Digital publication Design Milk has deeply cut its editorial staff since the start of the year. The first round of changes came in January, when the publication—owned by Sandow Companies since 2023—eliminated the role of editor in chief and let go a freelance editor and social media manager. Then in July, the title laid off two more full-time editorial staffers.

Sandow says the changes are part of a plan to integrate the publication with Architonic, the Europe-based design-product information platform the company purchased in January. “We have a staff member who is dedicated to editorial oversight of Design Milk,” Bobby Bonett, the president of Sandow Design Group, tells Business of Home. “This is a temporary editorial structure as we prepare to transition Design Milk to our Architonic division, beginning a new phase of investment and growth for the brand.”

Since last month’s layoffs, the site has been publishing pieces attributed to “Design Milk Staff” that come with the disclaimer “This article was developed with the assistance of AI tools, which may have been used for research, outlining, editing, or copy refinement. Reporting, fact-checking, and editorial decisions were made by the Design Milk editorial team.”

“We take editorial integrity very seriously, and so we’ve taken the proactive approach to include a disclaimer when we do leverage AI tools,” says Bonett. Sandow founder, chair and CEO Adam Sandow says that the media division does not plan to lean into using artificial intelligence to produce editorial content.

“There’s no place in the content we’re producing for AI,” he tells BOH. “There’s already too much content in the world. AI-generated content is not going to provide enough value to any reader.”

The cuts follow an acquisitive period for Sandow. The month before it acquired Architonic, the company purchased the struggling Canadian design magazine Azure. The latter’s staff bylines began appearing on Design Milk earlier this year.

Originally founded by Jaime Derringer in 2006, Design Milk was part of a wave of aughts design blogs and digital magazines that included Design*Sponge, Lonny and Rue. The publication found success with an omnivorous approach, tackling everything from product design and automotive to interiors. Its social following grew, and Derringer branched out, launching a roving pop-up shop and offshoot sites dedicated to pets and jewelry, as well as co-creating the popular design podcast Clever. In 2019, she sold her brand to Ahalife, an Australian company, which planned to lean into e-commerce in the model of Food52. Derringer left the company in 2022.

Sandow acquired Design Milk in 2023 for $350,000. Part of the brand’s appeal was its robust social media audience. Its core Instagram account boasts 3.8 million followers, and its side accounts—including @DesignMilkPets and @DesignMilkWorks—are followed by a combined tens of thousands. Last year, Sandow repurposed one of DesignMilk’s ancillary accounts to help launch a personal-storage startup, FlyBox.

Since the site cut its editorial staff, the flagship @DesignMilk Instagram account has been criticized for leaning into sponsored content. Earlier this month, after publishing five sponsored posts for Jacuzzi.com in quick succession (two have since been removed), followers began complaining in the comments. Now, when the account posts editorial content, some chime in with snarky references—for example: “Jacuzzigate™️ will not be forgotten.”

Bonett says the posts were business as usual. “We ran an Instagram-takeover partnership with the brand Jacuzzi, spotlighting their product assortment,” he explains. “A few followers and fans had some fun with the content, as they’re entitled to do. We often archive sponsored content after a certain amount of time on the grid. Our team also moderated comments, as we do for all social media content, sponsored or otherwise.”