Design is an iterative process. Speed matters. Tools like Figma and Sketch are fast, flexible, and built for visual iteration. They’ve dominated the past decade of product design. But soon, AI will generate, evaluate, and even test design ideas faster than humans can draw them. Not in vector graphics, but in code. As that shift happens, the role of the designer evolves. What once began as a mockup becomes an interactive prototype, then a deployable product; all within the same toolchain.
Design tools have traditionally acted as a translation layer: a visual language non-engineers could use to sketch ideas, explore flows, and hand off polished assets.
That layer existed because of constraints. Code was inaccessible to most designers and too slow to iterate in. Engineers with strong design sensibilities were rare. So we drew pictures instead.
Now the gap is closing. Component libraries, design systems, and AI-assisted tools are lowering the cost of going straight to code. We may not need static mockups much longer.
The ascent of code-native design tools
We’re starting to see tools like Builder.io and SuperDesign, which can run right in VS Code and its derivatives (Cursor, Windsurf, etc.). I think these are pointing in the right direction: a future where the design canvas lives inside the code editor.
Figma’s new Make feature is similar to v0, Bolt, and others, but produces more polished output. There’s clearly something clever happening in the prompt Figma feeds the model. I still think Figma is in a strong position to lead the space. It also makes it easier to include your design files as context. But these tools still come with limits. The tech stack is fixed, and version control tools like Git aren’t supported—something that’s essential when “vibe coding” (or vibe designing, I guess).
I have also experimented with giving Windsurf direct access to Figma designs via Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers. In practice, the results aren’t much better than exporting Figma frames to JSON and pasting them into a chat.
In the next wave, most product design won’t start in a graphics editor. It will begin with live, editable components—using real data, real interactions, and real constraints. Designers will focus on flows and structure, while AI generates the UI.
What got you here won’t get you there
The future favors technical designers. You don’t need to be a full-stack engineer (that role may not exist much longer), but you should understand systems, states, components, and databases.
Designers will still handle the hard parts: defining the problem, solving it creatively, and setting the vision. AI will assist with execution and iteration.
Great designers will remain in high demand, but the field will become more competitive. Those who know how to work with LLMs will have a major advantage.
Conclusion
Design isn’t going away. It’s becoming more important than ever in a world crowded with AI-generated products. But the tooling is moving upstream. The next generation of design won’t be exported. It will be deployed.