At AI startup Cursor, there's no single design process. Designers use different tools and methods, from Figma-first to code-first, fostering a culture of high-fidelity, prototype-driven collaboration rather than uniform tooling.
John Bai from Cursor still begins in Figma to quickly visualize concepts and gain conviction. Figma acts as a storyboard and idea repository before he uses AI tools to translate those ideas into high-fidelity, interactive prototypes.
To appeal to non-technical users, the GrokBot team consciously avoided reusing UI components from the developer-focused Cursor app. They believed the "Cursor" brand and feel were "too technical" and would deter the new consumer audience they were targeting.
Designer John Bai built radical UI concepts, like an ambient "notch" agent. By using this prototype to build the product itself, he learned it was hard to track context. The failure of the experiment provided crucial, early validation for sticking with a more conventional chat UI.
In an era of rapidly changing tools, Cursor's design team values core design principles above all. The ability to iterate towards product-market fit is more critical than mastery of specific models or workflows, as the fundamental design process remains the same.
With AI accelerating idea generation, designers must be comfortable with their work being thrown away. John Bai's process involves extensive Figma sketches and prototypes that leadership never sees. The goal is rapid learning, not preserving every concept.
The decision to give GrokBot agents characters wasn't arbitrary. The design team noticed users were already giving their agents names and custom photo avatars. This organic behavior validated the need to build personification into the core product experience.
While designers explore novel interfaces, John Bai's experience building GrokBot reaffirmed the power of the traditional multi-column chat UI. He concluded it's still the "right way" to interact with a fleet of AI agents carrying out distinct, predefined tasks.
The initial version of what became GrokBot was developed by a small group of "OG" engineers working in isolation. This skunkworks approach faced a lack of understanding from others in the company, forcing the team to ship tangible results to prove the concept's viability.
The key to successful AI tool onboarding isn't speed, but clarity. John Bai argues against 'skip' buttons, stating users need to understand the tool's power first to avoid action paralysis. Focus on a few core concepts in an engaging way, even if it adds steps.