Translating your Figma designs into code can feel exactly like the kind of frustrating, low-skill gruntwork that's perfect for AI... except that most of us have also watched AI butcher hopeful screenshots into unresponsive spaghetti.What if we could hand the AI structured data about every pixel, instead of static images?This is how Figma Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers work. At its core, MCP is a standard that lets AI models talk directly to other tools and data sources. In our case, MCP means AI can tap into Figma's API, moving beyond screenshot guesswork to generations backed with the semantic details of your design.Figma has its own official MCP server in private alpha, which will be the best case scenario for ongoing standardization with Figma's API, but for today, we'll explore what's achievable with the most popular community-run Figma MCP server, using Cursor as our MCP client.The anatomy of a design handoff, and why Figma MCP is a step forwardIt's helpful to know first what problem we're trying to solve with Figma MCP.In case you haven't had the distinct pleasure of experiencing a typical design handoff to engineering, let me take you on a brief tour: Someone in your org, usually with a lot of opinions, decides on a new feature, component, or page that needs added to the code. Your design team creates a mockup. It is beautiful and full of potential. If you're really lucky, it's even practical to implement in code. You're often not really lucky. You begin to think how to implement the design. Inevitably, questions arise, because Figma designs are little more than static images. What happens when you hover this button? Is there an animation on scroll? Is this still legible in tablet size? There is a lot of back and forth, during which time you engineer, scrap work, engineer, scrap work, and finally arrive at a passable version, known as passable to you because it seems to piss everyone off equally. Now, finally, you can do the fun part: finesse. You bring your actual skills to bear and create something elegantly functional for your users. There may be more iterations after this, but you're happy for now.Sound familiar? Hopefully, it goes better at your org.Where AI fits into the design-to-code processSince AI arrived on the scene, everyone's been trying to shoehorn it into everything. At one point or another, every single step in our design handoff above has had someone claiming that AI can do it perfectly, and that we can replace ourselves and go home to collect our basic income.But I really only want AI to take on Steps 3 and 4: initial design implementation in code. For the rest, I very much like humans in charge. This is why something like a design-to-code AI excites me. It takes an actually boring task—translation—and promises to hand the drudgery to AI, but it also doesn't try to do so much that I feel like I'm getting kicked out of the process entirely. AI scaffolds the boilerplate, and I can just edit the details.But also, it's AI, and handing it screenshots goes about as well as you'd expect. It's like if you've ever tried to draw a friend's face from memory. Sure, you can kinda tell it's them.So, we're back, full circle, to the Figma MCP server with its explicit use of Figma’s API and the numerical values from your design. Let's try it and see how much better the results may be.How to use the Figma MCP serverOkay, down to business. Feel free to follow along. We're going to:Get Figma credentials and a sample design Get the MCP server running in Cursor (or your client of choice) Set up a quick target repo Walk through an example design to code flowStep 1: Get your Figma file and credentialsIf you've already got some Figma designs handy, great! It's more rewarding to see your own designs come to life. Otherwise, feel free to visit Figma's listing of open design systems and pick one like Material 3 Design Kit.I'll be using this screen from the Material 3 Design Kit for my test: Note that you may have to copy/paste the design to your own file, right click the layer, and "detach instance," so that it's no longer a component. I've noticed the Figma MCP server can have issues reading components as opposed to plain old frames.Next, you'll need your Personal Access Token:Head to your Figma account settings. Go to the Security tab. Generate a new token with the permissions and expiry date you prefer.Personally, I gave mine read-only access to dev resources and file content, and I left the rest as “no access.”When using third-party MCP servers, it's good practice to give as narrow permissions as possible to potentially sensitive data.Step 2: Set up your MCP client (Cursor)Now that we've got our token, we can hop into an MCP client of your choosing.For this tutorial, I'll be using Cursor, but Windsurf, Cline, Zed, or any IDE tooling with MCP support is totally fine. (Here’s a breakdown of the differences.) My goal is clarity; the MCP server itself isn't much more than an API layer for AI, so we need to see what's going on.In Cursor, head to Cursor Settings -> MCP -> Add new global MCP server. Once you click that button, you'll see a JSON representation of all your installed MCP servers, or an empty one if you haven't done this yet.You can add the community Figma MCP server like such:{ "mcpServers": { "Framelink Figma MCP": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "figma-developer-mcp", "--figma-api-key=YOUR_FIGMA_ACCESS_TOKEN", "--stdio"] } } }To ensure Cursor can use npx, make sure you have Node installed on your system.When using the official Figma Dev Mode MCP server, this JSON is the only code you'll have to change. Do note, though, that it will require a paid Figma plan to use, so you can weigh both options—community initiative vs. standardized support.Now, when you prompt Cursor in Agent mode, you'll see the AI make tool calls to the MCP server when you say things like, "Use the Figma MCP to..."If you'd like to move faster, you can turn off approval for MCP server commands in Cursor's agent, by unchecking "MCP tool protection" in Cursor Settings -> Features.Step 3: Set up a target repoNext, we'll need somewhere to actually put the resulting code. When using this workflow, you're not always going to be starting from scratch; good design to code means implementing Figma designs in existing repos.For our purposes today, I'll just spin up a Next.js starter template, with npx create-next-app@latest.Step 4: ShowtimeOkay, we should be all set. Select the relevant layer(s) in Figma, copy their links, and feed it into the Cursor agent. My prompt is just:Can you replace my homepage with this Figma design? It should be a basic chat interface. Figma frame: <https://www.figma.com/design/CPDcrzkVChAzQ3q1pC5mXd/Figma-MCP-vs.-Builder-Fusion?node-id=2-215&t=K6v805pKyoU4FqdA-4> Please use the Figma MCP server. Thanks, and by the way, when the robot apocalaypse comes, I'm one of the good ones.Let's see it in action:And here's an example of some of the resulting code that it made:{/* Message Input */} <div className="p-6 bg-white border-t border-[#E8DEF8]"> <div className="flex items-center space-x-4"> <button className="p-2 rounded-full hover:bg-[#F3EDF7]"> <svg className="w-6 h-6 text-[#1D1B20]" fill="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24"> <path d="M12 2C6.48 2 2 6.48 2 12s4.48 10 10 10 10-4.48 10-10S17.52 2 12 2zm5 11h-4v4h-2v-4H7v-2h4V7h2v4h4v2z"/> </svg> </button> <button className="p-2 rounded-full hover:bg-[#F3EDF7]"> <svg className="w-6 h-6 text-[#1D1B20]" fill="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24"> <path d="M11.99 2C6.47 2 2 6.48 2 12s4.47 10 9.99 10C17.52 22 22 17.52 22 12S17.52 2 11.99 2zM12 20c-4.42 0-8-3.58-8-8s3.58-8 8-8 8 3.58 8 8-3.58 8-8 8zm3.5-9c.83 0 1.5-.67 1.5-1.5S16.33 8 15.5 8 14 8.67 14 9.5s.67 1.5 1.5 1.5zm-7 0c.83 0 1.5-.67 1.5-1.5S9.33 8 8.5 8 7 8.67 7 9.5 7.67 11 8.5 11zm3.5 6.5c2.33 0 4.31-1.46 5.11-3.5H6.89c.8 2.04 2.78 3.5 5.11 3.5z"/> </svg> </button> <div className="flex-1 relative"> <div className="flex items-center bg-[#ECE6F0] rounded-full px-4 py-3"> <button className="p-1 rounded-full hover:bg-[#D0BCFF] mr-3"> <svg className="w-5 h-5 text-[#4A4459]" fill="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24"> <path d="M3 18h18v-2H3v2zm0-5h18v-2H3v2zm0-7v2h18V6H3z"/> </svg> </button> <input type="text" value={newMessage} onChange={(e) => setNewMessage(e.target.value)} onKeyPress={handleKeyPress} placeholder="Type a message..." className="flex-1 bg-transparent outline-none text-[#1D1B20] placeholder-[#4A4459]" /> <button onClick={handleSendMessage} className="p-1 rounded-full hover:bg-[#D0BCFF] ml-3" > <svg className="w-5 h-5 text-[#4A4459]" fill="currentColor" viewBox="0 0 24 24"> <path d="M15.5 14h-.79l-.28-.27C15.41 12.59 16 11.11 16 9.5 16 5.91 13.09 3 9.5 3S3 5.91 3 9.5 5.91 16 9.5 16c1.61 0 3.09-.59 4.23-1.57l.27.28v.79l5 4.99L20.49 19l-4.99-5zm-6 0C7.01 14 5 11.99 5 9.5S7.01 5 9.5 5 14 7.01 14 9.5 11.99 14 9.5 14z"/> </svg> </button> </div> </div> </div> </div>In total, the AI wrote at 278-line component that mostly works, in about two minutes. Honestly, not bad for a single shot.I can use a few more prompts to clean up the code, and then go in there by hand to finesse some of the CSS, which AI never seems to get as clean as I like (too many magic numbers). But it definitely saves me time over setting this all up by hand.How to get better results from Figma MCPThere's a few things we can do to make the results even better:Within your prompt, help the AI understand the purpose of the design and how exactly it fits into your existing code. Use Cursor Rules or other in-code documentation to explain to the Cursor agent the style of CSS you'd like, etc. Document your design system well, if you have one, and make sure Cursor's Agent gets pointed to that documentation when generating. Don't overwhelm the agent. Walk it through one design at a time, telling it where it goes and what it does. The process isn't fully automatic yet.Basically, it all boils down to more context, given granularly. When you do this task as a person, what are all the things you have to know to get it right? Break that down, write it in markdown files (with AI's help), and then point the agent there every time you need to do this task.Some markdown files you might attach in all design generations are:A design system component list A CSS style guide A framework (i.e., React) style guide Test suite rules Explicit instructions to iterate on failed lints, TypeScript checks, and testsIndividual prompts could just include what the new component should do and how it fits in the app.Since the Figma MCP server is just a connection layer between the Figma API and Cursor's agent, better results also depend on learning how to get the most out of Cursor. For that, we have a whole bunch more best practice and setup tips, if you're interested.More than anything, don't expect perfect results. Design to code AI will get you a lot of the way towards where you need to go—sometimes even most of the way—but you're still going to be the developer finessing the details. The goal is just to save a little time. You're not trying to replace yourself.Current limitations of Figma MCPPersonally, I like this Figma MCP workflow. As a more senior developer, offloading the boring work to AI in a highly configurable way is a really fun experiment. But there's still a lot of limitations.MCP is a dev-only playground. Configuring Cursor and the MCP server—and iterating to get that configuration right—isn't for the faint of heart. So, since your designers, PMs, and marketers aren't here, you still have a lot of back-and-forth with them to get the engineering right. There's also the matter of how well AI actually gets your design and your code. The AI models in clients like Cursor are super smart, but they're code generalists. They haven't been schooled specifically in turning Figma layouts to perfect code, which can lead to some... creative... interpretations. Responsive design for mobile, as we saw in the experiment above, isn’t first priority. It's not a deterministic process. Even if AI has perfect access to Figma data, it can still go off the rails. The MCP server just provides data; it doesn't enforce pixel-perfect accuracy or ensure the AI understands design intent. Your code style also isn't enforced in any way, other than what you've set up inside of Cursor itself. Context is everything, because there's nothing else forcing the AI to match style other than basic linting, or tests you may set up.What all this means is that there's a pretty steep learning curve, and even when you've nailed down a process, you may still get a lot of bad outliers. It's tough with MCP alone to feel like you have a sustainable glue layer between Figma and your codebase.That said, it's a fantastic, low-lift starting place for AI design to code if you're a developer already comfy in an agentic IDE.Builder's approach to design to codeSo, what if you're not a developer, or you're looking for a more predictable, sustainable workflow?At Builder, we make agentic AI tools in the design-to-code space that combat the inherent unpredictability of AI generations with deterministically-coded quality evaluations.Figma to code is a solved problem for us already. Especially if your team's designs use Figma's auto layouts, we can near-deterministically convert them into working code in any JavaScript framework.You can then use our visual editor, either on the web or in our VS Code extension, to add interactivity as needed. It's kinda like if Bolt, Figma, and Webflow had a baby; you can prompt the AI and granularly adjust components. Vibe code DOOM or just fix your padding. Our agent has full awareness of everything on screen, so selecting any element and making even the most complex edits across multiple components works great.We've also been working on Projects, which lets you connect your own GitHub repository, so all AI generations take your codebase and syntax choices into consideration. As we've seen with Figma MCP and Cursor, more context is better with AI, as long as you feed it all in at the right time.Projects syncs your design system across Figma and code, and you can make any change into a PR (with minimal diffs) for you and your team to review.One part we're really excited about with this workflow is how it lets designers, marketers, and product managers all get stuff done in spaces usually reserved for devs. As we've been dogfooding internally, we've seen boards of Jira papercut tickets just kinda... vanish.Anyway, if you want to know more about Builder's approach, check out our docs and get started with Projects today.So, is the Figma MCP worth your time?Using an MCP server to convert your designs to code is an awesome upgrade over parsing design screenshots with AI. Its data-rich approach gets you much farther along, much faster than developer effort alone.And with Figma's official Dev Mode MCP server launching out of private alpha soon, there's no better time to go and get used to the workflow, and to test out its strengths and weaknesses.Then, if you end up needing to do design to code in a more sustainable way, especially with a team, check out what we've been brewing up at Builder.Happy design engineering!

Paramount+ has a lighter lineup of original content in June, though the platform will stream the live broadcast of the 78th annual Tony Awards from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The show, hosted by Wicked's Cynthia Erivo, will air live on June 8 for Paramount+ With Showtime subscribers—other viewers can watch on-demand the next day. Other content available for Paramount+ With Showtime users is Love Me (June 16), a post-apocalyptic romance starring Kristen Steward and Steven Yeun, and Noah's Arc: The Movie (June 20), 20 years after the titular show first debuted. Darryl Stephens, Rodney Chester, Doug Spearman, Christian Vincent, Jensen Atwood, and Wilson Cruz are set to reprise their roles. Here’s everything else coming to the service in June. Note that titles with an asterisk are exclusive to Paramount+ With Showtime; everything else is also available to subscribers on the ad-supported plan. Those with two asterisks are available to Paramount+ With Showtime users streaming live on CBS and to all subscribers the following day.Paramount+ Originals and premieres coming in June 2025Available June 8The 78th Annual Tony Awards**Available June 16Love Me*Available June 20Noah's Arc: The Movie,* premiereTV shows coming to Paramount+ in June 2025Available June 4SpongeBob SquarePants (season 14) Available June 11The Really Loud House (season 2) Available June 22Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards (on-demand) Available June 25The Patrick Star Show (season 3) Ice Airport Alaska (season 5) The Last Cowboy (season 5) Movies coming to Paramount+ in June 2025Available June 13:10 to Yuma*12 Years a Slave Bad News Bears BlacKkKlansmanBoogie NightsBut I'm a CheerleaderCall Me By Your NameCarolCarriersCenter StageChanging LanesChasing AmyCloverfieldCrawlspaceDaddy Day CampDance FlickDog Day AfternoonDouble Jeopardy Eagle Eye ElfEnemy at the Gates EuroTripEverybody's Fine ExtractFirst Blood HeatwaveHow She MoveHow to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Imagine That In & OutIndiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal SkullIndiana Jones and the Last CrusadeIndiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark Indiana Jones and the Temple of DoomJawbreakerKinky BootsLaw of DesireLayer Cake Light of My LifeLike a BossMarathon ManMastermindsMilitary Wives*Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final InsultNo Country for Old MenOrange CountyOverdrivePretty In PinkPulp Fiction Racing with the MoonRambo IIIRambo: First Blood Part II RED* Reservoir Dogs Risky Business Road Trip Run & Gun Saturday Night FeverSave the Last Dance School Ties Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse She's All That Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow Stand By Me Teen Titans GO! To the Movies The Autopsy of Jane Doe* The Crossing Guard The Dictator The Fighting Temptations The GamblerThe General's DaughterThe Girl Next Door The Godfather The Godfather Part II The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone The Hunt for Red OctoberThe Ides of March The Kings of SummerThe Last Samurai The Lovely Bones The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of FearThe Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad! The Nice Guys The Other Woman* The People vs. Larry Flynt The Running ManThe ShootistThe Space Between Us* The Untouchables Tigerland Tommy BoyTootsie Total Recall (1990) True Grit Whiplash Without a Paddle xXxZola Available June 5Lions for Lambs*

An SNL Icon Retires Fans of Saturday Night Live have long wondered: What happens behind the scenes of the sketch-comedy show? In 2024, we got a glimpse with Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night, which showcased just how stressful producing weekly live sketch comedy can be.  After 50 years of constructing Saturday Night Live’s sets for their various sketches, Stephen “Demo” DeMaria is retiring at age 87. And while DeMaria likely felt stressed out at times leading a team of carpenters for such a large-scale production on a time crunch, he says, “I didn’t have a bored day in my life. Never.”  “According to the report, DeMaria’s schedule at the start of each new fall season included starting his Thursdays at 1 a.m., receiving the week’s set design sketches by 2 a.m., and then splitting the work among five teams of approximately 50 total carpenters.”  Read more at Entertainment Weekly American Idol Crowns Its Latest Winner One of the most intriguing aspects of the early 2000s era of reality TV was fan voting. I remember crowding around the TV with my mom and sisters, watching The Voice, and pulling out our phones every chance we could vote for our favorite contestants.  American Idol has stood the test of time, as it has been producing stars since 2002. Season 23 of American Idol declared its new champion, 27-year-old Jamal Roberts, on May 18. The physical education teacher from Mississippi has shined all season, landing him in the final three, alongside John Foster and Breanna Nix.  “The crooner, who excelled across all the genres, is the second Black male artist to win the competition after Ruben Studdard took the title during the show’s second season in 2003.” Read more at CNN Sesame Street Gets a New Home Join our mailing list Get the best of Den of Geek delivered right to your inbox! Elmo’s home is now on Netflix. Following Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision not to renew Sesame Street on HBO Max, Netflix secured a deal with Sesame Workshop to keep the educational children’s show alive.  Notably, when the show was premiering on HBO Max, the streaming service was the only way to watch new episodes. In the wake of budget cuts to public broadcast, which resulted in countless layoffs and furloughs, Netflix is partnering up with PBS to release episodes to public broadcast the same day that they premiere on Netflix.  PBS, where Sesame Street aired originally, has provided accessible educational programming for children in low-income households for over 55 years. Sesame Workshop CEO, Sherri Westin, said in a statement that Netflix will showcase Sesame Street to a global audience, and thanks to this unique public-private deal, new episodes will be accessible in the U.S. for free through public TV.  “The deal with Netflix and PBS not only provides much needed financial stability for the non-profit (it is slated to host its annual fundraiser next week), but also provides expanded access to the program for free, an extremely unusual arrangement for Netflix.”  Read more at The Hollywood Reporter Sebastián Lelio Makes Waves at the Cannes Film Festival Lelio spoke with Deadline at the festival following the premiere of his newest project, The Wave (La Ola)— a movie musical that surrounds the Chilean feminist wave in 2018. 2018 marked a year of mass protests, strikes and civil unrest in Chile, mostly carried out by university and high school students in response to sexism and violence against women in educational institutions. This movie comes at a culturally significant time, as there has been an increase in student-led protests.  You might be thinking: Why is this a musical? After the mixed-to-negative response to Emilia Pérez, a movie musical that is also in Spanish, viewers may be weary to give this new movie musical a chance.  In his interview with Deadline, Lelio makes it clear that the use of music and performance in this movie are intentional. He described the musical element of the movie as “more of depiction of political cacophony.”  “Daniela López stars in the film – which debuted in Cannes Premiere – as a music student who joins the cause, haunted by an incident with her voice teacher’s assistant. She is joined in the cast by a raft of young Chilean acting talents including Paulina Cortés, Lola Bravo and Avril Aurora.”  Read more at Deadline  Latest Kristen Stewart Project Gets a Streaming Release Date Even if you love Kristen Stewart, you might not have appreciated her starring role as a weather buoy in the 2024 post-apocalyptic romance, Love Me. If you left the theater with mixed feelings in 2024, or just overall confusion, you’ll be happy to know that on June 16 the film will be available for streaming on Paramount+ with Showtime.  “The movie, which follows a buoy and a satellite who meet online long after human extinction (yes, you read that right), will be available on Paramount+ with Showtime via Bleecker Street’s continuous partnership with the service. During their journey together, Me/Deja (Stewart) and Iam/Liam (Yeun) discover what life on earth was like for humans and in the process find out who they are, and what it means to love and live (and, presumably, laugh).”  Read more at MovieWeb

The lifespan of a games console has extended a lot since I was a child. In the 1990s, this kind of technology would be out of date after just a couple of years. There would be some tantalising new machine out before you knew it, everybody competing to be on the cutting edge: the Game Boy and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive in 1989 were followed by the Game Gear in 1990 and the Super NES in 1991. Five years was a long life for a gaming machine.Now, it’s more like 10. The Nintendo Switch 2 will be released in a couple of weeks, more than eight years since I first picked an original Switch up off its dock and marvelled at the instant transition to portable play. Games consoles often feel like they mark off particular eras in my life: the Nintendo 64 was the defining console of my childhood, the PlayStation 2 of my adolescence, and the Xbox 360 of the first years of my career, the first console launch I ever covered as a (ridiculously young) journalist. The Nintendo Switch came along just a few months after my first child was born, and for me it has become the games machine of that era of harried early parenthood.When I reflect on my experiences with the Switch, I remember snatching moments in Breath of the Wild’s Hyrule while the baby napped beside me; hiding on the veranda of a French villa to play the odd Splatoon match on our first family holiday; and trying to make a mint on my Animal Crossing turnip trades while walking my second baby around the house in his sling, trying to get him to sleep (he never did). When they got old enough, the first games I played with my children were on the Switch. We all played Pokémon Sword and Shield together, and most recently my youngest made his way through the surprisingly entertaining Princess Peach Showtime with only minimal assistance from me.Hello to the moo … The Nintendo Switch created a unique gaming space all of its own. Photograph: Justin Lane/EPAOver the last eight years, my living room TV became dominated by things like Bluey and Moana and most recently (god help me), Alvin and the Chipmunks, and I no longer have the hours of uninterrupted gaming time in the evenings. The Switch gave me some of that that time back, though, letting me dip into games whenever I had a moment – which gave me vital stress relief, a route back to myself during some of the most challenging years of my life. Eight years is a long time, enough for anyone’s life to change beyond recognition. In that time I’ve lost people, moved cities, gained new friends, too. And, of course, we all went through the pandemic. Animal Crossing: New Horizons became perhaps the defining game of that time, and I am not the only person for whom the Switch was a blessed oasis, a way to connect when we were starved of in-person interaction.Things have changed for me since 2017, as they probably have for you. Consoles feel like companions, especially perhaps the portable ones like the Switch and the Game Boy, which we literally carry with us wherever we go. My kids are older now, enjoying all the Switch games that I enjoyed when they were very small – and it does seem as if the Switch 2 will neatly mark another new stage, for me and for them.I recently gathered together all the Switch consoles, games, controllers and accessories in my house and my office for an audit, from the battered day-one unit that serves as the family console to the untouched OLED Zelda special edition my partner got me and the variably functioning spare JoyCons accumulated over time. It’s not quite time for them to join the other old consoles under my bed, each in a clear plastic box with all of its cables, ready to be dusted off when the time comes; the Switch 2 will take its place in my rucksack and in my office, but I won’t be upgrading the family console for some time yet. I don’t really wantA little sentimentality is forgivable at the end of an era. In a couple of weeks all the talk will be about the new console, how it’s selling, whether it’s worth the money, what the best Mario Kart World strategies are, and how it compares to its record-breaking predecessor. For now, I’m not thinking much about what the Nintendo Switch meant for the gaming industry; instead I’m thinking about what it meant to me.What to playBe who you wanna be … there are many lives to choose from in the latest RPG, Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time. Illustration: Level5/Have you ever heard of Fantasy Life? It was a bit of a cult hit on the Nintendo 3DS in 2014, a cosy-feeling role-playing game that let you switch between 12 different professions, so you would be blacksmithing one minute, fighting monsters another and cooking things up the next. The sequel – Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals Time – is out today after years of delays.You can now be an artist or a farmer as well as a magician, carpenter, fisherman, alchemist or whatever else you fancy, and also it adds time travel into the mix. It’s an intriguing amalgamation of the Animal Crossing/Harvest Moon style of Japanese life simulator, and the Dragon Quest/Ni no Kuni flavour of unthreatening role-playing game, and I’m looking forward to exploring it. An especial shout-out to the members of one of my group chats who have been eagerly awaiting this for more than a decade.Available on: Switch/2, PS4/5, Xbox, PC Estimated playtime: skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Pushing ButtonsFree weekly newsletterKeza MacDonald's weekly look at the world of gamingPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionWhat to readBroom broom … the home delivery system in Crescent County. Illustration: Electric Saint A couple of interesting games hitting Kickstarter this week: Crescent County, a colourful witch-delivery game with broom-racing and plenty of small-town drama; and a ghost story set in Paisley just outside Glasgow, named after its Chinese takeaway Crystal Garden. If you have a few minutes, have a go at this satirical simulation text game You Are Generative AI, which casts you as an increasingly self-aware AI large language model answering random questions that people cannot be bothered to research or think through themselves. I got three different endings and one of them made me genuinely quite sad. Developers at Bungie, makers of Destiny and the forthcoming shooter Marathon, have been dealing with an alleged plagiarism scandal after unattributed designs from an artist called Antireal were found in promotional screenshots and art from Marathon. Bungie is blaming the mistake on a former employee. VG247 has a rundown. After half a decade, PlayStation 5 sales are neck and neck with PlayStation 4’s results at this point in its life cycle, at 78m – despite the fact that its price has actually increased, due to the wild times in which we live. Video Game Chronicle gets into the numbers. What to clickQuestion BlockWhat’s in a name? … playing a video game using Nintendo’s Wii U controller. Photograph: Jae C Hong/API’ve had several good suggestions for the name of reader Travis’s book-club style video game club: Select/Start (thanks Alex), Long Play (from Eva), and Doki Doki Videogame Club (niche reference there, Chris). Especial props to Kenny, however, who went hog wild and came up with several, including these three beauts: Go Forth and Multiplay, Concurrent Players and Let’s Console Each Other.Lucas also had a great suggestion for last week’s questioner: “Your bookclubber should look at itch.io for crazy little free games to play and discuss with their friends! The indie folks sharing their games there would probably love the attention/feedback of a games book club.” (You Are Generative AI, which I mentioned earlier, is on Itch, along with just hundreds of other shortform games worthy of discussion.)And we’ve just about got room for another (timely) question, this time from reader Ali:“I’ve always admired Nintendo for coming up with different names for each console, as opposed to Sony going for the sequential naming convention and Microsoft jumping from 360 to One to Series (?). My opinion has somewhat changed now that the successor to the Nintendo Switch is called Switch 2. Do you have any thoughts on console names?”It’s true that Nintendo usually goes for completely new names for each console, except arguably the series of Game Boys, the NES and Super NES, Wii and Wii U, and now Switch and Switch 2. And yes, this is the first time they’ve gone for a number. I’d say this is down to how badly the company did with the Wii U, whose confusing name surely contributed to how badly it flopped. But I think it reflects the more conservative and cautious mood of the games industry as a whole in 2025, as it comes to the end of decades’ worth of unsustainably rapid growth. Or maybe it’s because Nintendo’s president Shuntaro Furukawa used to be an accountant.If you’ve got a question for Question Block – or anything else to say about the newsletter – email us on pushingbuttons@theguardian.com

We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.Streaming services have basically come full circle: What started as a cheap alternative to cable TV has become an expensive monthly cost in its own right, as price hikes and crackdowns on password sharing have made subscribing to multiple streaming services just as expensive, if not more so, than some conventional cable plans. Luckily, there are often discounts, deals, and loopholes to exploit that can make streaming more affordable—and sometimes even free. Here are the best streaming deals you can get right now.This month's best streaming deal Credit: Peacock The very best streaming deal right now is for Peacock. You can get an annual Peacock Premium plan for $24.99 (saving you $55) with code SPRINGSAVINGS and get all caught up on Poker Face. (Look for more Peacock deals down below.)Here are the best of the rest of the streaming deals right now:Amazon Prime VideoYou can try a 30-day free trial.Check out what's new on Prime Video this month, as well as the best Prime Video Original movies to watch.Prime Video is also available on its own for $8.99 a month, so if you’re only in it for the shows and movies, you can skip the full Prime membership and save yourself six bucks a month.AMC+You can try AMC+ for $5 for the first month (regular price is $9.99/month) through Sling TV (scroll down to see the deal). You do not need to have a Sling plan to get this deal.If you do sign up for a Sling subscription, you’ll get your first month of AMC+ for free.You can also try a seven-day free trial.You can get an annual subscription to ad-free AMC+ through Verizon's +play for $83.88 (saves you $3 per month).You can bundle AMC+ with STARZ on Prime Video for $13.99 (save $6.99/month).You can sign up through Roku for just $2.99 for the first two months.Apple TV+You can get a 7-day free trial of Apple TV+.You can get a free subscription if you’re a T-Mobile customer with a Go5G Plus or Go5G Next plan.You get three months of free Apple TV+ when you buy an Apple product.You can get a free month of Apple TV+ when you sign up through Roku.You can get Apple Music for just $5.99/month with a student discount—and it comes with free access to Apple TV+.Check out the best original series from Apple TV.The Criterion ChannelThis arthouse streamer is the best service for true movie buffs, and you can sign up for a free trial before being charged the $99.99 annual fee (which already represents a savings over the $10.99 cost of a monthly plan).Curiosity StreamSave $20 when you sign up for a Standard Curiosity Stream annual plan, and $50 when you sign up for the Smart Bundle annual plan.New users can also score $250 off a lifetime subscription to Curiosity Stream’s Standard plan.DirecTV StreamYou can get two years of Max, Paramount+ with Showtime, Starz, MGM+, and Cinemax with the purchase of the Premier package starting at $124.99 per month (it saves $10 per month, or $240 over two years).Or can try a five-day free DirecTV Stream trial.You can also unlock 105+ free live channels just by signing up for MyFree DirecTV with your email and downloading the app.Discovery+You can subscribe to Discovery+ ($9.99/month) as an add-on through Sling TV—no base plan required.If you bundle it with Sling Blue or Sling Orange, you’ll get the first month free.There's also a seven-day free trial if you just want to test it out.Disney+You can get the Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle with ads for $16.99 (a 43% discount off its original 29.97/mo price)Or you can get the Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle without ads for $29.99 (a 42% discount off its original $51.97/mo price)You can get Disney+ and Hulu (with ads) for $10.99 per month (save 44% per month).You can get Disney+ and Hulu (no ads) for $19.99 per month (save 42% per month).You can get Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ (with ads) for $16.99 per month.You can get Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ (no ads) for $26.99 per month.Verizon subscribers who have an Unlimited Ultimate plan have the option to include a Disney package, which provides them with Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ (with ads) for just $10 monthly (save $6.99 per month).Check out what's new on Disney+ this month.FuboTVTry a seven-day free trial of FuboTV.If you’re a new subscriber, you get 30 days free of FuboTV Pro if you’re a My Best Buy Plus or Total member (save $84.99).New subscribers also get $20 off the first month.HuluYou can get the Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle with ads for $16.99.Or you can get the Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle without ads for $29.99.Get an annual plan of Hulu (with ads) for $99.99 instead of $9.99 monthly (save $19.89)You can get Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ (with ads) for $16.99 per month.Get Hulu + Live TV, Disney+, and ESPN+ (all three with ads) for $82.99 per month.T-Mobile members can get Hulu at no cost through Hulu on Us with their Go5G Next plan.Students can get Hulu for $1.99 per month after an 80% discount.Check out what's new on Hulu this month.MaxYou can get the new Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle with ads for $16.99 (save $12.98/month).Or you can get the Disney+, Hulu, and Max bundle without ads for $29.99 (save $21.98/month)You can get Max (with ads) for $99.99 per year (save $19.89 per year over the monthly cost).You can get Max (with no ads) for $169.99 per year.You can get Max Premium (with no ads) for $209.99 per year (save $41.89 per year).Verizon subscribers who have myPlan have the option to include a Netflix and Max bundle package with ads for just $10 monthly per line (save $7.98 per month).Cricket Wireless includes Max (with ads) in its $60/month plan.Or if you use DoorDash regularly, you could sign up for a DashPass Annual Plan, and you’ll get Max (with ads) included at no extra cost for a year.Check out what's new on Max this month, and the best movies and TV shows to stream on Max.MGM+You can get six free months when you buy a Fire TV device from Amazon.Try for free with a seven-day trial on Amazon Prime.Or get two months of MGM+ for 99 cents/month on the Roku Channel if you join before May 22.NetflixIf you’re a Verizon customer, you can get a year of Netflix for free when you buy certain annual subscriptions through +play.If you’re a Verizon customer, you can get Netflix for a year if you buy an annual subscription to STARZ or AMC+ through +play. Read the FAQ here.Verizon subscribers who have myPlan have the option to include a Netflix and Max bundle package with ads for just $10 monthly per line (save $7.98 per month).You can save on Netflix (Standard with ads) if you’re a T-Mobile customer with a Go5G Plus or Next plan.Check out what's new on Netflix this month and the best movies and TV shows to stream this week.NFL+If you’re a Verizon customer, you can get an annual subscription to NFL+ Premium through +play for $99.99 (saving you around $80 over monthly billing)Or you could get the NFL+ for $6.99/mo or $49.99/season.Get NFL Sunday Ticket for $40 per month.Paramount+Get a year of Paramount+ Essential for $59.99 (save $2.99 per month compared to the monthly plan).You can get Paramount+ with SHOWTIME for free for a week, then it's $12.99 monthly.You can get Paramount+ for free when you sign up for a Walmart+ membership (or if you already have one) as part of your subscription.Students can get a Paramount+ Essential for $5.99 monthly.Or if you have a Hulu subscription, you can add Paramount+ with Showtime for $12.99/monthCheck out what's new on Paramount+ and Showtime this month.PeacockYou can get the annual Premium Peacock plan for $24.99 (save $55 with code SPRINGSAVINGS).Students can get Peacock Premium for $2.99 per month for 12 months.Xfinity internet customers who sign up for NOW TV for $20 a month, which includes 40 live TV and on-demand channels, can get Peacock Premium for free.Instacart+ members get a free Peacock Premium annual membershipHere are the best original Peacock shows worth watching.PhiloYou can try a seven-day free trial of Philo.ShowtimeYou can try it free for seven days with Paramount+.Get it bundled with Paramount+ across streaming services, including Hulu and Sling TV.Sling TVYou can get the Orange or Blue service for $20 for the first month, which is 50% off the regular monthly price.You can also save $38 by prepaying for the first 3 months of Sling TV.StarzYou can get a Starz subscription for $5 for three months.You can get Starz for $2.99/month for two months on Prime Video through May 27, then it's $10.99/month after.Or you can get it for $1.99 for two months if you sign up through Roku.VuduNo current deals for Vudu.YouTube TVYou can get two months of YouTube TV for $59.99 if you're a new subscriber.$59.99 for your first two months (save $46 for two months), then $82.99 per month.Get YouTube TV and NFL Sunday Ticket for $31.50 per month (plus $59.99/month for the YouTube TV base plan during the first two months)You can also try YouTube TV for free for 10 days.

Real-world journeys that blend digital, physical, and emotional touchpointsAt the very beginning, there were no templatesWhen e-commerce first took off, every website was a handcrafted experience. Brands hired developers to code their stores from scratch, pouring hours into every layout decision and line of code. It was messy, expensive, and full of quirks — but each site had a personality. No two stores looked alike, and that uniqueness helped brands stand out (for better or worse).Then came the era of standardization. Platforms like Shopify and Magento made it easy to spin up an online store in hours, not months. Templates took over, and with them came the rise of best practices, grid systems, and polished uniformity. This shift was supported by principles like Jakob’s Law, which tells us that users spend most of their time on other sites — so experiences should feel familiar. It was the golden age of efficiency — just not of originality. But now, the pendulum is swinging back. More and more brands are breaking free from the template mold, crafting distinctive, memorable experiences that turn browsing into something closer to brand theatre. Conversion matters — but so does character.Luxury is leading character-based e-commerceWhile living in Shanghai, I saw firsthand how luxury brands embraced digital experiences without compromising their identity. Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Prada proved that people were willing to buy high-ticket items online, long before it became the norm. I still remember the buzz when someone in Shanghai bought a Ferrari online. It was a wake-up call: e-commerce had matured.Luxury brands, especially in China, began investing in beautifully crafted websites that didn’t just sell — they told stories. They became pioneers of what best-in-class online shopping could feel like. Before diving into broader industry examples, let’s look at a few luxury sites that show how to combine simplicity, usability, and brand immersion.Louis Vuitton offers a seamless journey through thousands of products while maintaining an elegant, editorial aesthetic. It’s a smart balance of information density and calm navigation that respects the user’s cognitive load.Celine made a bold move with a unique left-side navigation that breaks convention without breaking usability — bringing core controls within easy reach and inviting curiosity through layout.Dior invites you to explore the craftsmanship behind its products before nudging you toward e-commerce. This thoughtful sequence taps into the Peak-End Rule: people remember the emotional peak and the ending, not every step. Dior ensures both are on-brand and memorable.Louis Vuitton’s website combines seamless site loading with elegant visuals and best in class navigation.Celine came up with a unique left side navigation.Dior wants you to first see how their bags are handcrafted before even going into the ecommerce section.Delightful Experiences Powered by Modern TechToday (in 2025), designing great e-commerce experiences is both more challenging and more exciting than ever. Why? Because we now have more tools at our disposal — AI-powered chatbots, recommendation engines, immersive video, and more. But technology alone isn’t enough. It takes smart experience design to turn these tools into something customers truly value.Dior — Recovering from “Out of Stock” with GraceWhen a friend of mine rushed to Dior’s website after seeing their new foundation stick on TikTok, it was already sold out. Instead of a dead end, the site invited her to leave her email for a restock alert. The next day, she received an email with a direct link to her shade, picked “pick up in store,” and shortly after, got a personalized WhatsApp message from a Beauty Advisor. Dior turned a moment of friction into an orchestrated omnichannel success story — from anonymous browser to known customer (capturing someone’s email on your site should be one of your key objectives).Dior’s “Alert me” CTA leads to an email capture.Oysho — Communicating Lifestyle & QualityOysho is a masterclass in how to blend emotional connection with functional UX. The website immerses you in a world of wellness, movement, and slow fashion. It’s not just about the products; it’s about how you’ll feel wearing them. Their art direction — light-filled photography, calm color palettes, and minimal design — reinforces a brand identity centered on mindful living.From a UX perspective, the site is quietly brilliant. Returning users immediately see their order status, creating a sense of continuity (and reducing anxiety). Gift-wrapping flows and personalized messages add thoughtful delight, while back-in-stock alerts close the loop with zero friction.Gifting options on Oysho include a personal message, gift wrapping and not including the cost of the purchase. Very thoughtful.The site does an excellent job of communicating the functional benefits of their clothing — like breathable or high-resistance fabrics — using clean, unobtrusive icons. These subtle visual cues enhance decision-making without adding friction, creating a sense of trust and product clarity. It’s a design tactic Uniqlo also uses effectively, especially for their tech-enhanced basics, where innovation needs to be conveyed clearly but without overwhelming the shopper.Oysho strikes a perfect balance between inspire and shopping.In doing so, Oysho taps into the Aesthetic-Usability Effect — the perception that beautiful interfaces are more usable, which increases patience and satisfaction even when minor issues arise.Uniqlo — The Online/Offline QueenUniqlo continues to quietly disrupt the fashion world with a digital ecosystem that just works. The brilliance lies not in bells and whistles, but in a frictionless, service-oriented approach that integrates online convenience with in-store immediacy.Here’s what sets Uniqlo apart:Check store inventory in real-time, down to color and size — even when you’re in-store. Using the app, you can scan a product tag to instantly see which sizes or colors are available nearby.Reserve online, pick up in store the same day — a perfect blend of impulse and instant gratification.RFID self-checkout in physical stores is almost magical: just drop your clothes into the checkout tray, and everything is automatically scanned. No barcodes. No awkward folding. Just out.Membership benefits are effortlessly cross-channel — simply scan your member code from the app, and you’re recognized whether shopping online or in person. It’s a seamless loyalty experience that doesn’t ask customers to jump through hoops.Behind all this is a Uniqlo does this beautifully, absorbing backend complexity to offer a surprisingly intuitive customer journey.Making the checkout very simple while capturing the users membership information to connect offline to online experiences.Same day click and collect make it convenient to order online things that I can pick up later when I go out for lunch with is close to a Uniqlo store and don’t have to wait for it to be delivered to my home.Starbucks — Best-Value Membership ExperienceStarbucks has created a digital flywheel powered by simplicity and consistency. Everything revolves around one app. It’s your loyalty card, your payment tool, your order-ahead assistant, your offer inbox — and your direct line to perks. It all feels effortless, but that’s precisely the point. Compare that to other retailers who force you to log into a website just to check your points — assuming you even remember your password. Starbucks eliminates those micro-frustrations entirely.And because it’s a native app, it taps into core mobile capabilities — like GPS for finding nearby stores, integrated payment, and real-time push notifications — without ever feeling like it’s trying too hard. This kind of thoughtful integration is exactly what makes omnichannel UX feel natural, fluid, and genuinely useful.The loyalty system is brilliantly simple: earn one star per dollar, unlock rewards. That’s no accident — it’s the Endowed Progress Effect at play. By giving users visible progress toward a reward, they’re far more likely to stay engaged and repeat behavior.Even better, the app is context-aware. It remembers your preferences, tailors offers, and knows your go-to store. It’s a prime example of personalization that empowers, not overwhelms.Starbucks Loyalty Points System — You always get rewardedNike — Personalization at ScaleNike has been one of the standout players in making personalization feel purposeful. Their site and emails adapt to your browsing and buying habits, surfacing just the right styles, sizes, and drops at the right time.This isn’t just smart targeting, Nike speeds up decision-making and makes the experience feel curated rather than crowded.Nike Personalised Newsletter ScreenshotMovie Theatres — What Not to DoTo truly appreciate great digital experiences, sometimes it helps to look at the frustrating ones. Buying a movie ticket online can still feel like dropdown-menu bingo: toggle between times, dates, locations, screen sizes, and seat availability until you’ve clicked yourself into submission. Then brace for upsells, fees, and a confusing confirmation page.And yet — movies are all about emotion, immersion, and excitement. Why doesn’t the digital journey reflect any of that? Imagine a platform that knows your favorite genres and actors, recommends the perfect showtimes, remembers your seat preferences, and rewards you with season passes or early access to premieres. Why not offer family bundles, VIP red carpet nights, or mood-based movie suggestions?There’s so much opportunity here to create something magical. Instead, most theatre sites treat ticketing like a utility — transactional, impersonal, and joyless. It’s a missed chance to design for passion.Closing ThoughtsWhile we now have more advanced tools than ever — from AI and real-time data to responsive frameworks — great customer experiences still don’t happen automatically. It takes skilled UX and CX designers to ask the right questions, map the right journeys, and infuse every digital touchpoint with brand identity and human insight.The best e-commerce experiences today don’t just convert. They connect. They inspire. They make people feel something. And that’s where design makes all the difference.Great CX isn’t just built. It’s designed — thoughtfully, intentionally, and with the end user at heart.Here a couple of resources that are worth exploring.Blurring boundaries: The online-offline fusion in Tech & Durables retailIn-Store & Online: Designing For the Changing Behaviors of Today's ShoppersNielsen Bridges Online and Offline Behaviors with Innovative Cross-Platform Offering5 brands that nail the art of omnichannel UX was originally published in UX Collective on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.