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AI is reshaping the product trio
The tech industry’s approach to UX design is coming full circle.
After being laid off in December, I was so lucky ( **sarcasm**) to have reviewed hundreds of UX/product design job descriptions and noticed a new pattern.
The tech industry is shifting toward UX design unicorns.
After years of increasing specialization (UXR, systems design, content design, IA, etc.), companies are again looking for designers who can wear multiple hats.
Amazon advertises for “Design Technologists.”
Anthropic seeks “Design Engineers.”
Cognition wants “Full Stack Designers.”
While the titles vary, the underlying requirements are consistent: companies want designers who can envision and implement their solutions, aka designers who can code.
This shift isn’t entirely new.
A decade ago, being a unicorn was highly valued.
I know because I got a job at Oracle in 2016 exactly because I was one of these designers.
However, the industry moved toward specialization, creating distinct roles for UX researchers, systems designers, content strategists, UI specialists, and others. This specialization helped product teams to get deeper into specific aspects of the user experience.
I believe with the rise of artificial intelligence; we can again tackle multiple things:
…and I’ve also seen product managers picking up design and coding chops.AI is changing this game and how we build software because the new AI tools are making it easier for anyone to tackle tasks that used to require deep technical expertise.The quality?That’s another question. But let’s be honest: AI does a pretty good job, and it’s just going to get better and better with time.Whether we are sad or resentful about this shift, we can’t put our heads into the sand like an ostrich and pretend this isn’t happening.I don’t think AI is coming for our jobs; there are plenty of jobs out there.But soon, being able to design alone will not be enough. We need to provide additional value to a company and a team.Think about what your unique value proposition is.
If you just blend in with the rest of the product designers, you’ll have a hard time standing out.For example, if you’re interested in UX research as a product designer, don’t just stop at evaluative usability testing. Learn more about the topic, get better at quantitative data analysis, learn R or Python or just get really good at analyzing large data sets using Excel.Another example is that if you’re drawn to the technical side of product design, go beyond just understanding basic HTML and CSS. Learn JavaScript deeply enough to create interactive prototypes. Pick a framework, e.g. get comfortable with React.js and build your own components. The goal is to be able to prototype complex interactions that tools like Figma can’t handle.The broader changes in how we build software
With the rise of no-code tools, component libraries, and AI-assisted development, the traditional barriers between design and implementation are slowly becoming bridgeable.
Companies again recognize that having team members who understand both the user experience and technical implementation is valuable.
However, this doesn’t mean every designer needs to become a full-stack developer. Instead, it’s about having enough technical literacy to participate in implementation discussions and understand the possibilities and constraints of development tools.
The new UX unicorn isn’t necessarily an expert at everything but rather someone who can bridge different disciplines effectively (design & UXR, design & front-end).
For most designers, this shift is both an opportunity and a challenge.
You decide whether to adapt and expand your skill set, and stay relevant in the industry or stay behind.
There will still be room for specialists who excel in crucial areas like accessibility or interaction design, but we’ll see less of them — that’s my prediction.
My tip for anyone wanting to stay in the field of UX is to find your sweet spot between depth and breadth while remaining curious and adaptable to new AI tools and approaches.