Figma AI Prompts, Touchscreen Macs, and the Shift to Invisible UX/Product Strategy

We open this Product Thursdays episode by examining how artificial intelligence is radically reshaping the design workflow and industry authority. Figma has rolled out an alpha feature allowing users to edit designs through written prompts, enabling bulk edits, resizing, content additions, and generating UI variations, including mobile versions. This points toward the powerful evolution of design tools like Figma Make, which is transforming the platform into a full design-to-production powerhouse capable of generating functional, code-ready prototypes using AI-powered front-end coding, thereby eliminating traditional handoff friction. In related news, Adobe’s AI investments are bearing fruit, with annual recurring revenue from AI products surpassing $5 billion, while platforms like Roblox are enabling creators to generate interactive vehicles and weapons through simple text prompts. However, this AI integration isn't without tension; designers note that while AI shows promise, a Dropbox designer found it exposes fundamental weaknesses in existing design systems rather than hiding them, making critical thinking essential. The rise of AI imagery has also caused significant psychological distress and job losses for traditional visual artists and graphic designers, whose creative work is increasingly devalued by clients opting for "good enough" AI output.
Product design must now focus on invisible intelligence and strategic engagement. Highly successful applications, such as Granola, demonstrate the power of "invisible AI" that enhances, rather than replaces, human work, seamlessly transforming rough meeting notes into organized summaries to build user trust and achieve high retention rates. Designing for these new autonomous AI agents requires specific UX patterns—such as the Progress Reveal (showing agent reasoning) and Teach-Back (explaining learning from corrections)—to manage trust and collaboration. Strategically, designers must also tackle the challenge of users who don't know they have a problem, viewing their struggles as personal failings rather than systemic issues, by surfacing solutions through behavioral triggers. We are seeing a shift away from ineffective demographic profiles toward actionable functional personas, which center on user tasks, pain points, and goals, and can be quickly synthesized by AI using existing data. Furthermore, essential design infrastructure like motion design has evolved beyond mere eye candy to become vital UX infrastructure that conveys messages quickly and builds user trust.
Meanwhile, Apple continues to push boundaries in both hardware and interface design, potentially blurring the lines between its devices. Rumors suggest Apple will launch touch-screen Macs, starting with an OLED MacBook Pro expected to enter production in late 2026, marking a significant functional shift toward iPad-like interaction driven by consumer expectations. On the software side, iOS 26 features a major "Liquid Glass" design overhaul, inspired by Vision Pro, which unifies all six Apple platforms and reimagines app icons across iOS, macOS, and visionOS with consistent glass-layer effects and subtle motion-responsive lighting. This pursuit of thinness and visual elegance is epitomized by the new iPhone Air, though its record-thin 5.6 mm titanium body comes with trade-offs, including compromises on the camera (offering only a single 48MP main lens) and audio (mono speaker). Future hardware updates are also rumored, such as a slimmer, less visually dominant Dynamic Island on the iPhone 18.
Finally, we examine essential strategic and branding developments. The value of design is increasingly substantiated by business data, showing that design-led firms achieve significantly higher revenue, shareholder returns, and ROI, making design a core business strategy. Strategic branding updates, such as BMW's quiet adoption of a flat, simplified 2020 logo and Starburst's playful, timeless refresh, reflect the need for consistency across digital and physical branding. Design strategy also must account for perception, as user experience is often shaped more strongly by subtle, perception-driven design (like the use of "handcrafted" images) than by objective improvements. Crucially, designers must move past static mockups and embrace their role as influential partners who understand business strategy and data, rejecting the notion that creativity and business are separate silos. Essential skills like incorporating accessible design practices from the start (using Figma features like Auto Layout, prototyping for keyboard navigation, and AI auditing) are now legally and functionally critical. We also observe that voice and immersive interfaces are transitioning from novelty features to operational necessities in complex settings, demanding that companies adopt voice-first thinking for more intuitive, contextual interactions.


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