Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Shipping your code generation experiments to production

Gold
Wednesday, June 11, 2025 • Designing with AI 2025

This video is featured in the Designing with AI 2025 playlist.

Share the love for this talk
Shipping your code generation experiments to production
Speakers: John Donmoyer
Link:

Summary

John shares how AI-powered code generation tools can transform the product design process, even for those with no coding experience. He explains how, in 2025, these tools changed the way he works by allowing him to move directly from low-fidelity wireframes to high-fidelity interface design in front-end code—the same environment used by his engineering peers. The session includes practical examples, such as building interactive dashboard mockups to explore color and layout options, and creating tools for ideation using real components and data within the application codebase. After this talk you may learn that: - Trying out new AI tools, even if it means moving away from traditional ones, can help you build new skills and expand your capabilities. - AI tools can speed up the early stages of design by quickly generating ideas, color palettes, and layouts, often faster than traditional design software. - Working closer to actual code, with help from AI, allows you to create custom tools that support design decisions within the real context of your product.

Key Insights

  • Starting UI design from scratch is both an opportunity to discard old patterns and a challenge that requires rethinking milestones, team skills, and deliverables.

  • AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude can rapidly generate design elements such as color palettes and mock dashboards, significantly speeding up iteration compared to manual methods.

  • Utilizing AI to generate code-based prototypes allows designers to test UI concepts closer to real user experiences, reducing the gap between design and production.

  • The transition from designing in tools like Figma to working directly with code is facilitated by AI-assisted code generation, closing feedback loops and increasing designer agency.

  • Designers do not need deep coding expertise to begin integrating AI-assisted code generation; starting with small experiments, like text or color changes, is effective.

  • Collaboration and understanding the team’s diverse skill sets beyond job titles enrich the product development process and tool utilization.

  • AI-generated experiments should be presented as disposable starting points to encourage iteration and avoid false expectations about completeness.

  • Titles blending design and engineering, such as 'design engineer' or 'UX engineer', reflect the evolving nature of these roles in modern product teams.

  • Flexibility and openness to evolving AI tools is critical, as tooling rapidly changes and improves, requiring continuous learning and adaptation.

  • Deploying AI-generated designs and prototypes to actual production environments, as John did with Dino Deploy, accelerates real-world validation and team collaboration.

Notable Quotes

"I have somehow managed to not open Figma for the last six months, which I couldn’t have believed a year ago."

"Starting from scratch is really hard, but also a cool opportunity to throw away painful patterns."

"One of the most important questions before starting is what tools do I have to work with."

"I thought, maybe now is the time for change, maybe designers should code—maybe the better question in 2025 is should I code."

"With AI tools, you have to come back and reprompt, it’s not a one-shot operation."

"I generated a Tailwind color palette with AI that took seconds, compared to what used to take me some time manually."

"Having tight feedback loops and directly controlling the end-to-end experience completely changed how excited I was to do design work."

"If you never want to fully embed yourself in engineering, that’s fine too — you don’t have to show anyone the code you generate."

"Throwing away old methods for something new can unlock skills you didn’t know you had."

"AI tools have never made it easier to add flourishes like animations or excitement to your UI."

Ask the Rosenbot
Jodi Forlizzi
Design and AI innovation
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Alla Weinberg
Workers Are Sick of Change: The Cure is Psychological Safety
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Kate Kalcevich
Integrating Accessibility in DesignOps
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
James Wieselman Schulman
Research is a team sport: advancing the work when everyone does the research
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Gold
Yulya Besplemennova
[Demo] Stress-testing GenAI in user research synthesis
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Product and Design at Bloomberg: A 15-year Evolution
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Rich Mironov
How Can Product Managers and UXers Help Each Other (and Why are Product Folks so Annoying Sometimes)?
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
How AI will Change DesignOps Tooling
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi
Contextuality problem: Exploring the Benefits of Qualitative and Quantitative Research
2023 • QuantQual Interest Group
Iain McMaster
Design and Product: from Frenemy to Harmony
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold
Daniel J. Rosenberg
Digital Medicine Design
2019 • Enterprise Community
Alissa Briggs
How to Coach Enterprise Experimentation
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
JD Buckley
COMMUNICATE: Discussion
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Amber Knabl
Empowering innovation: The critical role of inclusive product development in the AI era
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Xenia Adjoubei
Empowering Communities Through the Researcher in Residence Program
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Vicky Teinaki
Short Take #3: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold

More Videos

Amy Thibodeau

"If given a choice in my career and my personal life, I will choose process over ambiguity every single time."

Amy Thibodeau

Opening Keynote: Process and Ambiguity

October 23, 2019

Carl Turner

"People on the project were reporting back to management in their silo, not talking to one another."

Carl Turner

You Can Do This: Understand and Solve Organizational Problems to Jumpstart a Dead Project

March 28, 2023

Bruce Gillespie

"Choose plain, everyday words over jargon to meet your audience where they are."

Bruce Gillespie

Learning from journalism: Balancing impactful communication with compassionate storytelling

March 13, 2025

Aurobinda Pradhan

"Our Jira integration will be two-way so you can link design activities to epics, user stories, or tasks."

Aurobinda Pradhan Shashank Deshpande

Introduction to Collaborative DesignOps using Cubyts

September 9, 2022

Taylor Jennings

"Seeing product managers and designers’ aha moments when they realize how impactful the tool is was great."

Taylor Jennings Joe Nelson Alex Knoll

Repository Retrospective: Learnings from Introducing a Central Place for UX Research

March 9, 2022

Daniel J. Rosenberg

"If patients stop using the app because they’ve got their health under control, that’s like a dating app success — they got married, not that the app failed."

Daniel J. Rosenberg

Digital Medicine Design

September 26, 2019

Jack Moffett

"Triangulation is key — compare multiple metrics to understand why scores move the way they do."

Jack Moffett

UX Metrics That Matter and The Future of our Design at Scale Conference: A Community Conversation

September 22, 2022

Christian Crumlish

"I’ve created dedicated personas in the bots, like a chief of staff and lead developer, to keep roles clear."

Christian Crumlish

The Pygmalion Effect: In Which a Vibe Coding Experiment Becomes a Million Lines…

August 14, 2025

Alexia Cohen

"Prototypes were very low fidelity because too-high fidelity can intimidate participants and hinder feedback."

Alexia Cohen Adriane Ackerman

Increasing Health Equity and Improving the Service Experience for Under-Served Latine Communities in Arizona

December 4, 2024