Andrew Millar

Ok I can't help myself. IMO: It's helpful we're discussing the exciting possibilities of what this next generation of tools will offer us, and how we should expand how we think about our roles as designers. But it's harmful when we go about it with the same "prove me wrong", "RIP X" divisive energy that social media loves so much, instead of encouraging level-headed curious discussion. It's giving "crypto is here, goodbye traditional financial system", or "mobile is here, if you're still designing for desktop you're doing it wrong" — we can do SO much better than this attention seeking bs. Let's not divide by proselytizing the "only right way to do design". We grow by expanding, not contracting. Learning, not dictating. Yes, there is a shift happening. We can build our ideas easier than ever before like engineers. We can research markets and make sense of large piles of complex information/insights like PMs. In the long run I think it'll be less about roles anyway and more about parts of a process — these new skills should bring us closer together in recognizing we're all just makers; we're here to build wonderful things that solve real problems for people. So please let's remember designing is more than just drawing rectangles. It's more than a single point in time, a singular person/role, or a single tool. It's more just how things look. It's more than blocks of code, or a prototype. It's a plan for making things better. An intentional process for solving real problems. A way of visualizing what's possible and making it happen. That this takes repeating in 2025 reflects on some level a failure on our part as a design industry. I personally believe that no matter how quickly you can create a working prototype or even a real product in the future, so long as you're building ideas in a team, you will benefit from a shared collaborative space to review and discuss your teams work. A place to explore ideas visually, debate them, and evolve them. A place to make decisions. And sometimes that place might a zoom call or a hallway conversation. Sometimes a messaging tool. Sometimes a digital whiteboard or a slide deck. Sometimes it might happen over a prototype of the thing, or sometimes, increasingly so I hope, it might happen over the thing itself, and ideally discussing with not just our fellow makers, but those using the things we make. These spaces all have a place, and a purpose, at different points in time. Let's keep designing together. Let's keep trying new tools that help us do that. Let's think for ourselves. And most of all, let's touch all the grass we can while we can.