Complementary 69: Practical Uses of AI for Designers
Nov 9, 2025
Explore how AI can enhance design practices without coding! Hosts discuss the hype around AI and its realistic applications in design. Learn about using AI for generating short copy, suggesting ideation strategies, and synthesizing user feedback. They also debate the tradeoffs between setup efforts and future efficiencies. Discover the limitations of current AI tools for designers and why the focus is more on text than visuals. Join in on the conversation about making design more efficient and the future landscape of design workflows!
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Hype Outruns Practical Designer Use
- AI hype often outpaces practical, everyday use for designers.
- Many people claim AI value because it excites investors or leadership, not because it transforms daily work.
Prepare Design Systems Before Using AI Tools
- Invest in configuring design systems and variables to get better AI outputs from tools like Figma Make.
- Expect nontrivial setup work before AI can reliably generate code or components from your designs.
AI Often Forces Designers Into Dev Work
- Many AI promises assume designers must learn developer workflows to benefit.
- That shifts work from design to engineering-style setup, which isn't always desirable or practical.