Config Recap: "Designers will raise the ceiling"

📰 3 THINGS TO CHECK OUT

Config 2026 Recap: New Materials, New Tools and a More Expressive Canvas

• Figma CEO Dylan Field unveiled a set of announcements at Config this week — including code layers, Figma Motion, generative plugins, Weave workflows, shaders, and a more capable design agent — all pointing toward a future where designers work across design, code, AI, and creative systems in one shared environment.
• While some designers were excited by the announcements, a subset of working product designers was less enthusiastic. The critique from this group is less "these features are bad," than "these features aren't for me."
• "At past Configs, we’ve talked about AI lowering the floor and raising the ceiling. But while AI has lowered the floor, it has not raised the ceiling. Designers, creatives, builders: You will raise the ceiling." — Dylan Field

Meet the Mind Behind AI for UX Design: Chrissy Welsh

• We recently sat down with Chrissy Welsh, the creator of one of our most popular courses, AI for UX Design, to talk about the path that took her from fine arts to leading AI initiatives at Philips, ING, and Backbase.
• Chrissy points out that designers have a critical role to play as AI reshapes product development. Rather than teaching reliance on specific tools, Chrissy advocates for learning adaptable workflows and evaluating AI through a user-first lens. She believes AI should free designers to spend less time producing and more time validating, refining, and solving the right problems.
• AI for UX Design, while great on its own, is one of a powerhouse of courses included in our comprehensive AI Product Design Certification. Sign up by June 30 and save an extra $200 on your enrollment.

Scale Your Superpowers, Not Your Job Titles

• Luke Wroblewski, product director at Google, argues that AI's greatest value isn't enabling designers to become developers (or vice versa). It's helping people amplify the expertise they've already spent years developing.
• Rather than taking on a role they weren't trained for, Wroblewski encourages designers to encode their expertise — design principles, systems, and decision-making — into AI workflows. That allows their judgment to spread across teams and AI agents without requiring them to do multiple jobs.
• "AI doesn't mean you should go be everyone. It means you can scale the thing you're uniquely wired for."

💜 PORTFOLIO INSPIRATION

After years working in food service and hospitality, UX Academy graduate Dylan Sage brought his deep understanding of customer experience into UX design, where he now specializes in creating interfaces that balance usability with thoughtful visual design. His portfolio shows a strong end-to-end design process across projects ranging from a community-focused music streaming app to a budgeting tool — and notably, a real-world engagement redesigning Petit Duc's travel emissions calculator, a project that evolved from his UX Academy capstone into ongoing freelance client work. Throughout his work, Dylan pairs rigorous user research with polished, accessible interfaces that solve practical problems while keeping the user experience front and center.

💡 INTERESTING STUFF...

• Podcast: UX Lessons From a Decade Researching AI
• DESIGN.md Best Practices
• Craft: Dedication and Love for the Invisible Work
• Why Games Break Traditional UX Rules

Just because something looks good doesn’t mean it’s useful. — Joshua Brewer, co-founder and CEO, Abstract

🧪 FROM THE LAB

Vibe Coding Camp Launches June 30

The next cohort of Vibe Coding Camp launches next week. Over 4 live sessions across 4 weeks, learn how to build and ship real products using today's AI-powered development stack, from Claude Code and Figma MCP to GitHub and Vercel. Save your seat now.

Learn More About Designing AI Products

Join us Tuesday, June 30 at 1pm ET for a live webinar on our course Designing AI Products. We'll be joined by course instructor Chris Risdon and will cover how the course teaches designers the frameworks and craft behind AI products. Register to attend in person or get the recording.

Last Chance for Launch Promotion: AI Product Design Certification

For just a few more days, you can save $200 on your enrollment in the AI Product Design Certification. This comprehensive program combines AI for UX Design, AI Prototyping Camp, Designing AI Products, and optionally, Vibe Coding Camp, and includes a capstone project created only for certification students. To learn more before enrolling, join our info session on Monday, June 29 at 12pm ET.