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The shape of design to come
If you’re reading this in 2026 — hello, future me.
I’m writing this in spring 2025, at a moment when design is changing fast. Again.
This isn’t a prediction carved in stone — it’s a journal entry. A reflection.
A snapshot of the patterns I’m seeing in my team’s work, in conversations with product managers, engineers, fellow design leaders — and across the broader tech ecosystem.
Some of these thoughts have been forming for weeks. Others surfaced mid-conversation or while watching someone launch a scrappy no-code experiment (we’ve been doing that a lot recently).
They may age well. They may not. That’s not the point.
The point is this: change is happening. And the better we understand it, the better we can shape what comes next.
1. Smaller Teams, Sharper Focus
We’re entering an era of smaller, more focused teams — and this applies to every discipline, not just design.
As Marty Cagan pointed out in his recent article for the Silicon Valley Product Group, product teams are becoming leaner but more effective. It’s not about doing more with less — it’s about removing noise, overhead, and unnecessary handoffs.
Tooling is progressing exponentially. Ten years ago, building a prototype in one day might have required skipping crucial steps or working late hours. But now, with Figma, some no-code tools (more about that a few sections below), and a pinch of ChatGPT/Claude, one designer can explore five directions in the morning and test three of them before lunch.
It’s not that AI is replacing us. Rather, it gives us the opportunity to design more thoughtfully. A well-equipped product designer — or product manager — can now move from problem to prototype to validated solution faster, not because they work harder — but because the environment finally allows them to work smarter.
In design (and beyond), this means fewer people but clearer ownership. Less specialization, more responsibility.
I’m not going to lie: I can’t wait for this. I’ve always been a fan of smaller, faster teams. They move with clarity, build trust quickly, and waste less energy on alignment theater.
And honestly — if you’re a leader who thinks doubling headcount automatically makes things better, you might find yourself in a hard place when the economy shifts or your company misses its targets. We’ve all seen it: hiring sprints, followed by panicked layoffs, followed by the same conversations about focus and accountability.
The one-person team isn’t just a startup myth anymore. It’s becoming a viable structure — especially in smaller companies and early-stage teams. And maybe even in larger ones, as AI and no-code tools continue to evolve.
And yes — that means the definition of “designer” is also shifting.
2. The Rise (Again) of the Full-Stack Designer
The age of hyper-specialized roles is fading. That doesn’t mean experts are obsolete — far from it. But the modern product designer’s toolkit is expanding, and they’re expected to do more with it.
Research, copywriting, visual design, systems thinking, even hands-on work with component libraries — it’s all blending. There’s a growing expectation that designers can navigate more of the product cycle independently. Not to replace other roles, but to reduce friction and keep momentum.
This shift is reflected in job descriptions. Product Designers (UX/UI Designers, …) are now expected to write microcopy, run usability tests, contribute to design systems, build prototypes, run through data, recruit users, and talk to customers — regularly.
And honestly, why not? With the right tools, many of these tasks are easier than ever — and can unlock better, faster decisions.
In many ways, we’re circling back to the earlier days of digital design, when the same person would ideate, design, and build.
But this time, we’re doing it with better tools, smarter systems, and (hopefully) stronger judgment.
3. Design Systems Democratization
As design tools evolve and no-code adoption rises, design systems are becoming more open, usable, and essential.
We’re seeing a shift from tightly controlled libraries to modular, plug-and-play ecosystems that empower not just designers but also product managers, marketers, and even customer success roles to build experiments without waiting for dev resources.
I want our product managers to be able to spin up a quick prototype using our design system—in minutes, not days—so they can test ideas quickly. That’s why I’m pushing to open up our Soul Design System almost completely.
This is exciting — but it also raises the bar. Open design systems require clear documentation, robust components, and smart governance. They force us to think like product builders, not just designers.
At the same time, the more accessible our systems become, the more we risk generic outcomes. When everyone uses the same components and patterns, sameness spreads fast. This isn’t something new; it’s been around forever. Consider how many websites resemble Linear’s design or how many new apps mimic Notion’s navigation. That’s why creativity, visual identity, and craft will become even more important — not less. Companies that need (or want) to stand out will need to invest in distinctive visual/UI design, compelling storytelling, and the kind of polish that AI or templates can’t replicate.
4. Tools Are Changing Everything (If You Let Them)
Designers have never had this much power. We can test, build, and learn at a pace we couldn’t even imagine a year ago.
In my team, we’re now exploring a whole new wave of tools: Loveable, V0 Replit, and Bolt.new.
We’re still deciding which one to fully integrate (security, legal, etc.) into our design stack, with Loveable and V0 currently in the lead.
Some of us have also been poking around with Cursor. It’s powerful, no doubt, but it still feels a bit “next-level” for day-to-day design workflows (Spring 2025 — you can bet that in a few months, this will not be true anymore).
Quick side note: as tools become more open and team boundaries blur, security starts to matter more — even for designers. After a conversation about the risks, I asked our AI/Innovation team to help us spin up our own MCP server. They’re now working on it — and even in this early phase, we’re being cautious.
Vibe coding is fun… until it opens your system to something it shouldn’t.
These tools aren’t just time-savers. They’re culture and mindset shifters.
And they’re sprinting like crazy. I’m absolutely sure that if I revisit this a year from now, there will be three new tools with insane capabilities. Just look at the leap in generative image models — from eight-fingered nightmares to visuals with a crisp copy in under 12 months.
To keep up, we’ve started running internal sessions where engineers teach designers how to run projects in a local environment, think in variants, and understand system logic. It’s not about turning designers into developers (well… maybe a little). It’s about reducing fear, adding context, and making better decisions earlier in the process.
The takeaway? The best tools won’t just help you move faster. They’ll help your entire team speak the same language — and build better things, together.
💡Tip: I always recommend designers to try building a Figma plugin (you can use ChatGPT to guide you), a personal website, or — even better — a tiny tool that solves a real problem you’re facing. One of our designers built a hiking planner. Another created a cooking companion for his side project. Other an online image compression site. You’ll learn more than you expect.
5. The Return of the Design Engineer
As tools evolve and boundaries blur, a new-old role is making a quiet comeback: the Design Engineer.
This isn’t a new invention — UX Engineers have existed at Google and other tech giants for over a decade. But what was once a Big Tech unicorn role is now showing up in SaaS teams, startups, and design system squads — thanks to AI, no-code, and better tooling.
We’ve been exploring this path in our own team. I set a personal goal: by the end of this year, someone from our product design team will ship a small update to the product — without needing a developer. Even something as simple as updating the copy inside a tooltip. In our UI team, the challenge is even more ambitious: update a component without dev involvement.
Why? Because the front-end should be faster now. It can be faster. Waiting two weeks for a text change feels wrong in a world where designers can talk to code — or at least coax it gently.
This doesn’t mean everyone on the team needs to become a coder. But it does mean that we need to get more comfortable with the systems we help shape — and stop treating the space between Figma and production as a black box.
Design Engineers (or whatever title the industry comes up with) might not be for every team. But I’m convinced they’ll become a natural part of more of them.
Will it be smooth? Not at all. Developers will notice the messy parts — the syntax, the structure, the risks. And fair enough. The same thing happens with prototypes, and with any first steps into unfamiliar territory.
But if the approach is grounded in curiosity and collaboration — not control — it starts to work. The early friction is worth it.
What comes next is faster iteration, better alignment, and shared respect.
6. Experts Will Matter More Than Ever
There’s a paradox here: as roles blend and tools become easier to use, the need for true expertise is actually growing.
AI is a powerful amplifier — but it can also mask inexperience. I’ve seen junior designers rely heavily on AI-generated outputs, only to produce work that lacks depth, coherence, or intent. The same is happening in engineering: AI can autocomplete code, but it can’t debug business logic. Not yet, anyway.
In this new environment, the gap between the average and the exceptional will widen. And that’s uncomfortable. Especially for those early in their careers.
But it’s also a call to action — for seniors to mentor, for teams to invest in soft skills and systems thinking, and for everyone to move beyond just pushing pixels or generating prompts.
Be the expert. And if you’re not one yet, that’s fine — just don’t stay still. Keep stretching. Keep sharpening. That’s what sets people apart.
7. Taste, Creativity, and Business Thinking as Differentiators
So, in the age of AI-enhanced workflows and pixel-perfect templates, what will truly set designers apart? Well, the same thing that’s always made great design great. Taste. Creativity. Business acumen. Communication.
As tooling improves, we’re already seeing the risk of sameness. Just look around: almost every new app looks like Notion, and every new website channels the slick minimalism of Linear. These aren’t bad patterns — they’re great ones. But when everyone follows the same formula, the edges between products blur. Experiences start to feel interchangeable.
That’s where visual taste and creativity matter more than ever.
As AI and no-code tools continue to evolve, execution is no longer the bottleneck—decision-making is. Our responsibility is to think like strategists and speak the language of impact.
It’s designers who bring clarity of intent, creativity, and strategic thinking who will ultimately rise to the top. The ones who can answer not just how to build something and make it look good, but also why and for whom. In my last article for this blog, I talked bout how designer leaders need to wear many hats to make an impact. This is truer than ever in the age of generative AI, which will only leave room for designers who can connect user needs with business goals, pitch ideas clearly, and guide teams toward meaningful outcomes.
Everyone else will be stuck chasing prompt engineering tricks.
8. What You Can Do Now
So what do we do with all this? How to prepare for this fast-approaching future?
We’ve seen it firsthand on our team.
One of our content designers reached out to the UI team a few months ago for mentorship. She proactively started building up her technical skills, not as a formal growth plan—it just made sense for her. She has since created her first component—a color picker—and now, we genuinely believe she could become an excellent product designer.
We’ve seen similar shifts in UX Research. Today, we have three highly skilled researchers—and to be honest, I don’t see a future where we’ll need six or twelve. Not because research is less important, but because product designers are becoming better at owning parts of discovery themselves—validating ideas, running interviews, and making smarter decisions earlier.
This leaves room for our experienced researchers to act as strategic partners, not just usability testers. They support our product designers as deep-thinking, high-leverage partners, and one of our researchers has also started exploring UI design.
Just like content design, research is still a vital craft, and often, it will remain a specialized role. But moments like this remind me that staying ahead of the times isn’t just about learning new tools or chasing trends. It’s about cultivating range. The people who thrive will be the ones who are curious, driven, and unafraid to stretch beyond the job description — not because they’re told to, but because they want to meet the future on their own terms.
Now, what can you do to be ready for this new reality? Here’s what I recommend to designers — and not just them:
- Invest in soft skills. Empathy, storytelling, facilitation, leadership — they’ll never go out of style. In fact, they’ll matter more than ever.
- Get your hands dirty with no-code. Build something. Break it. Learn what it can and can’t do.
- Be curious about AI. Use it as a sparring partner, not a crutch.
- Think like a product person. Design is no longer just about form. It’s about outcomes—it always should have been. AI and no-code tools are accelerating that shift giving designers more space to focus on strategy and business.
- Share your knowledge. Mentor, write, teach — you’ll learn more in the process.
- Encourage others on your team to experiment. That includes product managers, marketers, and even customer success. A simple prototype built using your design system and a no-code tool can sometimes unlock better feedback than a long PRD.
The future isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing better — with clarity, intent, and speed.
A Note to Future Me
If you’re reading this next year, I hope some of these ideas held up.
Maybe some proved wrong — maybe something even bigger came along and changed everything again. That’s okay.
What I hope hasn’t changed is this: That we keep adapting. That we keep learning. That we lead with curiosity, not fear.
Because adaptation is our superpower. And design — at its best — has always been about imagining what’s next.
