Less
Pushing pixels
First drafts, variations, resizing and filler copy now take minutes with AI.
The job didn’t disappear. It moved. Today’s designers have to master AI tools, and then do the part AI can’t: decide. Here’s what changed, what companies look for now, which way to grow, and a plan you can start today.
01
Making screens got fast and cheap. What’s left, and what’s paid for, is everything around them.
A designer's week, before AI tools
A designer's week, now
Illustrative: the shape of the change we see across teams, not survey data.
Less
First drafts, variations, resizing and filler copy now take minutes with AI.
More
Choosing the right option, catching what AI got wrong, and explaining why.
Wider
Teams want designers who think about outcomes and metrics, not just interfaces.
02
Not to be replaced by them. To be the person who directs them. A designer who can go from brief to three options to a tested prototype in a day is worth more than one who takes a week, as long as their judgement is good.
Pick the level you’re at now. Each one shows what to practise this week and where to learn it, for free.
Level 2 of 5
Turn a brief into three real options before lunch.
Practise this week
03
Good prompts are just good briefs: a role, a product, real users, rules and the shape of the answer. Build one, copy it, and try it in Claude, ChatGPT or Figma Make.
You are a senior product designer. Product: a bill-splitting app for friends on a trip. Users: first-time users. Task: Propose three clearly different layout directions for the main screen. Rules: mobile first. Give me a numbered list. Ask me one question first if anything important is missing.
Add a constraint or two. Rules are what make the output yours.
Want a real brief to use it on? Every UX challenge comes with detailed prompts for Figma Make, Claude and ChatGPT.
04
AI will happily hand you a screen with a hidden problem. Four rounds: pick the one you’d ship.
Checkout: the pay button: which would you ship?
05
Designers are behind developers on using AI for core work, and most still don’t trust what it makes. Both are openings for you.
80%+
of designers and developers say learning to work with AI will be essential to their future success.
31%
of designers use AI for core design work, against 59% of developers for core coding. The gap is your head start.
78% / 32%
say AI makes them much more efficient, but only 32% say they can rely on what it produces. Judgement is the job.
52%
of people building AI products say design matters more for AI products than for traditional ones.
Over half
of UX and product designers worry about AI's effect on design quality. Quality is what you're hired to protect.
06
It’s rarely everything at once. Usually one stage leaks. Tap a stage to see the usual leak and how to fix it.
Where it leaks
Pretty screens, no decisions. Reviewers skim fast, and they are looking for how you think.
Fix it
Numbers show the shape of a typical search, not survey data.
07
Six directions designers are growing into. None is the “safe” one; the safe move is picking one and getting good at it, with AI in your toolkit.
Quick quiz · 4 questions
Answer all four to see a suggestion. There’s no wrong answer.
You care why a feature exists and whether it worked, not just how it looks.
With AI in the picture
With AI doing more of the making, teams want designers who choose what to make.
First portfolio project
Pick a product you use. Find one metric it should move, design the change, and test it with five people.
Add these skills
08
Rate yourself honestly on what companies screen for now. Your two weakest get a next step.
Work on these next
Rebuild three screens you admire, pixel for pixel, then improve one thing.
Learn Figma →Turn your last project into components, styles and variables.
Variables and modes →09
Three months, three goals: get fluent with AI, show your thinking, get seen. Tick things off as you go.
Days 1–30
Days 31–60
Days 61–90
Saved in this browser only, so you can come back to it.
10
11
It's replacing a lot of production work: first drafts, variations, resizing, filler copy. It isn't replacing the decisions: what to build, for whom, which option is right and why. Designers who master AI tools do more of the deciding and less of the drawing.
Yes. Teams increasingly expect you to go from brief to options to prototype fast, and to say how you used AI and where you overruled it. Start with chat AI for research and writing, then a prompt-to-prototype tool, then AI inside your design system.
If you care about why a feature exists and whether it worked, probably. Product design adds metrics, experiments and closer work with PMs. If you love the craft, going deeper in UX/UI and design systems is just as valid. Take the quiz above.
Usually one stage of the funnel is leaking: too many generic applications, a summary that doesn't match the role, or a portfolio that shows screens instead of decisions. Fix the leakiest stage first, then the next.
Two or three case studies built around decisions: the problem, the options you explored (with AI or not), why you chose one, and what happened. Show your process and your judgement, not just the final screens.
Yes. UX Foundations (Units 1–6), Learn Figma, UX Challenges, the games and the Laws of UX are free. The full course adds mentors, team projects and career support.
Unit 1 sets up your AI design studio in an afternoon. No sign-up needed to start.