Jon Writes

Designing Content + AI Systems

I’m a content designer who thinks in systems. I design how products communicate—not just what they say, but how they behave across different contexts, edge cases, and constraints. More recently, that’s included shaping interactions in AI-powered systems, where clarity, trust, and thoughtful failure handling matter just as much as the happy path.

Tent Talks: It's Okay to be Inflexible in Content Design

In spring 2023, I gave a Tent Talk at Chicago Camps inspired by a rant I wrote on LinkedIn about being inflexible as a product content designer. The crux: When it comes to things that cause people harm (deceptive design; accessibility issues; racist, ableist, ageist, etc. language), people who work on content in the product should feel empowered and emboldened to push back and never compromise, even if they get overruled.

Listen to my talk here.
Read my rant here.

Craft and CommunityJonathan McFadden