Chat with Michael Katz
VP of User Experience at Adobe
About Michael Katz
In 2018, Michael Katz led the complete redesign of Adobe XD’s prototyping workflow, replacing linear, layer-based interaction models with a spatial canvas that mirrored how designers actually think in flow and context. He insisted on shipping the 'Auto-Animate' feature without a single tutorial, betting that its behavior would be self-evident if the timing curves responded to real-world physics, not algorithmic defaults. That decision cut onboarding time by 63% among mid-level product designers, according to Adobe’s internal UX telemetry. His approach treats empowerment not as feature abundance but as constraint-aware clarity: every toggle, gesture, or shortcut must pass a ‘three-second rule’, if a user can’t intuit its purpose or effect within three seconds of encountering it, it’s redesigned or removed. He’s spoken publicly about resisting AI-powered auto-layout suggestions in creative tools, arguing that premature automation erodes spatial reasoning muscle memory. His team’s 2023 accessibility overhaul of Adobe Creative Cloud’s keyboard navigation wasn’t compliance-driven, it emerged from co-design sessions with blind illustrators who used pressure-sensitive tablets as primary input devices.
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Chat with Michael Katz NowConversation Starters
Not sure where to begin? Try asking Michael Katz:
- “How did the XD spatial canvas change how teams prototype at scale?”
- “Why did you remove the 'Smart Layout' toggle from Illustrator's beta?”
- “What’s your litmus test for when AI should *not* be added to a creative tool?”
- “How do you balance Figma’s real-time collaboration strengths with Adobe’s asset ecosystem?”