Sam Horner

This is a fascinating look at how AI is reshaping the way we design and build. Our workflows, and the relationship between design and code are evolving quickly. Jenny Wen explores what this shift means and how we can adapt to what’s ahead.

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Forrester reports that companies investing in design-driven innovation see a 228% ROI. As someone who advocates for design to have a seat at the table, I love this stat! But companies evolve… and so should design. It’s no longer *just* about securing a seat; it’s about questioning if you want a seat at *that* table. Maybe it’s about building a new one. One that welcomes the voices too often left out. ❤️

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It’s been a while since I’ve seen everyone sharing Jenny Wen’s interview. However, here’s my view: The design process isn’t dying; it’s being stripped of its “busywork.” For years, we’ve been judged by our production output: wireframes, pixels, and documentation. But today, AI can act as a high-fidelity sketchpad, generating variations faster than we can think of them. So where does that leave the human designer? In my view, we are moving from creators to curators. AI provides the recommendations. You provide the judgment. AI provides the options. You provide the integration. AI provides the speed. You provide the direction. We still use a hypothesis-driven approach. We still iterate. We still test. But we are no longer just “pixel pushers.” We are experience architects who use AI to amplify our reach while maintaining a firm grip on the human “why.” The question is: in an AI-accelerated world, is design craft still about how you make something, or is it now about how you judge what is right for the user? Can a machine ever truly replace the experience judgment required to decide the soul of a product or brand? #DesignStrategy #AI #ExperienceDesign #Leadership #DesignProcess #FutureOfWork

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This hit close to home. This quarter we've been actively rethinking our design process. Removing rituals, pulling back on some discovery activities, and prioritizing speed and learning over craft and critique. It can be uncomfortable but it's the right direction. This episode puts a lot of it into words.

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A lot of this reflects my own personal view of how the design process is changing, and its effects on the archetypes of designers needed for the next chapter

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Terminal Fluency: As AI becomes more central to Designer workflows, I’ve been seeing more questions about whether the terminal is still worth learning. I think it is, terminal is core skill that compounds and unlocks next-level control over agents. Make terminal your second brain with this tmux + vim cheatsheet (or just get started) and keep your hands on the keyboard. https://lnkd.in/eV5bAFhF

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Loved this. Jenny's perspective on general trends in how design work is moving aligns fairly closely with my own experience and what I'm seeing. I loved that she called out that Figma is still valuable (and faster) for many design tasks than jumping straight into prototyping. Just like persistent chat and UIs won't completely go away, I don't see a "drawing" tool going away, even for designers comfortable with code and AI prototyping tools. (Side note: I've been using hand-drawn sketches to illustrate ideas, and it's worked surprisingly well.)

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“If you haven’t come up with a canvas, are you even a design leader?” — heard on a podcast. So… here’s my contribution. Introducing the Human-centred AI canvas. You might have noticed it looks suspiciously similar to the lean UX canvas by Jeff Gothelf. It even has the original copyright marks. I’m sorry, officer, I shamelessly stole it from the internet because product design is product design. And I’m sick and tired of people on the internet saying that Gen AI is a monumental paradigm shift because it really isn’t and everyone needs to chill out. Yeah, there may be certain nuances to do with the non-deterministic nature of the new technology, but if you look under the bonnet it’s just product design again. Hasn’t changed (much) since the 80s (if not the 50s). #leadership #hcai #design

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The biggest shift I have seen as a VP of Design isn't AI-generated wireframes or prototyping shortcuts. It is designers using AI to step directly into frontend coding. No more design QA. No more translating Figma into tickets. Designers polish the experience in the same medium the user actually sees and feels. This change transformed my team. Designers loved the autonomy. Engineers loved being free to work on complex backend code. Quality went up, and we shipped faster. The more I talk with design leaders, the clearer it is that this will not stay a niche skill. This is becoming part of how modern design teams work. I launched CraftAmplify to help designers build this skill properly. We focus on writing production-quality code rather than prototypes. The response has been incredible. Thank you to everyone who put in the work and started shipping real code. Watching designers push their first production PR has been the highlight of my year. Each cohort is capped at five designers to keep the experience hands-on. I checked this morning, and there is only one seat left for all of 2025, so I added new sessions for January and February 2026. Details are here: https://lnkd.in/eXqsMadG #ProductDesign #Frontend #AI #DesignEngineering #CraftAmplify

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Edit: Andy’s exaggerated head nods included, this is worth listening to. One thing to call out is that while Des describes CRUD, the broader point these days is that a designer, even an AI designer, does benefit from understanding this pattern.

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Similar to the power of, “yes and”, design’s core value is the craft itself applied to experiences; does not matter if it’s a UI, customer journey, or onboarding experience for new hires. Running Marketing and Design at Replit is one of the many fond memories for the ages. Designers, it’s okay to do work outside your department.

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This pretty accurately describes how I approached working with LLMs this year. The secret is to treat LLMs like a team mate who you want to collaborate with. Provide context . Be thoughtful in scope. Build great documentation and planning. https://lnkd.in/ekBbbiND

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Chuffed to be featured in Design Week's latest piece: “What’s the design hill you’d die on?”, alongside some brilliant voices from across the industry. Some really valuable lessons in here that properly ring true, especially Tassia Swulinska's input around making mistakes and embracing the chaos. Whether you’re beginning your design career, deep in UX, leading a creative team, or just someone with strong feelings about your design process or strategy, it's well worth a quick read. Be great to hear your thoughts and input. Thanks to Rob Alderson for the feature. #designweek #productdesign #designbeliefs Atomic

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