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UX & UI design: videos Hacker News recommends
User experience and interface design: usability, interaction design, user research, design systems, mobile and car UI, dark patterns, accessibility, Don Norman, design critiques. Below: every video in this topic that at least three HN users linked with real commentary, in at least three different months (18 talks, 18 demos, 12 commentarys), best-scored first, with the comments on each video page.
- 12 HN recommenders 11 months 2013–2025R Rui Oliveira · talkIt is HN's go-to recommendation for the case that programming environments should give instant feedback, and it appears in nearly every thread on live coding, visual programming or developer tools.
- 12 HN recommenders 9 months 2015–2026C CreativeMornings HQ · talkHN regulars send freelancers and consultants to it whenever clients don't pay or contracts come up.
- 8 HN recommenders 8 months 2019–2026Recommended as the most entertaining serious critique of a software interface, and a crash course in UX mistakes.
- 2 HN recommenders 5 months 2019–2022HN commenters repeatedly share it because it is an eye-opening look at screen-reader use, and because at about 6:30 it addresses how inaccessible Hacker News itself is.
- 6 HN recommenders 6 months 2023–2026Repeatedly recommended as the definitive, well-made explanation of why attempts to reinvent music notation fail and what tradeoffs the current system makes.
- 4 HN recommenders 6 months 2017–2023M Matthaeus Krenn · demoRepeatedly cited in car touchscreen debates as an elegant, sensible alternative to distracting automotive UIs.
- 4 HN recommenders 6 months 2017–2025HN treats it as a foundational Bret Victor talk that reshaped how people think about software and interfaces, often cited alongside Dynamicland.
- 6 HN recommenders 5 months 2013–2017M Montalvo Machado · talkRecommended to freelancers and consultants as practical advice on contracts and getting paid.
- 5 HN recommenders 5 months 2017–2024C Casey Muratori · lectureSeen as the origin of the IMGUI idea that inspired Dear ImGui, recommended to anyone curious about immediate-mode UI design.
- 2 HN recommenders 4 months 2016–2025Regarded as the seminal talk on Dasher, recommended in threads on accessible and alternative text input.
- 4 HN recommenders 4 months 2013–2021Often the first thing suggested to HN programmers asking about posture and back pain.
- 4 HN recommenders 4 months 2019–2024Cited as a funny, informative teardown of bad interface design, and for the story that MuseScore hired him as head of design afterward.
- 4 HN recommenders 4 months 2014–2018HN links it whenever menu hover problems or nearest-to-pointer selection come up, and as proof algorithms matter in front-end work.
- 3 HN recommenders 4 months 2012–2015B blogphilofilms · commentaryLinked in Windows 8 threads as a funny but accurate summary of its usability problems.
- 4 HN recommenders 4 months 2019–2023R Razbuten · commentaryHN uses it to illustrate learned literacy in game and software UX, and how unfamiliar conventions confuse newcomers.
- 4 HN recommenders 4 months 2009–2025HN returns to it as the original Wave pitch, both for its wow factor and as a case study in a hyped product that was later shut down.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2021–2022K Kristy Viers · tutorialHN recommends it to show what on-device accessibility features can do and how blind users actually use an iPhone.
- 4 HN recommenders 3 months 2020–2024Recommended as a thought-provoking critique that makes people notice how poor everyday GUIs are.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2022–2026HN points to it whenever analog versus digital clocks come up, as an idea that changed how commenters think about time perception.
- 4 HN recommenders 3 months 2022–2026Recommended as a candid, in-depth look at hard UX redesign work and the limits of MIDI for notation.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2016–2026Cited whenever backup beepers and noise come up, as a clear explanation of the white-noise alternative.
- 4 HN recommenders 3 months 2014–2021S squareweave · talkHN users recommend it as a memorable, short way to build empathy for users' confusing mistakes and to design for distraction.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2012–2014HN commenters recommend it as a thoughtful take on doing gamification and game design well.
- 4 HN recommenders 3 months 2019–2023C Coding Tech · demoHN recommends it, especially to developers losing their sight, as a concrete demonstration of coding with text-to-speech.
- 2 HN recommenders 3 months 2020–2022HN commenters recommend it as a fresh perspective on layout and styling in CSS discussions.
- 2 HN recommenders 3 months 2014–2023T Tavis Rudd · demoHN points to it as a lost example of intuitive low-code tooling, and as inspiration for newer products.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2020–2025Used as the go-to visual demonstration of A-pillar blind spots and badly designed junctions.
- 1 HN recommenders 3 months 2022–2026T Thierry Hubert · demoHN links it in spreadsheet-reinvention threads as the clearest look at what Improv did differently, with a distinctive NeXTstep aesthetic.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2012–2024HN commenters cite it whenever input latency comes up, as the demonstration that people can perceive touch delay down to 1 ms.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2021–2024N Netflix Is A Joke · commentaryHN recommends it as an accessible explanation of how Intuit's lobbying and deceptive design undermine free tax filing.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2010–2021N Neowin · demoHN treats it as a gold-standard concept demo and a what-might-have-been for dual-screen and digital notebook devices.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2022–20258 8pen · demoHN commenters who used it remember it as an unusually fast and accurate touchscreen text input method and a fascinating alternative to QWERTY.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2020–2022E erg0steur · interviewPraised as a lesson in explaining technology to non-technical people and as a window into early Mac design.
- 3 HN recommenders 2 months 2020–2023Referenced in debates over Chrome hiding URLs as a compelling case for why full URLs are hard even for experts.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2019–2025Z zoobean · talkHN recommends it for its in-depth view of a major UI redesign process driven by user data.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2015–2025B Brad Fitzpatrick · comedy videoHN cites it as the famous example of how over-clever smart-home devices can fail at something as basic as a smoke alarm.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2024–2025D Design Theory · explainerCommenters cite it to explain expert blindness and the difficulty of solving problems from inside your own cultural context.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2012–2025Brought up as an early example of context-aware touch sensing and as part of Disney Research's wider interaction prototypes.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2008–2020HN commenters recommend it as a companion to Steve Krug's usability advice and as a talk on minimal interface design.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2020–2021HN recommends it as a rigorous, entertaining example of interface design review and notes the author later became head of design at MuseScore.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2009–2025J Ji Lee · videoCited as evidence that ordinary users often don't understand basic technology like browsers, as a reminder for designers and developers.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2019–2025HN uses it as the short, canonical explainer of Norman doors and affordances, linked in design and UX discussions.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2019–2023W Web Design Museum · demoHN points to it as the example of the weird, artistic, animation-heavy web UIs of the Flash era.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2018W WordPress · talkHN commenters say it convinced them to drop other layout approaches and embrace Grid, and cite its advice on fallbacks for older browsers.
- 3 HN recommenders 1 months 2025–2026C Canonical Ubuntu · talkHN commenters cite it when discussing stagnating desktop UX, Apple's design decline, and open source's chance to experiment with new interaction models.
- 2 HN recommenders 1 months 2013–2017Cited as an example of how hard it is to reconcile UX views in open source communities, and as the start of a redesign discussion.
- 3 HN recommenders 1 months 2021–2023HN recommends it during the Muse Group acquisition controversy for its funny, pragmatic take on usability and open source stewardship.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2011–2020C creativecrewchannel · talkHN points to it to explain the design rationale behind the Ribbon and why the older menu and toolbar interface had accumulated too much cruft.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2017–2021Seen as an inflection point in how Blender's UI was perceived, and as helping kick off the 2.8 redesign.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2021–2023H Hagerty · commentaryHN cites it in threads on touchscreens versus physical buttons in cars, as an example of an enthusiast's critique of VW's UX.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2023–2024HN points to it to explain how steer-by-wire is implemented and why variable steering ratio is its benefit.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2009–2019A Arkmage2 · demoCited to contrast Microsoft's ambitious Longhorn vision with the Vista that actually shipped.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2021–2024E EveryAmp · demoHN cites it in threads about Teslas trapping occupants to show how the manual release is located and used.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2017–2021M Microsoft in Business · demoCited as an example of corporate future-concept videos, sometimes appreciated for its ideas and sometimes used as a cautionary comparison.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2024–2026K Kompetenzzentrum Digitale Barrierefreiheit · demoHN uses it as the go-to example of how blind developers work, including the very fast screen reader speech.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2016–2022B Boeing · news clipCited as an example of effective alarm and voice-alert design and in discussions of reactions to female voices.
- cited 5× 0 months 2019–2023G GE Lighting, a Savant company · tutorialHN cites it as a prime example of absurd, user-hostile IoT reset procedures.
- cited 4× 0 months 2019–2021L Lexi Heft · tutorialUsed in UI debates as evidence that wiper control on the touchscreen is awkward, or alternatively that it is just two touches.
- cited 5× 0 months 2016–2024S Sven Herzog Aviation · videoCited as a vivid example that experienced pilots can ignore loud alarms, in threads on alarm design and gear-up landings.
- cited 3× 0 months 2016–2022H homefree122 · comedy videoUsed as a joke reference in threads about confusing error messages and printers.
- cited 3× 0 months 2020–2026M MacVsPCcommercials · comedy videoHN mentions it as a joke when Apple's own security prompts or Gatekeeper restrictions annoy users.
- cited 6× 0 months 2020–2023W Web Design Museum · demoHN commenters link it as nostalgic proof of how inventive and formative the Flash-era web was.
- cited 5× 0 months 2018–2024HN cites it as proof that tactile morphing touchscreens existed years ago, in discussions of car touchscreens and tactile on-screen keyboards.
- cited 5× 0 months 2022–2025A alittle116 · comedy videoIt is invoked as a joke whenever a product forces users through dumbed-down or unhelpful interfaces and automated support.
- cited 3× 0 months 2010–2024Y ysnimkim · videoCited in discussions of sci-fi interfaces and whether ideas like pinch-to-zoom were prior art.
- cited 4× 0 months 2014–2016HN mentions it as the polished design-team vision that Android's actual implementation fell short of.
- cited 3× 0 months 2016–2021G GottaBeMobile · demoHN uses it as evidence that Apple's Touch Bar idea was not new, and that Lenovo had already tried and dropped it.
- cited 3× 0 months 2018–2019C Channel2600 · talkHN cites it as proof that voice coding works and lists it among resources for programmers who can't type.
- cited 3× 0 months 2012–2019U UserExperiencesWorks · videoCited as a humorous, somewhat contrived example of children and technology dependence.
- cited 5× 0 months 2021–2024Y Your Product Sucks · commentaryHN cites it, with schadenfreude, as evidence that Apple Music on desktop is poorly built.
- cited 3× 0 months 2022–2026A Answer in Progress · explainerCited as a companion to articles on Japanese web design and as an example of clustering websites by appearance.
Questions
What is the most recommended ux & ui design video on Hacker News?
Bret Victor - Inventing on Principle by Rui Oliveira: It is HN's go-to recommendation for the case that programming environments should give instant feedback, and it appears in nearly every thread on live coding, visual programming or developer tools.
How is this ux & ui design list ranked?
By HackerTube's score: the number of distinct months in which an HN comment recommended the video, plus half a point for every month with a strong recommendation. One viral thread counts less than steady recommendations over years.
Where do the videos come from?
From every Hacker News comment between 2007 and 2026 that linked a YouTube video, labeled by an AI model as a recommendation, a citation, a joke or a criticism. The list is published by HackerTube under ODC-By 1.0; this edition adds indexable pages and the comment context.
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.