How AI Is Impacting the Products We Design and Use
In this blog, I’ll share my observations on how AI is influencing the products we design and use.
AI is making a significant impact across all verticals of software design today, from hyper-personalization to making information more accessible and easier to consume. However, alongside this innovation, there is growing fear in the creative industry, with many designers worried about their jobs being replaced by AI. While these concerns are valid, if we approach design as a method of problem-solving, AI can be a powerful tool.
Innovation in AI has impacted product design in two major ways: first, by changing how we design, and second, by reshaping the experiences in everyday products we use. Let’s begin with how we design and products we use.
How AI is impacting How we design
This primarily addresses the workflow of designing. With powerful large language models (LLMs), you can quickly research information, summarize research data, and generate assets and content. While I haven’t seen AI reach the sophistication of human design, it has undeniably improved our workflows. For instance, Figma’s AI features allow you to edit content, translate app content into multiple languages, remove backgrounds, search assets from design systems effectively, and even generate UI based on prompts.
As an industry professional, I’m not particularly impressed by tools that generate UI directly, but they do serve as a means to explore initial ideas. LLMs are excellent for synthesizing research data, especially when working with large datasets, enabling UX researchers to work more efficiently. There is significant opportunity in this space to design experiences that enhance the workflows of tech professionals.
Another interesting observation is how generative AI is influencing coding and has brought out the “design engineer” in many designers. Many designers are now curious to build what they design. I’ve observed LLMs like Cursor, Alex (the sidebar tool), and Claude reducing the learning curve and acting as coding assistants. This is something I’ve been exploring myself. My coding focus has been on iOS app development, and I’ve been diving into SwiftUI. It has been a great way to understand iOS development concepts and has given me confidence in building an iOS app from the ground up—a side project I’m currently working on.
I can see these workflows becoming an integral part of a designer’s toolkit, aligning well with the rising trend of design engineering.
How AI Impacts the Products We Use
It’s starting to feel like any product that isn’t AI-powered is becoming outdated. At this point, I can’t imagine using a note-taking app without AI features. Some of the best integrations of AI are found in tools like Notion AI and Apple’s intelligence features in the Notes app. However, it’s also apparent that some companies are forcing AI into everything without much thought. On the other hand, companies that thoughtfully integrate AI with meaningful design principles truly stand out.
AI introduces concepts like memory, where past interactions enhance personalization. For example, I often use ChatGPT’s voice chat feature to brainstorm ideas, and the experience feels tailored based on our past conversations. Similarly, Google has been focusing heavily on AI, with their recent launch of Google Gemini showcasing innovative capabilities. These advancements enable developers to incorporate features like voice interaction, summarization, personalization, search, and chat APIs into their products.
For designers, this opens up exciting opportunities to rethink how we solve user problems and create better experiences by leveraging AI capabilities. AI is undoubtedly transforming most of the products we use today while also creating more opportunities for designers to craft AI-enabled solutions.
Thank you for reading!
