From Tools to AI Teammates: A New Chapter in Design

When I wrote about Figma shaping the future of design back in 2024, it felt like a peak moment. But just a few months later, I find myself asking: Is Figma still leading? Or has the future moved elsewhere?

Human — AI Interaction

To be clear, Figma hasn’t stopped innovating. It is integrating AI into its features, like Dev Mode, AI-assisted suggestions, and plugins, but the dominance it once held is being challenged by more specialized, AI-native tools. And the design world is no longer just about the tools we click. It’s increasingly about the tools that think with us. The lines between "tool" and "teammate" are blurring!

AI has rapidly gone from autocomplete to co-pilot. Currently, it generates wireframes, suggests UI improvements, or automate design tokens across systems. What’s exciting — and a bit overwhelming — is the variety of AI emerging in design:

• Generative AI: Creating components, color palettes, and even full landing pages.

• Conversational AI: Speeding up product decisions through natural language

• AI for handoff: Tools like Figma’s Dev Mode, Anima, and Zeplin are making developer collaboration smarter.

• AI co-designers: Platforms like Stitch blend component libraries, user feedback, and product logic to generate quality UIs.

  
  

The pace of the design evolution has never been faster. The future of design is intelligent, and far less tool-centric than ever before. But design isn’t just about speed or scalability. It’s about emotion, storytelling, quirks, and care. If your AI-generated interface doesn’t make someone feel something — even a little — it’s probably not done yet. Our real superpower is knowing what makes things human. And that will truly shape the future.

Ideas by me, assembled with my AI teammate. Typos? Blame the human.