Take five with POV Budapest: how Perplexity designs using Perplexity

Every era of design has been shaped by its tools. At POV Budapest 2026, Perplexity’s design team argued that designers can now shape the tools too. For the identity refresh, the team used Computer to build its own design tools. These included a type specimen that set each round of a new Grilli Type family in real layouts, a gallery for comparing related images, and a layout tool with the brand’s type and spacing rules built in. Those tools now carry the team’s thinking across Perplexity. Designer Daisy Lee explains how, and why a guidelines PDF “is where the thinking goes to die.” TBI: Hi Daisy, it’s great to be speaking with you after POV Budapest. How are you? DL: Really good. My job at Perplexity is basically trying to give curiosity a shape, a colour, a typeface. Budapest was a room full of people who know exactly how hard that is, because they’ve made the same kinds of decisions themselves. Seeing it resonate with them was the best part of the trip.