📰 3 THINGS TO CHECK OUT
Why Demand for Designers is on the Rise
- Andrew Hogan, Head of Insights at Figma, reports that design hiring is rebounding across industries, with 82% of leaders saying their need for designers has increased or stayed steady and nearly half saying it’s grown.
- Fast-growing companies are leading the charge, treating design as a strategic lever for differentiation, not just visual polish. Hogan points out that AI is heavily influencing who gets hired, with hiring managers prioritizing designers who can work fluently with AI tools.
- “When anyone can make things, teams need designers who will raise the bar higher and push their craft further.”
- Interested in increasing your own AI fluency as a product designer? You may want to check out our AI for UX Design course or AI Prototyping Camp. Alternatively, our UI Mastery Certification was created specifically to help experienced designers uplevel their craft.
The New and Improved AI for Visual Design Course
- Our popular AI for Visual Design course (now in its 18th cohort) has just undergone a major update.
- To keep pace with the evolution of AI tools, the updated course curriculum moves beyond prompting and focuses on orchestration workflows. Instead of working model by model, students will use FLORA, which brings multiple leading AI models into a single canvas.
- Whether you’re looking to create production-quality images and videos at scale or want to build a durable, repeatable AI design practice, you’ll learn the workflows that are reshaping today’s visual design teams. The next cohort launches March 6th—to learn more, join our informational webinar on Thursday, February 19th at 6pm ET.
Can We Still Trust Quant Surveys?
- Product designer and researcher Phil Morton warns that AI has fundamentally changed research data. In recent studies, usable survey responses have dropped as low as 10%, with one-third of respondents admitting to using tools like ChatGPT, and AI agents are now able to complete surveys while evading fraud detection.
- Morton argues that quant must now be treated as directional signal, backed by mixed methods, stronger verification, and human discernment. The most future-proof research skill isn’t a new tool, but knowing how to think clearly about what data you can trust.
- “Imperfect as they are, online surveys are here to stay. We just have to be more thoughtful about how we use them and conscious of how they can be compromised.”
💜 PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION
UX Academy graduate Mathew Perdiguerra consistently balances real user needs with business goals—work that’s grounded in research, but carried through with thoughtful execution. Two standout projects in Mathew’s portfolio show how design can meaningfully support underserved users at scale. Pamayanan, a mobile-first, bilingual platform for Filipino immigrants in the Bay Area, centers language access, trust, and community, resulting in a culturally responsive experience that users described as “made for people like me.” In Steam Access, Mathew tackles accessibility in gaming at the system level, proposing a centralized hub within Steam that improves discoverability and customization for players with disabilities. Across both projects, his strength lies in designing systems (not just screens), and using research and iteration to reduce friction, restore confidence, and make complex platforms more inclusive.
Got a portfolio you love that you’d like to share with our audience? Email your suggestions to hello@designlab.com.
💡 INTERESTING STUFF...
- Don’t Trust the Process
- How Vibe Coding is Changing the Future of UX
- Podcast: What Modern Game Design Can Teach Us
- Rethinking Pixel Perfect
The role of designers and product makers is to really become much better editors. What kind of functionality is actually needed—and truly delightful—to consumers? — Yves Behar, designer and entrepreneur
🧪 FROM THE LAB
Explore Vibe Coding Camp
Less than two weeks remain before the launch of our newest program, Vibe Coding Camp.
In four live workshops across four weeks, product designers, PMs, and builders will learn how to transform designs into fully functional, deployed web apps using modern tools like Cursor, Vercel, GitHub, and Supabase.
To learn more about what you can expect to get out of the program, join our live info session on Tuesday, February 17th at 1pm ET—featuring program instructor Blake Arnsdorff.
AI for the Lean Marketer Launches in a Week
AI for the Lean Marketer is a brand-new workshop series for marketers who want practical, results-driven ways to use AI to drive impact.
Across four hands-on sessions, marketers will learn how they can use AI to clarify positioning, create brand-consistent visuals, scale content with AI, and improve search performance in an AI-driven discovery landscape. Enroll now.
