Second edition
Sweet Spot UX
An updated edition of the Amazon bestselling original, for UX and product designers who want to communicate their work clearly and get it understood, supported, and used.
New from Mike Newman
Design Orchestrator
Books by Mike Newman: UX and product design in the age of AI
From digital product design to designing with AI. A practical guide to influence in the age of AI.
This is the official home of the books by Mike Newman, a senior experience design leader writing about UX and product design: communication with stakeholders, design careers, and the changing role of designers in the age of AI. Design Orchestrator, Sweet Spot UX and Kickstart Your UX Career.
Read it on the weekend. Apply it on Monday.
Why read this book?
Read a short excerptDigital Design is changing faster than most teams can keep up with.
AI tools are accelerating execution, expectations are shifting, and many UX and product designers are quietly asking the same question:
What does my role look like next?
In Design Orchestrator, product designer Mike Newman explores how the role of design is evolving as AI changes how digital products are built.
Rather than focusing on AI tools themselves, this short book looks at the deeper shift happening inside organisations and why the most valuable designers today are defined not by the screens they produce, but by their ability to frame problems, guide conversations, and help teams make better decisions.
This book is for UX and product designers asking what does my role look like next.
If you are trying to understand where your design role goes next, and how to stay valuable as the work changes. This is where to start.
Read more about what designers are asking about AI, or read the full explainer on what a design orchestrator is.
Full details of Design Orchestrator, including who it is for and what it covers.
Also by Mike Newman
The design influence library
Second edition
Kickstart Your UX Career
For aspiring and junior designers learning how to stand out, present clearly, handle stakeholders, and build early influence.
Coming soon
The Vibe Thinker
The UX and Product Designer’s Guide to Vibe Coding
A practical companion to Design Orchestrator, turning its ideas about the changing role of designers in the AI era into a hands-on way to start working and building differently.
A practical guide to using AI to move from designing ideas to building working products, without needing to become a programmer.
It shows designers how to apply the skills they already have: problem framing, discernment, communication and judgement, through a simple process:
Think → Diverge → Decide → Make → Fix → Improve
What designers are saying
#1: Top 4 Audiobooks for Product Designers
“This is easily my best read.”
Temitope Shote, March 2026
Applies to: The original Sweet Spot UX audiobook.
Product designer Temitope Shote placed Sweet Spot UX first in a round-up of audiobooks for product designers, recommending it for designers who want to improve communication, confidence, feedback and adaptability.
Read “Top 4 Audiobooks for Product Designers” on MediumWhich book should I read?
- “I’m trying to break into UX or establish my design career.”
- Kickstart Your UX Career
Starting and establishing a UX design career
- “I’m good at UX, but getting stakeholders to understand or support the work is difficult.”
- Sweet Spot UX
UX communication, stakeholder influence and getting design work understood
- “AI is changing design. What does my role become?”
- Design Orchestrator
AI and the changing role of UX and product designers
- “How do I actually work and build in the age of AI?”
Coming soon
The Vibe Thinker
A practical guide to using AI to turn design thinking into working products
Career starters
Stakeholder influence
The changing role of design
AI design process
About the author
Mike Newman is a senior experience design leader with over twenty years of experience across digital product design, from the early web through to today’s AI-assisted landscape. He has worked with teams across agencies, enterprises, and client-side organisations to design products and services that are clearer, more usable, and built around real human needs.
He is known for a practical, collaborative approach that puts communication at the centre of design, helping teams align, make better decisions, and move forward with clarity.
Mike is the author of Sweet Spot UX, a bestselling book on Amazon and a guide to influencing stakeholders and articulating design thinking in real-world environments. His latest book, Design Orchestrator, builds on that foundation for the AI era, exploring how the role of the designer is changing and how to stay valuable as the tools evolve.
He writes from inside the transition, sharing grounded, real-world perspectives to help designers adapt, think more strategically, and do their best work in a rapidly changing landscape.