The new design equation

If more people are building—and building faster—what separates good from great?

Andrew described what he calls a new design equation: more people involved, more possibilities unlocked by AI, more products being created, and higher stakes for differentiation.

Jason framed the leadership challenge clearly: “What does good look like when everybody is participating? What are the gates or criteria that ensure what we ship is actually quality?”

This is where design leadership becomes critical.

AI can generate 30 variations in seconds. But as Andrew put it, “If you can churn out 30 things in a minute… which one is good? How are you even going to know?”

The bottleneck has shifted from production to discernment.

AI in product design: speed versus confidence

There’s no question that AI in product design has accelerated workflows. According to Figma’s 2026 report, 72% of designers now use generative AI tools, and 98% increased their usage in the last year . Among those designers:

• 89% say AI helps them work faster
• 80% say AI improves collaboration
• 91% say AI improves output quality

But speed doesn’t automatically translate to confidence.

UserTesting’s Defensible Design in the Age of AI study found that 91% of designers say their work moves faster in AI-enabled environments—yet only 15% feel “much more confident” in the quality of their work .

Confidence peaks during early exploration and drops as decisions become final and irreversible . As stakes increase, so does caution.

This mirrors a broader trend highlighted in Harvard Business Review: AI doesn’t necessarily reduce work—it intensifies it, expanding expectations and increasing cognitive load .

The lesson? Faster exploration is valuable. But without validation, speed compounds uncertainty.

Craft in the age of automation

Few topics sparked more debate in the conversation than craft.

Figma’s State of Design 2026 report found that designers most commonly define craft as visual polish and attention to detail (57%), followed by thoughtful problem solving (47%) and intuitive user experiences .

Jason admitted the visual emphasis made him “cringe” slightly—not because polish isn’t important, but because he’s spent decades expanding the definition of design beyond fit and finish.

Andrew pushed back thoughtfully.

“I wouldn’t skip over something that you innately know how to do that other people don’t,” he said, referring to taste, typography, animation, and emotional nuance. “There’s something to be said for the exact right animation, the exact right typography—those are very difficult to automate.”

The real tension isn’t polish versus problem solving. It’s polish without problem solving.

In an environment where AI can produce something that looks convincing, leaders must ensure teams don’t confuse surface quality with systemic quality.

Design systems as force multipliers

If design is infrastructure, then design systems are the scaffolding.

As more non-designers prototype ideas, leaders must codify principles, components, and standards that scale taste and quality across teams.

Andrew framed it this way: “How do you document what good looks like so other people can benefit from that? You’re not replicating the magic—but you’re scaling some of it.”

Strong systems allow exploration without chaos. They provide guardrails without gatekeeping.

And they ensure that when collaboration widens, quality doesn’t dilute.

Hiring for complexity, not just execution

Despite macro uncertainty, demand for designers remains steady or rising. Figma’s hiring data shows that managers are prioritizing senior designers who can integrate complex systems, stakeholders, and emerging technologies .

IDC forecasts continued growth in design-involved roles, particularly in UX, which is projected to grow at a 7.6% CAGR .

But hiring isn’t just about seniority.

Jason shared that he’s looking for “AI natives”—designers who instinctively explore with new tools—alongside seasoned practitioners who can defend decisions and navigate ambiguity.

Andrew agreed that balance matters. “You’re in trouble if you’re only looking for people who’ve done something for 15 years,” he said. “And you’re in trouble if you’re only looking for people who’ve only worked in a generative AI world.”

The most resilient teams combine depth with curiosity.

The validation divide

One of the most important findings from Defensible Design in the Age of AI is what builds trust in AI-enabled workflows.

Designers who say AI decreased risk are more likely to cross-check decisions with primary research, run usability tests, and use analytics .

Those who feel risk increased rely more on peer discussion and less on structured validation .

The difference isn’t tools. It’s evidence.

As the report states, “The problem isn’t that AI generates bad outputs—it’s that designers don’t know how to prove whether outputs are good or bad” .

Validation transforms speed into defensibility.

From demos, not memos

Throughout the episode, both leaders emphasized the power of prototypes as communication tools.

Andrew highlighted the shift from written memos to interactive demos. Prototypes convey context, assumptions, and trade-offs far more effectively than static documents.

But he also warned against false confidence.

“Be thoughtful,” he said. “Use both the outputs and the process.”

High-fidelity prototypes allow teams to feel an experience earlier. But that emotional resonance must still connect back to real users, clear goals, and measurable outcomes.

Otherwise, velocity becomes noise.

The profession in flux

Designers themselves are split on whether the field is improving. According to Figma’s report, 36% say the profession has gotten better, 35% say worse, and 29% say it’s stayed the same .

Optimism correlates strongly with leadership emphasis on craft and perceived company growth .

This reinforces a central theme from the conversation: context shapes confidence.

Designers are happiest when they have creative freedom, clear direction, and leaders who invest in excellence.

As one Italian designer quoted in the report said, “AI has automated a lot of surface-level design work, so now the value lies in systems thinking and the ability to translate complexity into clarity” .

That clarity is becoming the new currency of leadership.

What leaders should do next

Across research and conversation, several patterns emerge for navigating the future of design:

• Define what “good” means explicitly
• Invest in scalable design systems
• Blend senior judgment with AI fluency
• Make validation a shared responsibility
• Shift from fast output to decision readiness

As the Defensible Design in the Age of AI report concludes, confidence comes from clarity—not capability .

The teams that thrive won’t be those that generate the most ideas. They’ll be the ones that can explain why their ideas are right.

Andrew summed it up best: “When you can generate 30 things in a minute, taste and discernment become more important than ever.”

Episode links

• Design confidence under pressure: Making decisions you can defend in the age of AI — a webinar on applying insight and design judgment when working with AI-enabled decisions on UX and product design.
• The complete guide to testing websites, apps, and prototypes — comprehensive guidance on usability testing, including prototype testing workflows that support human-centered design practices.
• Why AI in user research isn’t replacing real people (yet) — an Insights Unlocked episode exploring AI’s role in research workflows and balancing AI tools with human judgment.
• From style guides to systems thinking: how mature design teams scale consistency — blog content that discusses design systems and scaling quality across teams.
• Andrew Hogan on LinkedIn
• Jason Giles on LinkedIn
• Figma's blog post on From Claude Code to Figma
• Figma's IDC study says the global workforce engaged in software design is expanding
• Figma's State of the Designer 2026: Designers are leaning into the messy middle
• Figma's State of the Designer report
• Figma's blog post on what it means to be a designer in the age of AI
• Figma's blog post on the business case for design systems