Are we building faster… or thinking less?

Figma Make is pushing a new way of creating interfaces.

Type a prompt.

Get a UI.

Ship faster.

Sounds like the dream, right?

But after spending time with AI-driven design workflows, something feels… off.

Not because AI is bad.

But because of what it’s quietly changing.

⚡ The new workflow no one talks about

Let’s be honest about what’s actually happening:

Prompt → Generate → Fix → Re-prompt → Adjust → Compromise

That’s the loop.

At first, it feels magical.

You describe something and it appears instantly.

But after a few iterations, you realize:

You’re not designing anymore.

You’re negotiating.

🎯 The difference between output and design

AI is great at producing output.

But design is not output.

Design is:

Structure
Hierarchy
Intent
Systems
Edge cases
Accessibility

When you open a canvas in Figma, you’re not just placing elements.

You’re:

defining relationships
shaping user flow
building scalable systems

That level of thinking doesn’t come from prompts.

It comes from understanding.

⚠️ Where AI breaks (today)

Let’s talk real issues designers are facing:

1. No real control

You don’t get proper:

auto layout logic
clean layer grouping
reusable component structure

And these are not “nice to have”.

These are the foundation of scalable design.

2. Hallucinated UI decisions

AI often:

creates inconsistent spacing
ignores accessibility
invents patterns that don’t scale

You spend more time fixing than creating.

3. Prompting is not iteration

Iteration in design means:

adjusting spacing by 4px
testing hierarchy visually
refining interactions

Prompting is:

describing what you want
hoping the system interprets it correctly

That’s a completely different mental model.

4. It skips the thinking phase

This is the biggest problem.

AI gives you answers before you’ve fully framed the problem.

And when you skip problem framing:

You lose depth.

You lose clarity.

You lose meaning.

🧩 Why this matters more than we think

If designers start relying only on generation:

Design becomes surface-level
Systems become inconsistent
Products become harder to scale
UX becomes reactive instead of intentional

And slowly, the role of a designer shifts from:

creator → editor of AI output

That’s not evolution.

That’s dilution.

💡 So what should AI actually do?

AI shouldn’t replace the design process.

It should plug into it.

Here’s a better direction:

Instead of:

“Generate me a dashboard UI”

Imagine:

“Fix spacing and hierarchy in this layout”
“Convert this into a responsive system”
“Suggest accessibility improvements”
“Turn this design into clean frontend code”

AI as a co-pilot, not the driver.

🧭 The future: designer-first AI

Tools like Figma Make are still early.

This phase is experimental.

A bit chaotic.

A bit overhyped.

But the long-term winners won’t be:

AI that replaces designers.

They’ll be:

AI that amplifies great designers.

🔥 Final thought

AI can generate screens.

But it can’t:

understand users deeply
think in systems
make trade-offs with context

That’s still your job.

And honestly?

That’s your edge.

✍️ One line to leave you with

Prompting faster doesn’t make you a better designer.

Thinking deeper does.

Fast UI, Weak Thinking