The Feed & The Thread - January 15, 2026

Today we're covering how UX directly impacts a company’s profitability, with Charles Leclercq sharing case studies on reducing product returns and support tickets through innovative user experiences. And we'll hear what the community is saying about whether designers should be charging for certain services, or if it's just all fair game.

Welcome to The Feed & The Thread, brought to you by Chicago Camps. Our next UX Camp event is coming up in February. We're still accepting presentations for the event - submit today!

The industry's been busy. Here's what caught our attention for this episode.

In a new piece titled "How UX directly impacts P&L," Charles Leclercq at UX Collective argues that UX can significantly impact a company’s profitability through two case studies. At ARxVision, he used an interactive unboxing and onboarding experience powered by generative AI to reduce product returns and support tickets for a wearable device for the visually impaired. At AdInMo, Charles addressed SDK complexity issues with a 6-step, interactive onboarding flow, improving integration success rates. These examples highlight UX as both a growth tool and a barrier to adoption, emphasizing its critical role in business outcomes.

Daniel Schwarz's latest article for CSS-Tricks, titled "What's Important Number 3," explores several new developments in web design. He covers anchor positioning for context menus, the new at-scope feature for more targeted styling, and techniques for generating gradient borders from images. Daniel also discusses simpler alternatives to over-engineered tab components, plus an innovative concept of using the operating system itself as a content management system.

Oleksandr Shpak just dropped a piece called "Usability heuristics and competition in games" over at UX Collective, where he consolidates Jakob Nielsen’s 10 heuristics into an updated set of eight principles to improve game design. Oleksandr highlights that while games are not played solely due to their UI, players expect high interaction quality from other domains like mobile apps or web products. He also explores competition for user time and attention across various platforms and activities, emphasizing how a well-developed usability layer can reduce the risk of users leaving for competitors.

We're out of time for today - don't miss other great fresh articles from: UX Planet, Luke Wroblewski, and Smashing Magazine.

Time to find out what folks are talking about out in the community.

So over in the Design subreddit, someone's designer charged them for something - and they’re not sure if it’s fair or not. Now, no one’s upvoting this thread, but I can't help but wonder how common it is for designers to sometimes surprise their clients with unexpected charges. It’s a tricky spot to be in as both a client and a designer.

And speaking of tricky spots, the UX Design subreddit has someone feeling lost as a solo UI/UX designer. This isn’t an uncommon sentiment. I mean, it's tough going at it alone without the support of a team, but at least they're reaching out for advice. It’s encouraging to see people being open about their struggles.

Here’s another one from over in the Design subreddit: someone asking if junior roles still exist or have standards quietly gotten higher. This is a hot topic among folks starting out in the field. I mean, the job market is pretty daunting right now, especially when you feel like the bar keeps getting raised without much warning.

And while we're on the subject of the job market, there’s this interesting thread where junior designers and developers are sharing what they find most challenging about it these days. It's a mix of dealing with competitive hiring practices and just figuring out where to fit in as new professionals.

Finally, another post from UX Design talks about expanding onboarding steps from six, to twenty-six steps. Now, this has sparked some interesting discussions around how much guidance is too much for users during onboarding. It’s a fine line between helping someone navigate your product and overwhelming them with information.

Chicago Camps is hosting UX Camp Winter on Saturday, February 21st. The entire event is online, so you can join from anywhere in the world. It will be a great day of presentations coming from people delivering UX work - out in the field - where it matters most.

Tickets are only thirteen dollars and fifty cents. They also have Pay-What-You-Can tickets, and free passes available to anyone with a need.

Get tickets now at Chicago Camps dot org. And there's still room for additional speakers - submit your idea today!

And as Charles Leclercq showed us, a well-designed UX can really move the needle on profits. It makes you wonder how many other companies are leaving money on the table by overlooking their user experience. Thanks for tuning in today - we'll catch you next time.

That's The Feed and The Thread for today. Keep designing with intention!