Martin JordanAI is doing what designers, #designThinking and #designSprint advocates have advocated for 15 years: getting product managers to adopt rapid prototyping early on.
Now, I’ve product managers asking me for ‘Figma Make’ access. And then for a designer, 1 week later, to thoroughly think things through.
That occurred in a governance/tech exploration project, which was not intended to produce any tangible prototype outputs.
Suddenly, after some research, the team—that initially didn’t include a designer—saw an opportunity, got itchy feet, and started making tangible, conversation-changing sketches.
We still need to get the hang of ‘Figma Make’. But incorporating the design system that we use worked rather well.
The team burned through a lot of AI credits, but that should significantly decrease once they learn to handle the tool and its quirks more effectively.
At the same time: a complex functionality can materialise in seconds, while fixing a hover state or certain menu behaviour takes more time.
The most important design skill required: critical judgement