OD Ntuk

This is a great post from Sara Clayton and an important conversation as more designers start merging PRs with the help of AI agents. I'd add one thing: the hidden cost of speed. AI-generated code can accelerate velocity dramatically, but without discipline around design system constraints and engineering standards, it creates technical debt that quietly erases those gains. The companies getting this right treat design and engineering as co-owners of velocity.

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This is a fantastic read on the evolving role designers must play. I love the section on the Inversion of Paradigms. How are you evolving your role as a designer? What's working, and why? What's not, and why? https://lnkd.in/eAMVaA7X

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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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The conversation around AI replacing designers is definitely trending, trying to spread fear and uncertainty over a future full of change. The good news? In my experience working with many design professionals, especially in Guesty, designers are naturally curious, early adopters of technology, and often the very agents of change within organizations. I don’t believe designers are afraid of the AI revolution - we’re excited by it. We've definitely got this 💪 I do wish I could use AI to make my face look a little less serious sometimes! :) Big thanks to Allie Vogel for inviting me into this conversation.

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I’m hardline on product design needing to be done in code. Photoshop and Figma are great exploratory tools and solid for designing graphics. Designs sitting in static files or clickable prototypes leads to half-baked UX and gaps in requirements. Actual product design and design systems should be in code. Design systems should be services that teams can consume to build frontends so they can focus on backend functionality and AI quality.

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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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Why does it feel like designers are more focused on mastering technical workflows and endless AI tools than actually designing?

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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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I’ve been reflecting on a recent conversation about design as control versus design as collaboration. Dr. Liz Gerber puts it this way, "AI...has been promised to do whatever we want. The one thing it can’t do is tell us what we want." Jai Shekhawat asked, "What might a future interface look like?" I’d challenge us to even expand that question to include what future societies might look like when we prioritize collaboration over control, inclusion over speed, sustainability over scale. Whether design, technology, media, or civic spaces, the common thread is the same: we cannot outsource human values to systems. I believe our work is to invite possibility, to imagine what humans want before tech imposes what’s possible. “To create anything new and novel, you have to be prepared to do something different to get after it," Kevin Bethune notes. As design finds its role alongside AI, we can feel confident that our choices shape systems, not the other way around. What choices then are we making today, in design, in media, in our communities, to ensure human dignity leads the way? Thank you to Lee Moreau for convening the conversation.

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Most designers say they want impact. What they really want is proof. At scale, I had to formalize proof. I once built a quarterly UX strategy using Jared Spool's Persuasive Metrics to connect design decisions to revenue. A 2% reduction in onboarding friction translated into six figures in retained revenue. That was the language the room spoke. Dashboards. Quarterly reviews. Attribution models. Impact had to be quantified before it was believed. Now I’m at a tiny startup. Last week, a customer Slacked: “Magemetrics saves me days on campaign reports.” Following the rebrand, a prospect opened the site and said: “Okay. This feels serious.” These calls felt different: less explaining, fewer objections, more trust. No attribution model. No presentation. Just behavior changing in real time. Here’s what’s different: In enterprise, proof arrives as numbers. In startups, proof shows up as decisions. Enterprise feedback arrives filtered and quarterly; startup impact is immediate. Doubt slows deals. Confidence speeds them up. Immediacy forces clarity. You take fewer performative bets. You stop optimizing for presentations. You design to remove doubt. Because you’re not defending slides — you’re shaping what happens next.

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