I’ve recently had a few friends reaching out to me asking about my opinion on the future of Design and UX. Firstly I felt honored they wanted to hear my opinion on the topic, and secondly, I felt this probably warranted considerable reflection before properly responding to any of them. This question has been prompted by the overwhelming focus on the topic of AI, which seems to appear every single day on Linkedin, TechCrunch, The Verge or any publication that touches/discusses topics related with technology. That question has also been prompted by the fact that the job market for Technology in general, and Design in particular, has been the worst that anyone has ever witnessed (and I went through the 2009/2010 recession, and honestly, this has been worse). The market has had its fair share of positions opening, only for thousands of applications to be submitted, even from candidates who are obviously not right for the roles, something that the automation of resumes has empowered to a large extent. As far as AI is concerned, I’ve largely abstained from saying much on the topic. I have been waiting for some of the dust to settle, and it’s been interesting to witness the voices who have been emerging, particularly the ones from the Design side, all claiming to be experts in the subject based literally on the fact that: a) some of these “experts” have read a few publications from others, and b) have used Chat GPT/Gemini or any of the Generative AI features that most applications currently have, and the combination of (a) + (b) somehow makes them experts on the topic (and kudos to them if that is indeed the case). I’ve researched quite a bit on AI, but my actual knowledge on the fact stems from the fact that I have created software that leverages Large Language Models and yes, AI, in order to deliver solutions to market. The same going for Natural Language Processing. I’ve created applications in that domain 12 years ago. These algorithms have been around for quite some time, and are now permeating across everything that we do, including the Design world itself.

Designers’ focus on tools and being a “Designer”. I recently made a comment on Linkedin, reacting to a Design professional’s speculative opinion on the future of the Design profession, and what this person considered to be the “good days” of Design, versus what we’re currently going through. We agreed to disagree on our opinions, but I essentially believe, as I’ve stated in many of my articles, that Design is about problem solving, the ability to understand multiple variables in an equation, and the ability to provide a solution that is representative of multiple points of view. I’m not saying designing by committee, I’m actually stating, finding a solution is much like distilling what is essential, and ultimately delivering a response that pierces through the core of the problem statement. Design is a collaborative endeavor (with communication at its core), but also one that requires a deep understanding of the motivations of users, married with the constraints of the business and the market in which products operate (which is why I wrote an article on context being so important). There’s psychology, macro and micro-economics involved, legalities, in parallel with everything that is relevant in terms of content writing, interaction design, visual design, motion design, information design, and the list goes on. That is to say, being a Product Designer is a demanding position, which requires the ability to look across multiple layers and variables that come with any problem, and more importantly, not being intimidated by it, and being able to ask questions when needed.

This part of the article specifically highlights how Design professionals focus on tools (I’ve also written an article on excessive focus on tools). These days that sole focus is on Figma. The product and the brand itself have grown in adoption and perception to a point where they dominate the entire market (worldwide). I’ve been in this industry long enough where I’ve witnessed the same evolution of product and brand with the likes of Adobe, Macromedia, how those became one, how various tools have appeared and disappeared (QuarXpress, Freehand, Fireworks, Flash, Director, and the list goes on), something that is cyclical. Every product goes through its lifecycle, which includes introduction, growth, maturity, saturation, and eventual decline. 10 years ago, Sketch came around and became a popular solution, and for the most part that software has largely been brushed aside for the past few years now. The reason why I’m saying this, it’s because there’s a lifecycle for everything that exists in every single industry (nothing lasts forever). There’s cannibalization, predatory aspects of products towards others, all aspects that any Designer should always keep in mind, even those who are rabid fans of a particular product. There’s nothing wrong in being passionate about tools and what they can do for how people work. What I continue to advocate for, is that Designers should always look at a tool for what it is, namely a means to an end, which is to empower a solutioning endeavor. Unless you work at Figma or Adobe, or Sketch, or any other tool, these instruments should not be the focal point of how you work, they should be an enabler for how a Designer works. And while this seems so self evident, at times it feels as if professionals in the field lose track of that, of what these tools should be doing for them, as opposed to the other way around. If Designers don’t want to be considered solely pixel pushers, they have to be able to balance what it means to deliver artifacts with everything else that exists in the Design world. It’s Design World, not Design province.

Templates, AI, Homogenization. There was a time in the late 2000s, when most Web Designers were honestly preoccupied with what WordPress, and the templates that came with it would do to their workloads. Before that, the same occurred with Designers who worked in Print, with pre-production and production being handled manually, only for it all to be upended with the introduction of digital tools such as Pagemaker and QuarkXpress. These are examples of chapters in the development and evolution of the Design world, that have had significant impact on how Designers perceive the challenges they tackle, but just as importantly, how they reflect on the Design universe and what lies ahead for them professionally speaking. I joined this universe when the digitization was already being implemented in large strides. I did not witness the transition from the analogue to the digital, but I believe we’re currently experiencing something very similar. AI across all its ramifications is empowering professionals in the field with a set of solutions that are indeed going to change how people work, possibly in a dramatic way. Unlike what some prognosticators have indicated, I believe these are solutions that will change how Designers work, and not cannibalize and render what they do useless. Solving problems, which is the essence of what Designers do, goes beyond applying a formula, and looking at recurring patterns, in order to provide an adequate response. The same way templates didn’t take away workload from Web Designers, AI won’t take away work from Designers, but it will change how that work is handled, enabling for instance the automation of certain tasks, allowing for multiple scenarios to be considered, for localization to be implemented, and even for accessibility to be more easily adopted. The potential is there, but it is also the responsibility of the Design professional to understand the narrative they’re wanting to tell, and tailor the tool for it. Designers at times have a tendency to fall under the tropes of trends, and to mold the storytelling to a format, as opposed to the content they’re wanting to share. Which explains why so many of what we consume seems so similar and homogenized. AI hopefully will allow professionals to direct a more balanced attention to both content and format, so that we have products that are more representative of the brand they’re supporting, as opposed to a trend that is making the rounds.

Reality check. The unknown is always challenging. Because ultimately it does represent both advancement and collapse. These two aspects walk hand in hand, and Design much like any other professional field, is comprised of a variety of professionals of different backgrounds, of different demographics, with specific expectations, all sustaining it and making it a live and perpetually shifting field. These particular pivotal moments in time occur across history, be it with the Industrial Revolution, or the any of the subsequent revolutions that have happened. What Design and its professionals have always done, and something they must continue doing, is understand the context in which they operate in a way that enables them to comprehend behaviors, including frustrations, desires and as Don Norman stated in his three levels of Design, aim to achieve that Reflective level, where the solutions that are created, deliver a sense of communion and well being with its users. Evolution and self-awareness will be crucial more and more as we move along.

I’ll conclude this article with a quote on the topic of evolution, from Peter Drucker:

“The only things that evolve by themselves in an organization are disorder, friction and malperformance.”

How Designers Work, Tools and the Impact of AI was originally published in UX Planet on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.