# Kerning

## Yesterday — 27 September 2026

The 4 best design and product reads.

**1. [September 21 - September 27 Round Up: Generative UI Systems, Entry-Level UX Craft, AI Tool Testing](https://aiforux.substack.com/p/september-21-september-27-round-up)**
  aiforux.substack.com — editor's pick at AI for UX Substack

**2. [How we save entry-level UX work that teaches craft in the time of AI. Our field depends on this.](https://uxdesign.cc/how-we-save-entry-level-ux-work-that-teaches-craft-in-the-time-of-ai-our-field-depends-on-this-e1684a0d67eb?source=rss----138adf9c44c---4)**
  uxdesign.cc — editor's pick at UX Collective

**3. [Optimistic UI is an architectural decision, not a minor UX tweak](https://rulr.dev/blog/optimistic-ui-is-an-architectural-decision/)**
  rulr.dev
  [Discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49866470)

**4. [Heypcb: Figma for Hardware, with AI](https://heypcb.ai)**
  heypcb.ai
  [Discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49869886)

## Last week — 21–27 September 2026

The 12 best design and product reads.

**1. [Improving site performance by shipping more CSS](https://github.blog/engineering/architecture-optimization/improving-site-performance-by-shipping-more-css/)**
  github.blog — picked up by Hacker News and Lobsters; heavily argued (69 comments)
  [Discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49856193)

**2. [12 CSS features you can use today with no build step](https://flaviocopes.com/modern-css-features/)**
  flaviocopes.com — picked up by Hacker News and Sidebar
  [Discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49784362)

**3. [Time-based background colour transitions with Temporal and CSS color-mix - localghost](https://localghost.dev/blog/time-based-background-colour-transitions-with-temporal-and-css-color-mix/?utm_source=the-index&utm_medium=newsletter)**
  localghost.dev — shared by 2 design accounts
  [Discussion](https://bsky.app/profile/piccalil.li/post/3mvzybhvsbr2o)

**4. [September 21 - September 27 Round Up: Generative UI Systems, Entry-Level UX Craft, AI Tool Testing](https://aiforux.substack.com/p/september-21-september-27-round-up)**
  aiforux.substack.com — editor's pick at AI for UX Substack

**5. [A Trump team wants to automate U.S. Web Design System accessibility testing](https://fedscoop.com/trump-team-automate-uswds-accessibility-testing-ai/)**
  fedscoop.com
  [Discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49856793)

**6. [Carbon (IBM) — v11.117.0](https://github.com/carbon-design-system/carbon/releases/tag/v11.117.0)**
  github.com — editor's pick at Design systems

**7. [Carbon (IBM) — v11.117.0-rc.0](https://github.com/carbon-design-system/carbon/releases/tag/v11.117.0-rc.0)**
  github.com — editor's pick at Design systems

**8. [How we save entry-level UX work that teaches craft in the time of AI. Our field depends on this.](https://uxdesign.cc/how-we-save-entry-level-ux-work-that-teaches-craft-in-the-time-of-ai-our-field-depends-on-this-e1684a0d67eb?source=rss----138adf9c44c---4)**
  uxdesign.cc — editor's pick at UX Collective

**9. [Generate fonts where every LLM token is the same width](https://ampdot.mesh.host/token-space-fonts.html)**
  ampdot.mesh.host
  [Discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49851883)

**10. [Life After the Design System](https://southleft.substack.com/p/life-after-the-design-system)**
  southleft.substack.com — editor's pick at Slot Machine

**11. [How We Save Entry-Level UX Work That Teaches Craft In The Time of AI. Our Field Depends On This.](https://aiforux.substack.com/p/saving-entry-level-ux-work-that-teaches)**
  aiforux.substack.com — editor's pick at AI for UX Substack

**12. [That About Wraps It Up for Stock Mac UI](https://inessential.com/2026/09/22/that-about-wraps-it-up-for.html)**
  inessential.com
  [Discussion](https://lobste.rs/s/vvg9ue/about_wraps_it_up_for_stock_mac_ui)

## This month — September 2026

The 12 best design and product reads.

**1. [Why CSS-Tricks Has Been Quiet Lately - Geoff Graham](https://geoffgraham.me/why-css-tricks-has-been-quiet/)**
  geoffgraham.me — picked up by Hacker News and Bluesky; shared by 4 design accounts; 5 Bluesky posts
  [Discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49708355)

**2. [CSS-Tricks in Limbo - 15 Sept 2026 01:35 UTC](https://vale.rocks/micros/20260915-0135)**
  vale.rocks — picked up by Hacker News and Lobsters and Bluesky; 273 points
  [Discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49708993)

**3. [Controlling when CSS custom property values are computed](https://jakearchibald.com/2026/css-custom-property-compute-time/)**
  jakearchibald.com — picked up by Hacker News and Lobsters and Bluesky
  [Discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49579420)

**4. [Show HN: Make cursed fonts like Times New Bastard](https://bastardica.mitpit.com)**
  bastardica.mitpit.com — picked up by Hacker News and Lobsters; 857 points
  [Discussion](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49823738)

**5. [Time-based background colour transitions with Temporal and CSS color-mix - localghost](https://localghost.dev/blog/time-based-background-colour-transitions-with-temporal-and-css-color-mix/?utm_source=the-index&utm_medium=newsletter)**
  localghost.dev — shared by 2 design accounts
  [Discussion](https://bsky.app/profile/piccalil.li/post/3mvzybhvsbr2o)

**6. [Muse review: The personal AI agent that gets consumer UX right](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/muse-review-the-personal-ai-agent)**
  lennysnewsletter.com — editor's pick at Lenny's Newsletter; matches your profile

**7. [The best dark mode toggle is probably none • Lea Verou](https://lea.verou.me/blog/2026/dark-mode-toggles-2/)**
  lea.verou.me — shared by 2 design accounts
  [Discussion](https://bsky.app/profile/lea.verou.me/post/3mukdzdwaps2q)

**8. [CSS ` border-shape` · Issue #1371 · web-platform-tests/interop](https://github.com/web-platform-tests/interop/issues/1371)**
  github.com — shared by 2 design accounts
  [Discussion](https://bsky.app/profile/joshwcomeau.com/post/3muyvlrjdn22i)

**9. [September 21 - September 27 Round Up: Generative UI Systems, Entry-Level UX Craft, AI Tool Testing](https://aiforux.substack.com/p/september-21-september-27-round-up)**
  aiforux.substack.com — editor's pick at AI for UX Substack

**10. [Design System Conventions in Figma](https://nathanacurtis.substack.com/p/design-system-conventions-in-figma)**
  nathanacurtis.substack.com — editor's pick at Nathan Curtis

**11. [September 7 - September 13 Round Up: Agentic UX Interfaces, UX Design Eras, Enforcing AI-Generated UI](https://aiforux.substack.com/p/september-7-september-13-round-up)**
  aiforux.substack.com — editor's pick at AI for UX Substack

**12. [Carbon (IBM) — v11.117.0](https://github.com/carbon-design-system/carbon/releases/tag/v11.117.0)**
  github.com — editor's pick at Design systems