AI for Designers
How designers ship with AI. Tools, workflows, prompts, and the practical craft of building AI-powered products.
All AI for Designers articles
My Company Put Me on an Extreme AI Token Diet. The Result Was Design Rot.
Enterprises now meter AI per designer with hard token rationing that quietly rots design quality. Here is how to cap spend without shipping worse work.
Brand Rules Engines Are Now Running Inside AI Agents
AI agents now generate faster than humans can police, so a brand rules engine checks every output in real time. Here is how the propose-reject-approve loop works and what it can and cannot enforce.
Figma Make Just Became a Real Design-to-Code Tool
Figma Make now exports React wired to your real design tokens and Code Connect mappings instead of throwaway markup. Here is what changed on June 18, where it still needs a human, and a workflow you can run this week.
Claude Fable 5 Just Collapsed the Design-to-Code Gap
Fable 5 turns a screenshot into production-ready UI in one pass. Here is what actually changed, where it breaks, and what "finished" means for designers now.
Claude Code Context Management: /clear vs /compact and the Rest
How to manage Claude Code's context window. The real difference between /clear and /compact, plus /context, /rewind, auto-compaction, and the memory files that outlive every reset.
I Built an Interactive Website Hero in Figma That Reacts to Your Cursor. Here Is the Process.
A step-by-step build: generate a cinematic scene with the Higgsfield Figma plugin, turn it into a cursor-reactive parallax hero, and ship it. Copy-paste prompts inside.
Claude Fable 5: Launch Data, Benchmarks, and Real Reactions
Claude Fable 5 launched June 9 as Anthropic's first Mythos-class model. The verified benchmarks, the real pricing, and what builders hit in week one.
Claude Effort Levels: From Low to Ultracode
A plain-English guide to Claude's /effort levels for designers and creators, from low and medium to xhigh, max, ultracode, and auto, with a simple rule for which to use when.
What Claude Opus 4.8 Means for Designers
A designer's teardown of Claude Opus 4.8. The 1M context window, fast mode in Claude Code, the long-horizon reliability gains, and the four design workflows it actually changes. Plus an honest list of what Opus 4.8 still cannot do for you.
Google Stitch for Designers: How Prompt-to-UI Actually Works in 2026
What Google Stitch does for designers in 2026, the workflows that pay off, and where it loses to v0, Lovable, and Figma Make. Real outputs, honest verdict.
Cursor for Designers: The 2026 Guide to Actually Useful AI in Your Design Workflow
What Cursor actually does for designers in 2026, the real workflows that pay off (design system maintenance, prototype rewrites, MCP-driven Figma to code), and where it still falls short.
MCP Servers for Designers Worth Installing in 2026
The MCP servers worth installing if you work in Figma, Cursor, or Claude. What MCP is, which five servers ship real daily value, and how to wire them up.
Designing Agent Memory: The 2026 Designer's Handbook
Agent memory is the new AI design surface no one teaches. Build memory features users actually trust with 4 types, 5 trust principles, plus a workshop.
Generative UI Design: The Practical Handbook for 2026
Generative UI design explained: the four architectures, the pattern language, the failure modes, and the practical handbook for designers shipping in 2026.
Designing Streaming UIs
The streaming output region is the new canvas. A working playbook for designing AI streaming UIs as a real interaction model, with five layers, real product teardowns, anti-patterns, and a pre-ship audit.
Designing for Agents Watching
AI agents are now first-class users of your product. The 2026 design constraint: every surface needs a human plane and a machine plane, or you lose the next agent integration.
Onboarding Without Onboarding
The 5-step welcome modal is dead. The five patterns AI-native products use to put new users inside real work in under thirty seconds, and the cases where onboarding still earns its keep.
Prompt Surfaces: The New UX Primitive
The prompt input is the new button. A working playbook for designing prompt surfaces as a first-class UX primitive, with anatomy, patterns, failure modes, and a pre-ship audit.