Content design's identity crisis (Oleksii Tkachenko)
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Oleksii Tkachenko has worked across software engineering, UX, and content design — which makes him unusually well-positioned to talk about the AI moment currently reshaping the industry.
In this episode, we talk about the growing identity crisis inside content design: the pressure to become more technical, the race to automate workflows, and the uncomfortable question sitting underneath all of it…what parts of the craft are actually worth keeping?
We explore why so much AI discourse online feels detached from reality, why many companies still don’t know what they want from content designers, and why the profession risks redefining itself around tools instead of outcomes.
Oleksii argues that content designers are still the “context bearers” inside product teams, and act as the people who connect systems, user understanding, language, and experience together. But as companies push for more automation, faster output, and leaner teams, the role itself is starting to fracture into competing visions of what content design should become.
We also talk about whether content designers actually want the future they’re advocating for.
What we talked about:
✅ Why LinkedIn creates a distorted picture of AI adoption
✅ The three different types of companies hiring content designers right now
✅ Why “AI curiosity” means different things at different organizations
✅ The danger of optimizing for output instead of product quality
✅ Why many AI workflows solve novelty rather than real user problems
✅ The tension between craft, speed, and automation
✅ Why content designers are becoming the “context bearers” for AI systems
✅ The risk of redefining content design around tools instead of outcomes
✅ Whether content designers actually want to become managers of AI agents
✅ Why some people are quietly mourning the old version of the profession
✅ The similarities between today’s AI shift and the rise of UX writing years ago
Where to find Adedayo:
Get 20% off workshops and courses at UX Content Collective. For content designers who want to upgrade their thinking, check out Advanced UX Content for Product.