Traditionally, designers needed to understand code limitations to create feasible UIs. With tools that render a live DOM on the canvas, this is no longer necessary. If a design can be created in the tool, it is, by definition, valid and buildable code.
Related Insights
Generative UI tools do more than just build apps. By allowing non-technical users to iterate on an idea through natural language, they naturally encounter and solve fundamental computer science problems like data modeling and abstraction without formal training.
Tools like Figma and Framer are bridging the gap between design and code, pushing designers to think like engineers. In the near future, the most valuable creative professionals will be hybrids who can design and implement functional websites, making 'designer/engineer' a common job title.
Vercel's Pranati Perry explains that tools like V0 occupy a new space between static design (Figma) and development. They enable designers and PMs to create interactive prototypes that better communicate intent, supplement PRDs, and explore dynamic states without requiring full engineering resources.
AI-powered "vibe coding" is reversing the design workflow. Instead of starting in Figma, designers now build functional prototypes directly with code-generating tools. Figma has shifted from being the first step (exploration) to the last step (fine-tuning the final 20% of pixel-perfect details).
Vercel's Pranati Perry argues that even with no-code AI tools, having some coding knowledge is a superpower. It provides the vocabulary to guide the LLM, give constructive criticism during debugging, and avoid building on a 'house of cards,' leading to better, more stable results.
The idea that design systems stifle creativity stems from the high cost of re-coding components after a design change. In a world with a single source of truth, where design changes automatically update the code, this cost disappears, allowing systems to be radically changed without engineering overhead.
For individuals who both design and code, finishing a visual design isn't a moment of triumph but one of dread, as they know the lengthy process of coding it from scratch has just begun. This specific emotional pain point is a core motivator for building next-generation tools that eliminate this redundant step.
The current model of separate design files and codebases is inefficient. Future tools will enable designers to directly manipulate production code through a visual canvas, eliminating the handoff process and creating a single, shared source of truth for the entire team.
The co-founder, a designer, learned React to bypass the classic frustration of developers misinterpreting high-fidelity mockups. By designing directly in code, he maintains full control over the final UI, eliminates the handoff process, and saves significant time and back-and-forth.
As AI models become proficient at generating high-quality UI from prompts, the value of manual design execution will diminish. A professional designer's key differentiator will become their ability to build the underlying, unique component libraries and design systems that AI will use to create those UIs.