# State of Product Design 2025 **URL:** \ **Category:** Community\ **Created:** [December 15, 2025, 9:17pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/state-of-product-design-2025/433 "2025-12-15T21:17:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2026, 11:08pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/state-of-product-design-2025/433/21 "2026-01-25T23:08:01Z")
Continuing to track 2026 progress and hold it against what people think is holding it back. 1. **We’re handing our designs to AI tools like Figma** , quietly training systems that will redefine who gets to design and what design is worth. 2. **We’re handing our design systems to growth teams** so they can squeeze every last penny out of customers. 3. **We’re trading empathy for algorithms** and letting automated systems make decisions we no longer fully understand. 4. **We’re shipping products before they’re ready** and hiding behind “fail fast” as an excuse for broken experiences. 5. **We’re shifting our focus from good design to organizational politics** and survival inside companies. 6. **We’re publishing half-baked thoughts online** to compensate for the recognition we don’t get at work. 7. **We’re giving up on shared community spaces** and letting large companies set the design agenda. Agree or disagree? Which direction are we heading in? > **[The State of UX in 2025](https://trends.uxdesign.cc/)** > > From design tools, to our design process, to the user behaviors that will change the way we design — a list of what to expect for User Experience (UX) Design in the next year. ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 8:59pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/state-of-product-design-2025/433/22 "2026-01-26T20:59:28Z")
> We could be choosing to create software that is local-first, more private, and more thoughtful. Still, we’re choosing to build for the machine—not for each other. This feels true but it’s hard to say because ultimately money transfer is where you truly feel the pulse of value. I’d say there’s a big leap in the direction mentioned, but I also expect the reverse to happen at the same time. Smaller companies that care- the humanistic aspect of them will probably shine in an automated world. It’s the part of me thinking that we’ll turn out okay in the end!! ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 9:01pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/state-of-product-design-2025/433/23 "2026-01-26T21:01:15Z")
This one also hit a home-run > **We’re publishing half-baked thoughts on Linkedin, hoping for the recognition we don’t get at work.** This year, the lack of job security also made designers double down on our “online presence”, in an attempt to remain relevant within our networks. We’re writing catchy Linkedin posts to please the algorithm; we’re making our thoughts more polarizing than they need to be. There’s no place for longer-form discussions or nuanced back and forth. It’s easier to build an audience using controversy than real thought. [[43]](https://www.fastcompany.com/91140587/chronological-internet-social-media-algorithm) [[44]](https://fortune.com/2024/04/18/linkedin-microsoft-collaborative-articles-generative-ai-feedback-loop-user-backlash/) [[45]](https://uxdesign.cc/ux-professionals-on-social-media-are-thieves-of-joy-1a520daaadb7) ---
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 9:07pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/state-of-product-design-2025/433/24 "2026-01-26T21:07:36Z")
> [@ben](#): > > There’s no place for longer-form discussions or nuanced back and forth. It’s easier to build an audience using controversy than real thought. Ahhh, yes. What to do in a post-Dribbble world? We want this to be Glare! [We’d love to facilitate more of these great gems](https://forum.zurb.com/t/are-you-designing-for-people-or-the-system-shaping-them-q-a/614/17) from @nikhil_mahen. There’s a lot of good stuff in this thread to lean into. ---
**Author:** ![EricZ](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ericz/32/692_2.png) [@EricZ](https://forum.zurb.com/u/EricZ)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 10:16pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/state-of-product-design-2025/433/25 "2026-01-26T22:16:36Z")
> [@Bryan](#): > > 1. **We’re handing our designs to AI tools like Figma** , quietly training systems that will redefine who gets to design and what design is worth. > 2. **We’re handing our design systems to growth teams** so they can squeeze every last penny out of customers. > 3. **We’re trading empathy for algorithms** and letting automated systems make decisions we no longer fully understand. > 4. **We’re shipping products before they’re ready** and hiding behind “fail fast” as an excuse for broken experiences. > 5. **We’re shifting our focus from good design to organizational politics** and survival inside companies. > 6. **We’re publishing half-baked thoughts online** to compensate for the recognition we don’t get at work. > 7. **We’re giving up on shared community spaces** and letting large companies set the design agenda. > > Agree or disagree? This reads very pessimistic. I’d rewrite as: 1. We’re handing designs to AI tools like Figma, but still don’t understand how to define the value for ourselves. 2. The company has built growth teams because Design is an expense and expertise that doesn’t connect to the business value. 3. We never fully invested in learning about the system we built 4. This one is just true. 5. This one is just true. 6. This one might be true, if you haven’t done the work of 1-3. 7. You’ve already given up on the shared community spaces. Our political and social climate died 5 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![ben](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/ben/32/442_2.png) [@ben](https://forum.zurb.com/u/ben)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2026, 11:36pm UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/state-of-product-design-2025/433/26 "2026-01-26T23:36:14Z")
Great job reworking some of those @EricZ! I think those are a bit more accurate ---
**Author:** ![nathaliesmith](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/nathaliesmith/32/443_2.png) [@nathaliesmith](https://forum.zurb.com/u/nathaliesmith)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2026, 12:11am UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/state-of-product-design-2025/433/27 "2026-01-27T00:11:32Z")
Liked this from the bottom of the article “If you love to design, you’ll find your way. Love also rearranges itself to fit new molds.” The list has a sad undertone to it 😥 ---
**Author:** ![Bryan](https://yyz2.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/user_avatar/forum.zurb.com/bryan/32/448_2.png) [@Bryan](https://forum.zurb.com/u/Bryan)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2026, 1:05am UTC](https://forum.zurb.com/t/state-of-product-design-2025/433/28 "2026-06-14T01:05:28Z")
Circling back to this thread, as things continue to evolve. Came across this article from [Nicole Alexandra Michaelis](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicoletells/): **[Design’s alive and kicking. It just got some flashy new names.](https://uxdesign.cc/designs-alive-and-kicking-it-just-got-some-flashy-new-names-779b4503c869)** A designer who moves from designing _with_ AI tools to designing _for_ AI engines. ![New Designer Shift captured by Nicole Alexandra Michaelis](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex034/uploads/helio/original/2X/4/46017704bb0078f909e56dfde766ec37e1e9a681.png) > This role designs the progress logs, the visual confidence scores, and the decision checkpoints that allow humans to audit AI work before hitting “approve.” I’ve been working more and more with this hat, and I’ve been loving it! The layers to this problem are interesting, and a bit complex, but I’m interested to know how many designers are dabling in this area. > In the enterprise space, AI is being deployed to automate complex, multi-step business operations. But tech giants like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and Microsoft have run into a massive roadblock: enterprise clients don’t know how their workers should _actually_ interact with AI. This seems to be validated by [Canvas’s recent experiment with their employees](https://fortune.com/2026/05/28/canva-ai-discovery-week-human-behavior-change-giglio/). **[Check out her article](https://uxdesign.cc/designs-alive-and-kicking-it-just-got-some-flashy-new-names-779b4503c869)** [Previous page](https://forum.zurb.com/t/state-of-product-design-2025/433.md?page=1)