Best Practices
Case studies and articles on AI in design — real workflows from leading studios and teams
8 AI tools that work for designers in 2026 — practical guide
A designer's firsthand review of eight AI tools tested in real client projects, reporting which ones earned a permanent place in daily workflows.
John Maeda: Design in Tech Report 2026 — from UX to AX
Maeda's annual report argues that design's central challenge has shifted from helping users execute tasks to helping them evaluate whether AI agents did those tasks well.
Human strategy in AI-accelerated design workflow — Smashing Magazine analysis
An article on maintaining strategic thinking and human judgment as AI takes over more execution tasks in design workflows.
AI image tooling and interactive prototyping — Figma workflow case study
Figma's own workflow guide showing how to combine AI image generation with interactive prototyping for richer design exploration and testing.
Design is how it wins — UX Collective analysis
An essay arguing that in an AI era where functional UI is commoditized, the designer's value shifts from making things work to making them win in the market.
State of the Designer 2026 — Figma survey analysis
Figma's annual report on how designers are adapting to AI, based on survey data from thousands of practitioners navigating the transition.
Integrating AI into design system workflows — Smashing Magazine analysis
A practical guide on making design systems AI-ready, covering token structure, component documentation, and MCP integration for AI-assisted design.
AI changing design hiring and portfolios — UX Collective analysis
An analysis of how AI tool proficiency is reshaping design job requirements and what designers should demonstrate in portfolios to stay competitive.
Medium: How I'm actually using AI in my UI design workflow in 2026
A UI designer documents two practical AI applications—concept generation and QA automation—and explains what AI still cannot do in production design.
How design leads use AI — UX Collective case study
An analysis of how design leads are delegating the 80% of work that is execution to AI, reserving human effort for the 20% that requires judgment and strategy.
Medium: My AI design workflow — what actually works in 2026
A senior product designer's account of testing 40+ AI tools and isolating the small subset that survived contact with a real workflow.
Vibe coding as a UX design workflow — practical guide
A designer's account of incorporating vibe coding into UX work, covering what works, what fails, and where the technique fits in professional design practice.
Medium: Designing for 2026 — process, agency, and decision quality in the age of AI
VP of Design at OneSignal argues that AI has compressed timelines without reducing the need for rigorous thinking, and explains why craft has become the main differentiator.
AI in UX design and research — NN/g case study
NNGroup's evidence-based guidance on where AI adds value in UX research and design processes, based on their ongoing studies of design team practices.