The problem

In recent years I’ve started noticing something odd. Younger designers work with a mouse less and less often.

For my generation, a mouse was as essential a work tool as a keyboard or a monitor. But many designers who started their careers in the laptop era have gotten used to working with the trackpad alone.

At first glance this seems like a small thing. But every time I’ve run workshops or taught design, I’ve seen the same pattern: without a mouse, people did fewer iterations, experimented less, and got tired of the work faster.

The issue isn’t even about speed. When every small action takes a bit more time, a designer starts economizing on attempts. Fewer ideas tested means fewer chances of finding a truly strong solution.

That’s when I first realized this problem was much bigger than it looked. It wasn’t a question of habit or personal preference anymore. It was a question of the professional productivity of an entire generation of designers.

Why this problem became personal for me

I’ve used Logitech mice for almost my entire career — since 2007. At one of my first jobs, I was given a mouse from this brand, and I still remember how much it changed the way work felt. It was so comfortable that when it came time to leave that job, I asked to keep it. I gave up other perks just so I wouldn’t have to part with it.

Almost twenty years have passed since then. I’ve gone through several mice since, but never switched brands. Some of them literally wore out from daily use — not because they were unreliable, but because they helped me create for many hours a day.

Later, I started teaching design and noticed an interesting pattern. For my generation, working with a mouse was so natural we never even thought about it. But for many young designers, it was no longer an obvious tool.

So in my lectures, I often ran a simple experiment: I’d complete the same task twice — first with a trackpad, then with a mouse. We’d time it and compare the results. The difference almost always surprised the students a great deal. But something else surprised them even more: many of them realized for the first time that productivity isn’t just about talent or experience. It starts with choosing the right tools.

The meeting that changed everything

We moved from mice to designers very quickly. I shared my observation about the “trackpad generation,” and how this seemingly minor shift is actually a cultural divide between generations that’s gradually affecting the whole profession.

And that’s where it clicked.

That’s exactly what we’ve been thinking about a lot.

In that moment I realized we were seeing the same problem from different angles. For me, it was a problem of developing young designers. For Logitech, it was a challenge: getting an entire generation to pay attention to a tool without which they were losing part of their productivity.

That’s when the idea was born.

A few days later, I pitched Logitech’s management an idea that wasn’t about a mouse at all.

An idea that wasn’t about a mouse

I kept thinking about our conversation. If the real problem was that young designers simply didn’t know what role a mouse plays in a designer’s work, that wasn’t something you could fix with good design alone. But it could be fixed with good designers.

I know a lot of the people shaping Ukrainian design today. We belong to the same generation, grew professionally together, and watched the industry change together. I know them not just as designers, but as people who pay very close attention to their tools. For them, a mouse isn’t an accessory or a matter of habit. It’s as much a part of the profession as knowing composition, typography, or color.

That’s when everything clicked into place. If young designers don’t know about the role of a mouse, I’m not the best person to tell them. Neither is Logitech. The people they admire should be the ones to tell them.

That’s how the idea was born to invite leaders of the Ukrainian design industry into the project. Not to ask them to advertise a product, but to show how they actually work. What matters to them. How they make decisions. What principles guide them. And, as a natural part of their process, what tools they use every day.

The mouse was meant to be not the hero of this story, but a natural part of it.

I think that’s exactly why Logitech liked this idea so much. We weren’t proposing an ad campaign. We were proposing a project that could genuinely be useful to the whole design community.

Gathering the people the industry listens to

The hardest part started once Logitech backed the idea. It had to be made real.

I understood right away: if we were going to do a project like this, there could be no compromises. It had to include people who genuinely shape Ukrainian design. And not just digital design. I wanted to show the industry in its full scope — across different design disciplines, different experience levels, and different viewpoints. So among the participants, I had in mind type designers, graphic designers, UX designers, art directors, studio founders, and educators.

Bringing everyone together in one project wasn’t easy. These were people whose calendars are usually booked months in advance. Each of them was working on major commercial projects (from CNN and Samsung to Ukraine’s national brand), leading teams, teaching, or running their own studios.

I think the reason was simple. We weren’t asking them to endorse a new product. We were inviting them to join a project that could genuinely benefit a profession we all love.

A few days later, I had in front of me a list of people I hadn’t even dreamed of bringing together in one project not long before.

Behind the scenes

We had to build a website, organize shoots, record interviews, prepare media materials, hit the launch deadlines for the new Logitech MX Master 4, and still not lose sight of the project’s core idea.

But what I remember most is something else entirely.

We got the chance to show participants the new Logitech MX Master before its official release. At that point it was under NDA and was, in effect, a secret product.

Maybe by the time you’re reading this, a multifunction mouse with haptic feedback doesn’t seem like anything unusual anymore. But back then, it was a genuine wow moment. It was fascinating to watch people’s reactions. I think each of us enjoyed not just the new device itself, but the chance to be among the first to try it.

Ahead of us was probably the hardest logistical challenge of the whole project.

We had to sync the schedules of a dozen very busy people from different cities across Ukraine, organize the shoots, prepare the website, get materials approved, and make the official release deadline.

Honestly, I still don’t fully understand how we pulled it off. But moments like that are exactly when you understand why it’s worth spending years building a strong project management and internal training culture.

Our project managers, Kristina, Maryna, and Alina, tore through this task, and Pavlo created a distinctive design within the brand guidelines. I watched them, day after day, piece together dozens of calls, calendars, reschedules, approvals, layouts, and texts, and at some point I just stopped worrying.

Because I knew: everything would turn out the way it should.

Prove it, don’t just assume it

This whole story started with a single observation. But the observation alone wasn’t enough. I wanted to show that the difference could not only be felt, but measured.

So for this project, I repeated an experiment I’d run with students for years. I took the same layout and recreated it twice. The first time using only the trackpad (I should say, I’m quite skilled with it too), the second time with a properly set-up mouse.

Even so, the difference surprised me all over again. On the trackpad, the work took 25 minutes. With the mouse, just 11 minutes. That’s a productivity gain of roughly 230%.

But the number itself isn’t the most important part. Neither are the fourteen minutes saved. Because over the course of a day, moments like that add up to hours. Over weeks, to days. And that’s not just time. It’s ideas we don’t get to try, approaches we don’t get to apply, options we don’t get to look at, and time for learning that there’s never enough of.

That’s why this whole story was never really about a mouse for me. It was about how the right tool frees up time for creativity.

Launch day arrived

After months of preparation, the project finally saw the light of day.

Something that, not long before, existed only as an idea born from one chance conversation at a conference was now available to the entire design community.

The response exceeded our expectations. The project generated over 4 million audience contacts overall, and 103,000 contacts specifically among designers.

It was covered by Ukraine’s leading design media, industry publications, bloggers, design schools, and even publishers of professional design literature.

But honestly, what pleased me most wasn’t any of that.

I still teach design. And not long after the launch, I started noticing changes.

Students began using mice more often in class. They started taking more interest in shortcuts, in their own workflow, in personal productivity.

That doesn’t mean a mouse makes someone a good designer. It doesn’t. But a good tool clears away unnecessary friction. And every minute a designer doesn’t spend fighting their tool turns into one more idea, one more experiment, one more chance to make their work a little better.

And that, I think, is the most important part of this whole story for me.

We’re used to thinking designers grow because of talent. In reality, they grow because of hundreds of small, right decisions repeated every day.

Which books to read. Who to learn from. How to organize your process. Which tools to use.

Maybe that’s why this story was never really a story about Logitech for me. It was about a profession I love. And about wanting to leave it at least a little stronger than it was before us.