thousands in API calls and still lost to Google — the false confidence trap.
➜ What founders actually pay for later when they skip design early, and why it defends against a "sea of average."
➜ What AI design looks like past the chat box — ambient transit, try-on shopping, and rethinking university sites.
➜ Digital twins, the 23andMe cautionary tale, and why Apple's health-data model is where consent design is headed.
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"I hate the idea of taste. The idea that taste is this differentiator drives me crazy because it's like, well, everybody's taste is different anyway." — Myles Palmer
"Investing early in design defends against that sea of average." — Myles Palmer
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Myles Palmer is a Design Director at Metalab, where he leads and shapes meaningful products and experiences for both startups and global brands. Before joining Metalab, he founded and led Companion, a design studio built on strategic creativity and sustainable team culture. Myles also founded Pair Up, a platform connecting thousands of creatives for mentorship and peer learning. His work blends strategic thinking with human-centered design and thoughtful leadership that elevates product experiences.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/myles-palmer-b1b70519/
Metalab Website: www.metalab.com
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Hosted by:
➜ Arpy Dragffy Guerrero — https://www.linkedin.com/in/adragffy/
➜ Brittany Hobbs — https://www.linkedin.com/in/brittanyhobbs/
Go to Substack to get AI strategy frameworks, news, and jobs: https://productimpactpod.substack.com
This episode was brought to you by:
➜ PH1 (https://ph1.ca) — Elevate your AI-Powered Product & Customer Experience. PH1 is the leading AI UX strategy consultant, leveraging behavioural science and model evaluations to gain you a competitive advantage. We've worked on innovative AI product discovery & corporate AI CX transformations.
➜ AI Value Acceleration (https://aivalueacceleration.com) — The consultancy specialising in enterprise value creation. Make sure that your spending doesn't go to waste. Find out exactly where the value creation of adopting AI products stalls.
