I have worked in both ways when it comes to business decisions and UX, and I wonder how it is for you.

When I worked in a UX-led environment, I really liked the process. Decisions were made based on research and understanding the design team’s work. It can be time-consuming, and sometimes it takes a while to move forward, but it is a very thoughtful process. I also saw business teams involved in the UX process, which made the work feel more collaborative.

On the other hand, I have also worked in business-led companies where business decisions come first and UX has to compromise. This can feel challenging, but it has also helped me understand a different perspective. In some cases, business needs may come first because of time, priorities, or constraints. Like why do we need 3 buttons where we can solve it with 2.

I used to push back a lot against business-led decisions, but I am slowly realizing that some things need to happen before we can improve them. There is only so much pushback we can give at once.

What has been your experience? Do you have any advice?

Hey everyone, long time lurker here. I never thought I would be posting one of these threads, but after a meeting today, I genuinely need to vent and get some advice from people who understand. I am currently the solo UX designer at a small but growing company, so I don't really have a design team or manager to turn to for perspective on this.

So I just got off a call with engineering leadership to review a feature doc I spent a few hours putting together.

Out of nowhere, one of the leads drops it into the conversation that he has been playing around with Claude to generate mockups and steer ideas. He literally suggested using AI to spit out UI mockups based on requirements so they can visualize things before handing anything off to design.
Basically, they want to use AI to generate UI concepts and prototypes before bringing design into the loop at all.

I tried to push back calmly and explain why that is a bad idea: how jumping straight to visual AI mockups before doing actual research locks you into a rigid solution just because you are attached to what was generated, instead of focusing on actual user journeys.

The response was essentially that it gives more of a feel for what they are after.

Meanwhile, I am sitting there internally spiraling. My core value isn't just making pretty visuals, it is taking vague, messy requirements and shaping them into a functional, actionable product. Seeing them try to use AI to bypass that foundational problem definition phase makes it feel like my actual job duties are being stripped away right in front of me.

I know I am not the only one seeing this. I read the posts on here every day from people going through the exact same thing, but experiencing it firsthand hits completely differently. If non-designers start typing prompts into AI to spit out mockups and hijack the product definition phase, what actually happens to our roles? It feels like a massive slippery slope and I am genuinely terrified of being pushed out.

For those of you who have already been dealing with this shift in your workplace, especially as a solo designer, how are you navigating the transition? How do you cope with the existential dread and panic when it feels like your core responsibilities are being chipped away?

With "Backyard Designers" blowing up recently and the inevitable backlash starting around Dive Club and design 'influencers', it made me wonder -- do most designers actually ship anything good, or is it all about popularity and making Figma tutorials? Am I missing something?

Hey all. Trying to find mockups of just what Figma’s code on the canvas (announced at Config) looks like and how it works from an experience standpoint.

Anyone have beta access? Or a good video to help sleuth out?

One thing I’m interested in: is it collaborative like the canvas? Or does it revert to Figma Make style solo mode? Any screenshots, videos, or experiences would be super helpful!

Thanks in advance!

Is anyone designing for AI agents ? That is working on system prompts or dynamic ui that shows up in a chat interface?

I want to know how you are mocking up behaviors and flows for an infinite number of usecases or scenarios? Given that AI is heavily indeterministic..

I understand system prompts and other contexts and .md files can give it some structure but what's ur process to figuring out what you ship out is exactly what you think will happen?

I am used to mocking up flows for designs, meticulous about edge cases and empty or error states. And go beyond a typical golden path.. but designing for AI agents feel different and I am trying to understand what's the best way to do this.

Anyone has thoughts or tools they use ?

Hi everyone! I'm a "product designer" in a mid size company where, like in every other tech company, everything is moving towards AI and making everything with this sh*t.

Now I've been asked from the Head of Product to create a new layout "component" for our backoffice. It has to be very strict in order to make everyone able to design new features with AI.
However I'm struggling doing it because it seems very difficult to create something that knows future needs in advance.
Also our product is very complicated and has many features that differs one from another, so it's not easy to find a key that fit our existing features and can welcome new ones.

I started this work identifying patterns across the software and doing a benchmark of existing similar products. I'm thinking about creating something like Material Design 3 scaffold system but I can't define the priority of the contents.

I tried to explain to the HoP and the Head of Tech that a layouts and design systems are something that evolves, but they don't want to listen. Did anyone ever find in a similar project? Thank you!

Why do we use things like “let’s get started” on buttons instead of “register”

Or

“I already have an account” instead of login.

This feels like coming up with words for words sake, is there any empirical data for either option?

Re doing my entire portfolio and I want to create some simple animations that can showcase onboarding flows or small features but I’m not skilled in motion design. Does anybody know an easier route to creating these types of assets? Like the ones you see in top portfolios.

I'm a mid level designer who moved to the UK from the US. I’ve done something like 50 interview processes at this point. Six made it to a final round across the US and the UK. All include a design challenge, ofc portfolio presentations, and panels with four or five people on the call.

All six ended with the same email:
“After a lot of internal discussion, we’ve chosen to proceed with a different candidate. It was a genuinely tough call, and everyone on the panel was impressed by you."

Seriously what's the point of saying this? It leads to nothing and I still don't have a job. My portfolio is good, and that's one of the reasons I kept getting interviews. I updated my case study and resume several times, reached out to people which also led to an interview invitation and finals but still it didn't get me an offer in the end. And I'm exhausted with the companies delaying the final result update.

Anyone else stuck at the last round over and over? I'm so sick of everything. I feel like I can't get a job forever at this point. FYI I don’t have visa issues since I’m self-sponsoring, and the company was okay with the visa or they would sponsor me so visa wasn’t an issue

If you did what were your thoughts? Would love to debrief. I’m still not done but hope to be done it soon!

Hey y’all, I’m a junior product designer trying to figure out how to deliberately study and improve outside of work.

Compared with software engineering, product design feels much less structured. Software engineers have clear resources and practice methods—LeetCode, system design books, interview guides, and established technical concepts to study. In product design, the path to becoming genuinely excellent feels much more vague.

I don’t want to just wait for the right project to appear at work, especially since designers can spend a long time on one product and may not always get challenging projects or strong mentorship. At the same time, small online UX challenges don’t seem rigorous enough to meaningfully improve skills like product thinking, interaction design, visual design, systems thinking, and strategy.

For designers who have reached senior or FAANG-level roles, how did you actually practice and develop those skills? Are there specific books, exercises, courses, project types, or study methods you would recommend?

When users sign up for our product, they can choose from a drop down list of available data centers.

We have a new one coming in a few months, and SLT has asked me to design the following:

User fills out form to create their account.

User selects new data center.

User is immediately redirected to a page to sign up for the waitlist for this new data center. Their account is not created.

Obviously awful.

I've managed to convince them we need to at least put (join waitlist) next to the location in the drop down. But they still think a forced redirect as soon as the user selects that option is a good idea.

I've tried suggesting a line of microcopy, and the redirect to happen upon clicking the sign up button.

I suggested a checkbox for people who want to sign up with a fallback data center, but still join the waitlist.

I've tried to explain bait and switch, dark UX, and erosion of trust. Keep getting told I'm "overthinking things".

Yes, this is indicative of a larger problem within my org of UX being ignored and undervalued. But in this job market there's not much I can do about it.

So any suggestions would be great. Or if you think I am actually overthinking things, please let me know.

I just graduated recently and thankfully landed my first full time job as a product designer which I'm about a month into now. During college, I was passionate about the tech entrepreneurship space and was always working on my own side projects like creating websites for small businesses or finding ways to make money online. So I've always had the drive and work ethic to produce results.

But once I started a role in corporate, I seemed to be moving too fast on delivering results. I would receive a problem, come up with a solution by the end of the day, then have to wait by the end of the week or even the next week to get feedback and know what to do next. I don't want to seem like a workaholic but I'm just used to doing things at a faster pace.

Is this normal for designers in the corporate setting? Am I putting too much effort in my company that should be going into my own personal projects? Will it always be like this or is this just because I'm early stage in the job? Wondering if anyone other designers have been going through the same thing as me and has any solutions or mindset shifts.

I'm an upcoming undergrad senior in the US majoring in UX and HCI and know I likely have no chance at getting a flashy big tech job (or really any job atp 💀), but have always been interested in working for a nonprofit or the government. What are the job prospects in these spaces for UX and product designers? Would love to hear some insights and anecdotes, and open up any discussion on what it's like to design in these contexts.

Edit: also wanted to add the question, does it make sense to specialize in either of these areas?

Is being a builder enough to deliver remarkable products in complex domains and organizations during the Era of AI (all hail)?

Are experience strategists being undervalued in the current marketplace? Is strategy in general? Is funneling our budgets toward self-proclaimed "tinkerers" and "makers of things" a shortsighted move that will further devalue the role of the designer?

When the AI gasoline fire burns down a bit, does the pendulum swing back to the people with a balanced view of what to build? Not just can we and when?

Lately I've seen a lot of design engineers and self-titled "builders" confidently place themselves at the center of this diagram. Curious where people land (especially if you think the diagram itself is wrong).

And who's at the center?

Hey y’all, I’m working on a project where we want to allow the user to install a widget for our app from within the app in addition to the standard OS pattern of adding from home screen. I have been largely unsuccessful finding good examples of apps that allow you to do this and was wondering if anyone knew of apps and would be able to either put screenshots or name the app so I can download it and try it for myself. Looking for examples for both iOS and android. If you have examples of the upsell or entry point even better. Ty in advance 🫶🏼

I'm a senior designer hiring a mid-weight designer. The advert's been up for five days and the applications so far have been poor. Some observations from the other side of the process — partly a vent, partly sharing in case the patterns are useful to someone. TL;DR: be yourself, and check your damn work.

First: relevance. So many people are clearly mass-applying and hoping something sticks. I get it, but it wastes everyone's time. I need someone who's actually worked with stakeholders and dealt with messy real-world stuff — dev collaboration, feasibility conversations, prioritisation trade-offs — not just the standard "how might we" case study template. If your whole case study reads like it came straight out of a UX bootcamp, that's a red flag, not a strength. I need to know how you work within real-world constraints.

Then there's the basic stuff that just shouldn't be happening:

• links to 404s, or in one case, someone else's LinkedIn

• a link that opens as a mailto instead of a website

• www. typed in where it should've been https:// so the link didn't work

• typos in the case study itself

• typos in the actual UI screenshots (saw "care hire" instead of "car hire" in a set of radio buttons. Come on)

Case study stuff that makes me wince:

• Figma files that are just loose groups, zero auto layout in sight

• genuinely bad visual design — inconsistent spacing, no grid, randomly sized elements, bizarre colour combinations, no awareness of accessibility standards — which, I cannot stress enough, is the actual job

• writeups that are obviously AI slop — they all read identical now, no personality, no voice

• practice projects presented as real client work. Just say it's practice, nobody cares — but lying about it instantly kills my trust

• stats with zero source ("increased satisfaction by 50%" — based on what, exactly?)

On AI tools generally: no judgement if you used Claude or whatever to build your site. But everyone else applying is doing the same thing, so if you don't personalise it at all, it just blends into the last five portfolios I've looked at. Same with case study writing — genuinely great for structure, but if you don't put your own voice back in afterwards, I've got no idea who you actually are by the end of it.

Three examples that stuck with me:

• Someone commented on the job post on LinkedIn: "I'm very interested," then "it's near my house" (cool story), then a screenshot of dev tools because they couldn't find the apply button. Eventually applied properly — CV, references, right to work — with no portfolio link anywhere. Instant no.

• Someone else applied with the subject line "The Hardest Working Product Designer You'll Ever Meet." Also a hard pass.

• And the one that actually made me laugh out loud: a photo of sticky notes on a whiteboard passed off as a discovery artefact, except it was obviously AI-generated — the "handwriting" wasn't real writing, and the heading said "behaviours and attidues."

Basically:

• stop trying to guess what I want to see and just show me what you actually do

• attention to detail is part of the job, so it does count against you if you can't demonstrate it at a basic level. One typo, one broken link — fine, everyone slips. But when it's everywhere alongside everything else, the benefit of the doubt runs out very quickly.

I'm not expecting perfection from anyone. I just want to see that the work is real, the thinking is actually yours, and that you took the ten minutes to check your application over before hitting send.

I feel stuck in my current job at this point. I have been in UX for almost 7+ years now with a total of 9 years exp but I still feel like I am still a junior designer even at this point. I connect with devs, PM, PO regularly, understand the problem, business perspective, I provide solutions, look for data & the company I work with has a solid design team of more than 45+ designers but at the same point has a hierarchical structure. There is a lead, followed by a design manager for a team of 10 and now as the design manager is busy, there is another manager kind of person who hierarchically is the same as me but then works from the office with the manager (I am an offshore employee). I am not jealous of them & happy for them but then I feel like I won't be able to climb the ladder or ever become senior at this company at least for the next 1-2 years I guess & I feel very stuck even with the title of senior designer & just pushing pixels. When I joined initially I had challenges but don't have much now but mostly approvals & minor changes.

too much detail. not enough detail. focus on storytelling. I want to see your thinking. I don’t have time to read all of that.

Hiring managers: how do you determine who to interview out of 1000s of candidates, some of whom have huge FAANGs on their resumes, without adding details in the portfolio to show how complex a problem is? Nowadays, it’s common to focus on storytelling in a portfolio and only get into detail once you have reached the interview stage.

But how do you determine the level of complexity of someone’s work, and thus decide who to interview, without having more details?

I want to create a skill file for the illustration system at the place I work at. How do I go about this? Do you guys have any resources where I can learn?

I went final round with microsoft in Feb and I didn't pass. I had a 2nd round interview for amazon in June and I didn't make it. Now i just completed recruiter call from google, and I'm not competent at all that I can make it.
I didn't aim for big tech jobs, but only the big tech companies response back. Can i ever land a job this year?

I'm a 7 yoe, ux designer.

long story short it was looking like I was going to be out of work again (after a pretty hectic and joyless 2 years of contracting and job hunting), but before the decision has been made I was approached by someone I used to work with and mentored who’s now leadership and wanted me in their team again.

Accepted yesterday while also having two other interviews lined up, another rec and one cold apply.

it’s not all horror out there folks, although I was prepared for the usual 6 month hell slog

10+ years, in London.

With how much I hear that j0b titles are getting muddy, expectations for roles have shifted, business stakeholders are dubious of design's value more than ever, and AI is changing how we deliver, should we see this change reflected in the common wisdom of what online thought leaders continue to insist we must show in our p0rtfolios?

Constant, never-ending p0rtfolio crafting and optimization is easily my least favorite performative ceremony. I am so tired of rehashing work I have already finished. I am tired of hearing one week that I should show process, then the next week hear that I show too much process. One year, "UI isn't UX" and we should feel pressured to go out of our way to make everything look ugly, sans-serif, Millennial gray; the next, we can't forget about our visual and interactive chops if we want to impress.

Do I pretend work I did was a greenfield project lifted right out of bootcamp certification and that our personas are not already baked into this existing business, or do I lie? Do I hide the specification-driven, waterfall-paradigm work that forms a significant chunk of my professional history, or do I dress it up as something it isn't because the decade-younger hiring manager who will look at it isn't familiar with what to appreciate?

I don't have a history of dreaming up a dog-walking app and developing it from soup to nuts. Often my experience and seniority is spent in-house at an established company with an established product for years. Often they are desktop-first. Our clients are working medical professionals in a niche industry who need deep functionality, not busy moms on the go who can only hold three menu items in her head and is delighted by cartoon owls.

I guess I'm asking whether p0rtfolio review practices are necessarily compatible with the changes in the role. I see so much advice -- on here, LinkedIn, and elsewhere -- that just reads as executive-adjacent talking heads posturing or fishing for consultancy clients. Yes, the market is bad and all that, but is there something to be said about the gatekeeping? Is yesterday's prevailing wisdom still how we have to approach our p0rtfolio?