We live in interesting times today as previous Workflows are blending and ideas are coming from anywhere. As we adopt new tools that helps start projects and move ideas faster - A part of me told me we have seen this before.
There are different perspectives to look at the changes:
AI tools are replacing our existing tools - This is partially true, as more of our tools existing tools are having a AI layer to it; Figma started with renaming layers, adding content(was using content reel earlier) and now its Figma Make - tokens are still limited for most usecases.
Fundamentals are changing - I don’t believe it, in fact we need to revisit our fundamentals of design or any craft to help organisations make better use the tools
Our roles are changing - I remember the failed tamil movie song - 'மாற்றம் ஒன்றுதான் மாறாதது', "Nothing endures but change" - Heraclitus, Greek philosopher. Our roles have always changed and we have always adopted the new tools faster; the pace of change is a a bit different this time; the question is how can we evolve at a faster pace and continue to do so with every new update of Claude.
Before I talk about a few themes - Vibe coding, PMs doing design - fading boundaries of roles. I will start with what I have observed as change in the last 2 decades since I started designing Interfaces in Corel Draw. A strange choice for UI design : )
2007-11: Discovering Design
I discovered design, actually I discovered tools and their knowledge made me a designer. The first was Corel Draw, definitely an odd choice for a digital designer. Later I realised Photoshop is used, for those who remember this time.
We have to select/unselect layers to export the screens to developers. And a lot of the time was spent in dev handover. We don’t speak about Dev handover anymore today. Thanks to Sketch/Figma.
2011-2018: Research Led Design
Emergence of Research led design, field visits to understand customer needs, Maslow’s hierarchy. The focus also moved to building Component libraries and reusing them for consistency, which later morphed into Design System, alignment with engineering teams - tokens was just the evolution of that thinking.
Figma had started to be a goto during this time. It is interesting to note that this was the time that PMs were expected to create wireframes in tools like Axure RP, Visio, etc.
2018-Before ChatGPT: The Modern Era
Life with Sketch was good with many understanding 'Design is Problem Solving'. Designers got the seat in the table and became part of early product building conversations. The component libraries morphed into Design System - its importance aligned with the coming of age of Product Design - Business thinking helps design better.
We switched from Sketch > Figma and everything has changed since then. Tools have always changed. If there is one thing constantly changing, Figma becomes the numero uno.
What are Designers really doing?
Implementing the Design system on top of Prototypes? No, they are going over the approach playing the role of the user and ensure consistency with other workflows done earlier, especially in B2B SaaS.
Facilitating the conversation around to avoid the teams committing to the first vibe code output and digging deeper until Sunk cost fallacy kicks in and commit ourselves to make it work.
Pushing ourselves to constantly ask if we are solving the right problem? Is there a better way to do it? Are there other Design Approaches? How does Salesforce or Shopify do this?
What am I focusing on?
As designers, we should focus more on build Systems - UX Systems that can help quickly take a vibe coded prototype across production. There is a great opportunity here. The real promise of Design System and we might have time to do it today.
Go back to fundamentals, there are plenty of foundational courses in design, architecture - knowing to call out good design from bad is a skill.
Be curious and try out every tool that’s possible, and figure out the tools that will help everyone collaborate - Figma used to be the tool - it is certainly going to change.
Questions to ponder:
Tools : Will we have one tool where we all collaborate? This is something that I try to guess - is it Figma Make? Lovable? Claude Code or something else. As a designer, I'm used to a Canvas - i dont' want to go about to rigid single artboard days. Will Figma create the best Collaborative platform (Figma Make definitely cutting it out with limited tokens)
Processes : How will collaboration evolve? Will remix be the future? I still believe good product design is outcome of good colloboration irrespective of the tools that we have adopted over years.
