I'm Patrick, a product design leader and the creator of Unknown Arts.

Every week, I share essays on the evolving creative process in tech—what I've seen work in the real world, what's changing, and where emerging tech is taking us. Topics range from hands-on product design to the psychology of creativity to the philosophy of work.

Over the past 13 years of my career, I’ve gone from brand strategy at Leo Burnett, to UI engineering at American Express, to leading UX design at a series of high-growth cybersecurity startups. That breadth shapes the lens I bring to every project—and every issue. Currently, I lead product design at Sublime Security, where I’m building AI-powered tools to stop cyberattacks.

Then name Unknown Arts draws inspiration from the ancient story of Daedalus, who used his creativity to invent a way out of the labyrinth. In that spirit, I'm charting my own path through today’s impossible maze — exploring how technology is reshaping creative work and what that means for our future.

What to expect

Every Sunday, I'll land in your inbox with insights and practical approaches you can apply to your own work. (Expect morning pacific time, I live in Los Angeles)

I also publish micro essays every weekday on LinkedIn and Substack Notes.

📚 Free resource for subscribers!

I curated 100 reading suggestions from top professionals in design and technology into a FREE Notion database. It’s a fantastic selection across a wide range of topics that combine to support a well-rounded skillset for the modern creative builder!

Every new subscriber will receive this database in their welcome email. All you have to do to get it for yourself is subscribe and check your email. 👇 ✉️

🏁 Begin your journey

There are 170+ free articles in the Unknown Arts archive. While each edition stands on its own, I’ve curated 25 pieces that form a good introduction. They’ll help you explore the key themes and ideas I've been developing:

AI Design

• 8 Design Breakthroughs Defining AI's Future

• The End of Design Certainty

• Computational Thinking is the New Literacy

• How Vibe Coding Improved My Data Viz Prototypes

• My Creative Technology Stack for 2025

Startup Design

• The Era of Design Entrepreneurship

• The Design IMPACT Framework

• Design to Win: Using Competition to Unlock Better Design

• 7 Insights for Navigating B2B Design

• Why You Should *Curate*, Not Create, a Design System

Tech Shifts

• 25 Predictions for AI and Creativity in 2025

• The Rise of Software as a Workforce

• The Great Creative Unbundling

• The Inconvenient Truth About AI and Jobs

• The Moment AI Surpasses You—and What Comes After

Mental Models

• 10 Heuristics to Simplify Design Decision-Making

• The Enduring Power of the MAYA Rule

• Default It, or Design It

• 5 Proven Sets of Design Principles and How I Use Them

• The Creative Cold Start Problem

Career & Craft

• 24 Things I Know After 10 Years in Tech, I Wish I’d Known in Year 1

• The Dawn of the Tech Generalist Renaissance

• Your Perfectionism is Lying to You

• No Country for Junior Designers

• 10 Books That Shaped How I Think About Tech, Life, and Creativity

Why subscribe?

By subscribing, you join thousands of forward-thinking creative professionals and entrepreneurs who see technology as a tool for mastery and care about building quality things that last.

If that resonates with you, you’re in the right place.