Where Product Designers Create Value

Introduction

A year ago, I spent most of my day in Figma. Today, I spend a surprising amount of it in Codex (Yes, Codex not Claude). That might sound like a strange thing for a product designer to say. I still love designing interfaces and I probably always will. The difference is that AI has become incredibly good at many of the tasks that used to take up a large part of my day. I’m honestly glad I don’t have to duplicate twenty screens just to mock every loading state, empty state and error state anymore. AI is really good at that kind of work. It helps me explore ideas faster, build prototypes, write UX copy and get to a first version much quicker than before.

While building Stories.dev I’ve found myself working directly in Codex more and more. I still use Figma all the time, but it has become more of a communication tool. It’s often faster for me to quickly design a screen, take a screenshot and show Codex exactly what I have in mind than to describe every little design decision in a prompt. Writing “add space-y-4 between these elements, reduce the padding here and align this to the left” usually takes longer than simply drawing it. That shift made me realise where I actually create the most value.

The conversations changed

Some of my most valuable work now happens before Figma is even open. When I work with founders, we’re rarely discussing button spacing or whether a border radius should be 8 or 12 pixels. Most conversations are about much bigger questions, like: “Are we solving the right problem?”, “Does this feature belong in the MVP?”, “Why are users getting stuck?”, “What should we build next?”, “How do we balance user needs with business goals?” Those decisions shape the product far more than the UI ever will. Most founders don’t hire me because they can’t design a screen. They hire me because product decisions are expensive. Building the wrong thing can cost months of development. AI has made building much easier. It hasn’t made those decisions any easier.

Great products still need personality

I’ve also noticed that many AI-generated products are starting to feel very similar. The layouts are clean. The UX is usually solid. Everything works. At the same time they often feel interchangeable. They don’t really have much personality. I still think experienced designers bring something that’s difficult to automate today. They create experiences that feel unique to a company. They build trust through hundreds of small decisions based on context, curiosity, taste and a deep understanding of the people they’re designing for. I don’t think we’ll be saying “this was designed by AI” forever. The tools will keep improving until we stop noticing them. Just like we don’t think about whether someone used Auto Layout or spellcheck anymore.

Will AI become strategic?

I think so. Today AI can already help analyse research, organise feedback and spot patterns across hundreds of conversations. What it can’t easily do today is sit in a user interview, notice when someone hesitates before answering, ask an unexpected follow-up question or understand the emotion behind a frustrated customer. Those insights still come from real people talking to real people. Maybe that changes in five years. Maybe sooner. That’s why I don’t think AI is replacing product designers, yet. The tools will continue to change, they always do.

Why I’m optimistic

I’m generally not a fan of the mindset that my profession is somehow too creative or too smart to be automated. If the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that AI keeps surprising us. I wouldn’t be surprised if almost every knowledge job changes dramatically over the next decade. That doesn’t really change how I think about my own work. As long as I keep seeing products that confuse people, solve the wrong problem or leave users frustrated, I’ll keep helping founders build better ones. Whether that happens in Figma, Codex or a tool that doesn’t even exist yet isn’t really the point. Helping founders understand their users, make better product decisions and create products that people genuinely enjoy using is the part of this job I care about most. Fortunately, it’s also the part I enjoy the most.