[TMA] What's Different About Design with AI?

We just published the latest episode of Finding Our Way, "Design as Differentiator in a World of AI" (easy to find your podcast player of choice), which features Figma's Head of Insights, Andrew Hogan. Expectedly, much of our discussion was around the intersection of design and AI, which, for many feels very disruptive.

But, as I review the conversation, and, in general, the broader discussion about design and AI, what strikes me as how little is actually different about design with AI. And this will sound a little 'get off my lawn,' but I think this is particularly true for those who have been at this for 20+ years.

Like, designers building prototypes isn't new. Nearly 30 years ago, when I worked at Studio Archetype, I prototyped, in code (admittedly, it was just HTML, and then some Javascript), to better understand the implications of my designs.

Or, the blurriness between functions on a team. Anyone who has worked on a truly effective team knows that success comes from the team operating as a team, not as a collection of individuals, and key to team-ness is that your specific role is less important than how everyone works together to accomplish their shared goal.

Or, and this has been a perennial head-scratcher for me, our collective schizophrenia around craft, polish, usability, and utility. For 90-95% of the software that's built, usability and utility should outweigh common notions of 'craft' (which typically means visual polish). Yet for my entire career, the structural aspects of design (interaction design, information architecture) have been undervalued and under-supported relative to the surface elements of visual UI design. Considering all the job descriptions that over-index on commentary about 'craft,' it seems like that's still the case.

What I am hopeful for (perhaps foolishly), is that the discussion around AI provides an opportunity for a more mature, elevated, and savvier appreciation of the totality of design. That the things that some of us have been advocating for for the last 20 years—design practices should inform strategic thinking, companies need to pay more attention to their needlessly complicated end-to-end experiences, structural concerns of software are paramount, strong collaboration, facilitation, and orchestration are essential to broad success, the folly of functional territoriality—realize greater purchase as the current discombobulation and uncertainty provides an opportunity for new (well, old, but still new to many!) thinking.

See me in Raleigh, NC 9/24-25; Dallas 10/16-17

A reminder that I am in Raleigh next week for UX Y'all, where I'm teaching Design Leadership Demystified in-person on September 24, and moderating the closing panel.

And then next month (Oct 16-17) I'm in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex for the Service Design Global Conference, where Jesse and I have the honor of giving the opening keynote.

Elevating Your Design Team masterclass starts September 22

I've spent much of this past summer gearing up for my masterclass Elevating Your Design Team, the first cohort of which takes place from September 22 through November 3. If you're interested in taking part, email me, and I can hook you up with some deep discounts.