Welcome back.

There is so much soul in the design community if you go looking for it.

• Tom Johnson’s unicorn studio workflow felt early-YouTube and straight from a pro
• Marisa Chentakul’s shared journey building her own app​
• SuprOrdinary’s viral series debut about rediscovering creativity

And each of these pockets of creation has sparked its own design community.

Worthwhile design communities aren’t about size. They’re about connections. Utility. Career growth through mutual interest (like dungeons & dragons, content creation, or tool usage).

So I talked to the people building the most interesting design community tools about what they’re seeing.

If you’re unsure where to go for design community, this ones for you.

- Tommy (@designertom)

The Wireframe

• Community as a design tool
• Portfolio platforms, reimagined
• Building the right setup for your design future

Community as a Design Tool

Innovative designers aren’t just joining communities, they’re integrating them as essential workflow tools.

The Feedback Loop Superweapon

“I’m lucky to have a couple of trusted people on speed dial — people I can message with a link to my latest design and get a quick, honest roast,” Gabriel Valdivia told me. That feedback loop pushes his work beyond initial expectations, making the process “addictive.”

But community size matters: “In large communities, the feedback gets diluted. People are more polite, less direct, and less invested in each other’s growth. Real development happens in small, tight-knit groups where there’s enough trust to be brutally honest.”

Trust in an AI-Saturated World

​Ben Huffma​n at Contra is tackling the AI trust problem head-on:

“We launched a concept called verified projects that allows people to see work that was actually paid for. It’s a long game, but eventually we want to be the largest network of verified work on the internet.”

His take on the noise problem: “AI definitely creates a lot of noise. It’s only going to get tougher to know what’s real and what’s synthetic.” The ability to prove your work was valued enough for someone to pay for it is becoming a powerful differentiator - you need receipts.

Ben also sees video platforms as increasingly important community tools for designers: “It seems like X is where the loudest community lives, but I think the biggest community is on YouTube.”

Just this month, Devin Mathews (Art Director at BUCK) posted his one-man directorial debut on YouTube. His series premiere of SuprOrdinary follows him as he tries to rejuvenate his creativity after a seasoned design career. In less than two weeks, he had 50k new subscribers and over a quarter million views. With full support from BUCK and ItsNiceThat, a design community was born.

The insight here isn’t that big platforms are useless - they still serve discovery functions. But the real magic happens when you graduate from passive consumption to active participation in smaller, focused groups.

Portfolio Platforms, Reimagined

Meanwhile, Austin Byrd’s Foli.ooo is rethinking portfolio platforms entirely: “Designers have two options: pay a ton for a site builder not made for us, or use social media and compete with each other.” His solution: “A completely unbranded portfolio that makes the silly decisions for you so you can focus on what really matters – sharing your work.”

​Dann Petty, founder of Epicurrence and RecentWork, cuts through the noise on portfolio platforms: “The best thing you can do with your portfolio is show your work. Lots of designers hide their work behind other links, logos, thumbnails. Show your work instantly and you will get hired quicker.”

What makes designers stand out in an AI world? “Personality, voice, and real world experience. I’m a huge Red Bull fan, not because of its logo or website, but because of the events they do in real life, the athletes they sponsor. That’s hard for AI to do.”

Together with FRAMER​

Design tools like Framer have driven the new community movement by making it part of their mission to invest into and support designers.

Not only are they integrated with communities like Contra, they've developed an entire ecosystem supporting the design community:

• Nov 2022: Launched Partner Program for template creators
• June 2023: Introduced Framer Experts for freelancers and agencies
• July 2024: Rebuilt the Marketplace for plugins and templates
• Dec 2024: Created $100k Framer Awards for 10 categories
• Feb 2025: Unveiled Framer Studio for elite Framer agencies
• Mar 2025: Opened the Creator Program with 50% commissions

In addition to hosting global in-person meetups and regularly promoting designers who use their product, Framer is a rising star because of how forward-thinking they've been with community.

​Start earning with the Framer community →​

Building the Right Setup for Your Design Future

So how do you actually make use of community in 2025? Here’s what they recommended:

1. Build Trust-Based Feedback Loops

Gabriel's apprenticeship model creates a win-win: junior designers work on real client projects while he gets a trusted feedback network.

“The apprenticeship model started as a way to give junior designers what I wished I had when I was starting out. Looking back on my career, I grew the most simply by being exposed to how more experienced designers worked day-to-day.”

The structure is intentionally simple: “Apprentices take on small design tasks from real client projects, and I give them direct, no-bullshit feedback. Most of the time, their work isn’t ready to show the client — and that’s okay. It’s about practicing with real-world constraints and learning quickly.”

His has produced real results: “I’ve run a couple of cohorts so far, and it’s been rewarding — two apprentices ended up landing full-time offers: one with my studio and the other with one of my client companies.”

But there’s an unexpected personal benefit too: “One unexpected benefit for me has been a stronger sense of community. Working independently can get lonely sometimes, and just having a few people on Slack to say good morning to has made a real difference in making the day-to-day feel more connected.”

2. Integrate Community Feedback Into Your Process

Ben has made user feedback a core part of Contra’s development process: “We love working with designers, agencies, and videographers to help grow and design Contra. It seems obvious, but hiring people who are potential users of Contra has given us a huge amount of insight into what’s actually needed.”

He emphasizes that being commission-free fundamentally changes how they build: “Being commission-free allows us to build a totally different product. Without the need to drive everything into a transaction, we can invest in things like open identity, open discovery, and community features.”

This approach creates alignment instead of friction: “It’s definitely playing on hard mode, but I think we’ve been able to maintain goodwill with our users, while other platforms create an adversarial relationship. This is everything, IMO.”

3. Show Your Work Fast and Often

Dann’s “reconfirm process” shows designs to clients immediately: “I just start designing and show the clients what I’ve made as I go almost immediately. I call it the reconfirm process. Even wrote a course on it because it’s been my most successful traits I believe.”

This iterative approach completely changes the feedback dynamic: “When you show as you go you can move ahead quicker and get feedback quicker so you’re not wasting time. My clients love the openness and it just allows for faster pace completion.”

What’s interesting is how this approach both speeds up work and builds stronger relationships: “I never look at other web designers work. I used to, but every time I did I’d get stuck and see only what they did and couldn’t move past it.”

When I asked Dann about communities shrinking, he gave a refreshing take: “I think communities get smaller and smaller and honestly, they should. It’s too hard to please the masses. The most valuable thing you can do for lasting credibility is being authentic.”

His advice on building genuine community connections cuts through the typical social media advice: “Find designers you trust and be part of their community. Lift people up, don’t tear them down. Positivity always outlasts and wins.”

The Bottom Line

The most valuable design tools in 2025 aren't just about production - they're about connecting designers with the feedback, verification, and knowledge-sharing that helps them grow.

As Gabe put it: "Sustainable learning environments aren't something you wait around for — you build them by putting yourself (and your work) out there over and over again."

The line between "community platform" and "design tool" is blurring. The platforms where we showcase our work, get feedback, verify our contributions, and build relationships are becoming as essential to our workflows as the software we use to create.

In an AI-saturated design ecosystem, these human-centered tools - the ones that help us connect, learn, and grow together - might ultimately be the most valuable of all.

What community tools are you integrating into your design workflow? Hit reply and let me know.

See you this Friday in the Weekly Leaks,

Tommy

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