It’s getting easier for everyone to prototype. AI tools now let PMs, engineers, and even end users spin up quick ideas in minutes. What used to take hours in Figma can now happen with a few prompts and a little curiosity. I actually love this shift. The pace of exploration is faster. The cost of trying things has dropped. But when prototyping gets this fast, I’ve been wondering:
Where does design focus now?
Design’s Role Isn’t Shrinking — It’s Evolving
I don’t think design loses its value when others can prototype. If anything, it makes design’s role more valuable. Because while everyone can generate a flow, not everyone thinks about:
What’s the right problem to solve?
Will this pattern scale across the product?
Are we breaking user trust with this interaction?
Will this design hold up when the system grows?
How does this fit within our users’ mental models?
How might this create friction later?
Design starts to show its value not just in making things, but in building coherence, trust, and resilience as things multiply.
Fast Prototypes Need Solid Foundations
When prototyping gets faster, design’s job isn’t to slow it down — it’s to enable it to scale safely.
Design creates the foundations that let others move quickly without breaking things.
It’s about building clear, reusable patterns.
It’s about shaping design systems that hold up under pressure.
It’s about setting up the conditions where PMs, engineers, and even AI tools can spin up ideas without fragmenting the product.
Design becomes the quiet enabler of speed — not by owning every prototype, but by making sure the scaffolding is solid.
Because when the foundations are strong, teams can:
Explore quickly without creating long-term debt
Prototype new ideas without introducing inconsistent experiences
Build trust with users, even as the product rapidly evolves
Layer on new features without breaking what’s already working
Good design systems don’t just store components — they store good decisions.
And that’s what lets everyone move fast with confidence.
Design Unlocks People and AI
In the future, AI will probably get even better at building from the design system, applying UX principles, and suggesting decent flows.
But there’s a ceiling.
What AI might miss is how it all connects.
How patterns carry meaning across moments.
How people’s expectations evolve with every interaction.
How scaling one part of a system quietly strains another.
Design is the connective tissue. It’s the work that makes the system hold as more people — and more AIs — start building on top of it.
A Quick Takeaway
When everyone can prototype, design doesn’t fade — it zooms out. It’s not just about the next screen. It’s about whether the next screen makes the system better or more brittle.
Designers who think this way will help teams move faster — not by controlling the work, but by building the conditions where more people (and tools) can confidently contribute.