Figma's CEO argues that while agentic coding systems are powerful, they risk being too linear. True product innovation requires exploring a wide option space through design, using systems and components to ensure a cohesive user journey. Relying solely on code generation can lead to a suboptimal product, even if it's built quickly.
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Standard AI coding tools force a linear A-to-B iteration process, which stifles the divergent thinking essential for design exploration. Tools with a 'canvas' feature allow designers to visualize, track, and branch off multiple design paths simultaneously, better mirroring the creative process.
AI tools democratize prototyping, but their true power is in rapidly exploring multiple ideas (divergence) and then testing and refining them (convergence). This dramatically accelerates the creative and validation process before significant engineering resources are committed.
Figma CEO Dylan Field argues that while AI can quickly generate "good enough" results, this baseline is no longer sufficient. As AI floods the market with generic software and designs, true differentiation will come from human-led craft, taste, and pushing beyond the initial AI output.
AI's primary impact on design isn't just making it accessible. For experts, it's a tool to rapidly explore a vast space of creative possibilities. This allows them to sample far more options and apply their taste and intentionality to a much broader canvas than was previously possible.
Developers fall into the "agentic trap" by building complex, fully-automated AI coding systems. These systems fail to create good products because they lack human taste and the iterative feedback loop where a creator's vision evolves through interaction with the software being built.
As AI accelerates software development, basic functionality becomes table stakes. Figma's CEO contends that differentiation and winning now depend entirely on design, craft, and a strong point of view, as 'good enough' products will no longer succeed.
Karri Saarinen of Linear posits that design should be a "search" phase, free from coding constraints. Jumping directly into code introduces biases from the existing codebase, making designers more conservative and less idealistic, which ultimately hinders breakthrough product ideas.
As AI makes the act of writing code a commodity, the primary challenge is no longer execution but discovery. The most valuable work becomes prototyping and exploring to determine *what* should be built, increasing the strategic importance of the design function.
Figma's CEO believes AI will create the "10X designer." As AI automates basic design tasks, making "good enough" the new baseline, the premium on true craft and system-level thinking will skyrocket. Designers who can leverage AI to execute a holistic product vision will become indispensable leaders and key drivers of a company's success.
For creative work like design, AI's true value isn't just accelerating tasks. It's enabling designers to explore a much wider option space, test more possibilities, and apply more craft to the final choice. Since design is non-deterministic, AI serves creative exploration more than simple speed.
