r/UXDesign

Background about me, I completed Designlab back in 2023 but stepped away from applying because I started a family. Fast forward to now, I am thinking about applying again but the industry has changed so much with AI. I know that UX isn’t always about designing screens and making things look pretty because there’s research, defending your designs, company limitations etc…. As a person who would like to be more creative in her career, would this be a good fit or would I be disappointed?

Reason I ask is because I have been seeing some people say creativity has a ceiling because there’s majority of it is already set by the company standards. Some even say it’s more meetings and a data driven role. I honestly just want to be realistic and smart about my next pivot. Any insight would be appreciated!

I've been trying to look at both sides around the AI hype lately and I'd love to hear what others are thinking and experiencing within their org, especially with the cost of tokens. I recently had a baby and was on maternity leave so I have been trying to get up to speed with everything, particularly with claude design. So far, I haven't been getting impressive designs. Maybe its the prompts im giving it, the fact that im still learning it. I dont know.. I feel like im spending more time mastering prompts when I could have just spent that time perfecting my mockups.

So far, it has helped with generating ideas to get the ball rolling, I take that and run with it to continue iterating as more information comes along. How is everyone else using it? Will the cost of tokens make orgs realize it cost more to pay for tokens than to replace folks? Would love to hear what everyone is feeling, thinking and experiencing especially as it relates to the cost of tokens and prompts.

Yet here I am, bowing out of an interview process because of it, knowing there are probably plenty of other candidates who won’t bat an eye. End rant.

Wanted to get the overall sentiment from other UX Designers.

If you were a final round candidate and did not get an offer, would you appreciate a call from the HM letting you know they were a very good candidate but lacked in a skill they were looking for, or is that just salt in the wounds?

I’m applying for a director-level design position where the team is already very senior (the lowest level is currently Lead Product Designer). For those of you who work on or have worked on similarly senior teams, what qualities have you most appreciated in your managers? And what have you found most helpful for a manager to do for you?

I’m especially curious because, if I get the role, I want to be thoughtful about where I focus my time and energy. I don’t want to over-manage people who are already experienced and independent, so I’d love to hear what has actually made a difference for you :-)

1. How often are you actually using it, for prototyping, exploring interactions, handoff, or something else entirely?

2. What’s it replacing for you, if anything? Static mockups, Figma prototypes, coded proofs of concept?

3. Any concerns that come up, losing control over the details, devs pushing back on AI-generated frontend, or a weird gap between what’s “designed” and what actually ships?

4. What’s holding you back from using it more, if anything? Tooling, trust in the output, org policy, just not having the bandwidth to learn it?

5. Has it changed how you work with engineering, smoother handoff, or more friction?

6. Finally: does it feel like it’s actually helping your craft, or does it just add a new layer of work reviewing and fixing what it spits out?

Any feedback is very welcome!

I don't work in this field at all, but I'm in a position where I can obtain a degree in UX design/research for free (through a remote school such as WGU). But of course, there are many concerns, one of those being AI. I also don't know how saturated this field is. Would you recommend pursuing it, or nah?

My company is going to remove the PM role and let AI take over parts of the process. I know AI is impacting a lot of industries nowadays, so I’m wondering if anyone is already experiencing a product structure with only designers and engineers. What are the challenges and benefits of this approach? Just wondering what should I expect.

For people regularly using the Figma MCP with Claude, where has it been most useful?

Are you using it to create screens, generate variations, improve existing designs, inspect design systems, or move from Figma to code?

I’m particularly curious about iteration: when Claude produces multiple directions, where do you keep and compare them? Has it changed how many alternatives you explore before choosing one?

Would love to hear about specific workflows.

If you're a real UX designer and not some low-grade bootcamp churnout, you are 100% safe from AI in the long run.

I have seen so many people saying downright embarrassing crap like "OMG ur training AI to replace you!!!". Is that really what you believe?

First off, in order to even discuss the possibility of AI replacing actual UX design, we would need to see the existing of actual competent AI training. That is:

• a trained professional class of evaluators educated in both the relevant AI models and the general principles of GAI
• an equally trained class of QA with strong accountability mechanisms, even more heavily educated on the specific AI models
• domain expert project managers.

None of those things are in evidence so far.

Secondly, even if those conditions were met, to say that AI is going to replace you is unhinged.

The more charitable explanation for these claims is that they just don't understand what GAI is fundamentally capable of. As someone who has used the tools extensively and worked on improving them (or rather, trying to), I can see its hard limits fast approaching. I can also see that its fundamental strengths are being ignored in favor of imaginary capabilities for the sole purpose of defrauding smoothbrained execs and clueless investors.

But I fear that there's a less charitable explanation that applies better to most AI hysteria. It's not that people fundamentally misunderstand what AI can do. It's that their core skill set is one that's easily replaced by glorified autocorrect. They are Figma monkeys and pixel pushers. They do the most superficial, semi-skilled parts of interface design, then call themselves UX, and insult the rest of us by claiming our work can be done by AI.

Now, a more defensible claim is that AI won't replace us per se, but rather it will enable a process that is already well underway. That is the race to the bottom in user experience quality. Between intentional enshittification and cost cutting, AI isn't a replacement for skilled UX professionals, but rather low-grade offshore slop. If those conditions I listed above were optimally met (and slim chance of that), then maybe companies could replace their overseas slop shops with AI models.

But I suspect even that won't happen. I think there is already a feedback loop nearing its complete cycle wherein the ghettoization of UX will ultimately hit the pocketbooks of investors. The economy is struggling, and that means that people are going to start cutting expenses. People willingly bleed $30/month here and there for frivolous crap when times are good. But when the belt tightens, that crap is the first thing out the window. We have to wait a little longer, though.

I’d like to hear from anyone in enterprise saas who have actually scaffolded AI use in their org.

The craze for ai is already established, no need to harp there. People are saying ‘connect claude to your repo and start building’, but it seems to be much more to it than that. After discussing with my devs, I received like 6 different softwares I would need just to be able to run a clone repo, all complicated by the fact I’m on Mac (like many designers). It’s not just giving me read/write access and I’m off to the races like it’s being implied.

Has this also been the case in your org? Each designer having to do a ton of setup just to get up and running? How are you onboarding for this? To be clear, I’m wanting to test out building with Claude using real code and not just what’s in figma. We have zero connection between code/design right now - I’d like to try setting this up to start. I just don’t want to get left behind the curve on learning this! Open hearing other orgs processes.

I'm a solo UX/UI designer at a tech company. They require us to write "content pieces" or short articles to post on Linked In under the company's profile. I'm an excellent writer, but honestly have not written a think-piece in years. Probably since my early college days. What kind of subjects fascinate you within this field? I'm asking to get a feel of topics that people would actually want to read. Our audience is mainly clients and tech-bro's, so I'm not sure how to go about this. Any advice welcome thanks in advance!

I’ve been experimenting with Cursor + MCP alongside Figma.

One small example: when I’m designing dashboards with multiple widgets, I’ll ask Cursor to check/fix the numbers across them so the data actually tells a consistent story instead of me manually making up values 😅

Curious what other designers are doing beyond just generating UI/code.

Any interesting workflows, MCP setups, automations, or random little things you’ve found genuinely useful?

I've been thinking a lot on this, and would like some perspectives.

My answer is "Find the best solution to the problem in context of the project and its target users".

This guides my thinking, as it forces me to ask the kinds of questions I need at all aspects of the design process.

How do you guys see it?

I would be surprised to learn that they tested this new redesign at all with customers, it is basically unusable.

anyways, among other issues, it is trying to use the "subscribe and save" features in iHerb. I cannot simply move one item from next month's delivery to this month's delivery. I used to be able to, but not with this redesign. I might have to switch back to Amazon. they suck as a company but at least the product is usable.

and there is no way, anymore, to view all my items, only my shipments. and shipments for the same date are listed separately based on frequency. so terrible.

i don't know if this makes me feel better or worse about being rejected...

end rant.

Have an interview, where they will ask to do whiteboarding, gave last interview 5 years back. Can someone help with sample scenarios to practice that would include AI too

Hey all, it's your beloved distant cousin from the Game UI/UX side of things.

Most of my inner circle are either other Game Developers of junior hopefuls trying to break in as UI Artists - so I'm in a bubble when it comes to the overall UI UX market.

Every once in awhile a Product Designer or Frontend Dev makes their way to me trying to make the jump, but I just realized we never really talked about the job market that they *just* came from.

So, open-ended question: from *your* perspective, what is the health of the "general" UI UX job market in 2026? Personal experiences and anecdotes are cheerfully welcome.

Bonus question: and where do you think it will be in 2027?

Thanks from your Cuz!

Is AI actually going to replace designers?

I've been thinking about the whole AI vs. designers thing, and there's one part of it that I genuinely don't understand.

Adobe, Canva, Figma, etc. were literally created so that humans could make things. Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects, Figma, Canva.etc.. all these tools exist because people wanted to create, design, edit, animate, experiment, and basically make stuff look good. but now AI is getting to the point where it can do a lot of that stuff for us. So what happens if, say, 10–20 years from now, AI can do 80–90% of the actual production work that designers, editors and motion designers currently do?

Why would I need Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, Premiere, Canva, etc. in the way we use them today? Wouldn't Adobe, Canva, Figma, etc. basically be killing their own market?

Like, obviously they're not going to sit there and let AI destroy their businesses. They're already adding AI into their products. But if AI eventually becomes capable of doing most of what their software currently helps humans do, wouldn't the software itself eventually become less relevant?

I'm asking because I keep seeing people say "AI is going to replace graphic designers" and "AI will replace video editors" etc., but I don't see people talking much about the fact that Adobe, Canva, Figma and all these companies have a massive incentive to keep the creative ecosystem alive.

So I'm curious what people who actually work in design think.