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Get a seat at the table and build the design career you want. This podcast is for designers looking to break in, level up, and take control of their careers—whether you're freelancing, climbing the corporate ladder, or just trying to get noticed. Every two weeks, we dive into career fundamentals, design best practices, and the hottest topics in the design community.
Any big, I'm curious. Any big anything that's making you excited for the next year as you kind of look over this year, all the different tools, all the different projects you work on. What gets you excited about next year?
Nick:I you know, it's a good a fun thing to say is that I, for the first time ever, I purchased We are kind of live now. This is what I always wanted to say. We are live. And we're officially live. We are officially live.
Nick:Exactly. I mean, this is just an experiment. Alright. 2025 is almost done.
Tyler:We're close.
Nick:We're very close. Yeah. How how was the year for you?
Tyler:It was a big year. I felt like it felt like two years, to be fair. I felt like it was action packed this year. A lot of stuff working on different things. A lot of the way I work has shifted.
Tyler:Again, action packed to say the least.
Nick:Yeah. So you you say it feels like two years. Is that a good thing, or was it as exhausting as two years back in one? It's probably a bit of both.
Tyler:It was exciting and exhausting.
Nick:Right. Right. Right. Okay.
Tyler:How about you? Okay.
Nick:Well, I mean, it's it's always goes by so quickly, don't you think? Like, I and, you know, for me, the big change this year was that I really focused on my own artifacts, so my own website and and profiles and that kind of stuff. And I really tried to focus on the shiny object syndrome or, well, you know, staying away from it. So I really focus on, okay. This quarter, I'm going to do one thing, improve or redo my website.
Nick:And then the next quarter, create a course or start a podcast or something like that. Instead of doing everything 80%, the hard part comes up, and then we're we're doing something else. You know? So I I feel like I've got a lot done this year. That's good.
Tyler:Yeah. Yeah. I feel like the theme on my side was AI this year. Like, regardless of how people feel about it, like, that I think that was the biggest shift for me this year, like, actively trying new tools, different workflows. Like, AI was, like, the thread that kept was the continual theme throughout the entire year, I think.
Tyler:It was I think the year started off with the was a vibe coding era where it's a big boom. Everything's vibe coded. I've switched the way I've worked. So to look back to an earlier episode, I no longer wireframe because I vibe code everything now. But I think it's also a tool that I leverage within, like, internal teams.
Tyler:So it's like it's like a communication piece. So it's both been used for, like, sales prototypes. So vibe coding a prototype for sales. So instead of building an actual thing or a POC, vibe code the thing, and the sales team can use that as collateral to facilitate conversations to see if there's need for a specific feature, and then also exploring ideas with the engineering team instead of waiting for me to sketch something in FigJam or any of the wireframing tools, like, for vibe coding together. So big shift in in the way I work, actually.
Nick:It sounds like the perhaps the biggest shift is the the shape and form a design request request enters your arena, basically. So it used to be perhaps a meeting or a, you know, big wall of text, but now you get the product managers, a five coded prototype with a sales meeting transcript for you.
Tyler:Exactly. I think that's I'm I'm seeing that shift for product designers specifically. We may I don't know if I saw this post somewhere, but, like, we're I think someone said we're going to become prototype makers, which is interesting concept. So it's the idea that we're no longer staying in Figma and design. We do much more than that, the strategy part as well.
Tyler:But the the gap between engineering and design is closing ever so more every month that goes by, I find. So I think creating a clickable thing that's very close to what's being implemented is is direction that we're going.
Nick:Right. Yeah. I see something similar, but I'm also a bit cautious, perhaps. Like, it feels like the design and engineering that comes together is very, like, in the discovery phase of design, not really in delivery. I'm curious what you think there.
Nick:Like, does anything you, VibeCode, end up being used, or is it really just, like you said, exploring, testing ideas, prototyping, and then still going back into Figma before you hand over to a developer?
Tyler:Yeah. I mean, the the the caveat or the nuance there is that we have a design system in place within, like, the design team and also on the code base. So we it's mostly used as, like, an exploratory tool to kind of try different ideas. And, kind of, it's really quick to spin up, like, three or four different varying ideas really quickly. But in the end, it's really like, it ends with a Figma file that's dev ready and that that kind of that's there.
Tyler:Mhmm. But I feel like that with, like, some of the tools like NCP, like, all the different tools that are coming about, that what that handoff process look like is gonna be a bit different. Mhmm. Yeah. Especially, I don't know if you've seen the new release for Cursor.
Tyler:I have. They they have a visual editor, which is I haven't dug into detail of what that means, but it seems like designers may be able to hop on and use cursor. And instead of hand coding it, they would basically drag and drop similar to Figma or or Webflow. And then there's an agent in the background making sure that the the code that it spit out is not run with, like, extra lines of code that are useless, which is interesting, if that's the case.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah. I it's it's very interesting feeling watching that announcement video. You know? It's just a two minute clip, but but still they showed it showed it in action.
Nick:One part of me is super excited about it, but the then the other one had the the second half of of me has tons of questions, you know, because it looks very front end heavy. You know? Mhmm. Does it work for you know, for for example, on one of my projects, I worked on something around tokens and them, you know, token being expired and having to check and validate and what if there's an error, like, sorts of edge cases. Like, it doesn't really happen on the front end.
Nick:Like, you cannot drag what happens except for maybe a warning that you see or a success message. There's a lot of, you know, performance focus, like, back end stuff going on that that True. That requires, you know, knowledge and and you thinking about, like, what's best, what's secure, all that that kind of stuff. So so I'm very curious, like, how does it work there? Like, maybe you don't need to go into that cursor front end Figma like editor just to do that type of work, but it is related.
Nick:So I'm, yeah, I'm eager to try it out, but I'm I wouldn't say skeptical. I think that's too negative, but I'm cautious to to to not overhype it too much. You know, I'm more of a let's see for myself type person. You know, I like to test from things
Tyler:yeah. Before
Nick:So so that's what I'm thinking, but it's I think it's a a very symbolic end of the year, you know, them announcing something like this. It's it's it's it really shows you what 2025 was all about, you know, bringing things closer together, you know, design engineering, product managers, and designers. Yeah. And at the same time, I think we have to embrace that change. You know?
Nick:You don't have to believe everything. You don't have to be, like, a super fan about it. But 2025 also was about letting go of the old ways, I think. And, you know, looking at some communities and and and certain posts online, social media, some people are really holding on to the way it's always been, and I'm not sure if that's the smartest play, you know, to really hold on. What do you think?
Tyler:Yeah. I think if you I think if you wanna classify 2025, I think it might be the year of experimentation. Mhmm. Like, you to your point, the skepticism, I don't think is valuable. I think you should be trying these different tools regardless if you incorporate them into your workflow or not.
Tyler:Yeah. But we saw leaps and bounds, like the tools evolve over time. I don't know if you felt that as well. Mhmm. How the image creation, like, how robotic and how nonhuman realistic things were to where they are today were, like, my friends can't even tell.
Tyler:I mean, I can like, you can tell a bit if you're really because you've been paying attention, but you can't really tell anymore. Next year is gonna be very interesting because I think following the theme of experimentation, adoption is probably gonna be the big theme of 2026.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah. I think that's that's very interesting. There's a very important nuance there is you can see when an image is AI, not because of the quality, but because of the style, the art direction it uses. So when I go into my local grocery store, they have this ad, like, printed on a poster on the front door.
Nick:Like, hey. We're looking for a new store manager. You know? And you can see the, like, the color scheme and, like, the blurry background. Like, that's, like, basic AI.
Nick:Like, if you prompt without really thinking about it, it's just the image you get. Like, hey. Give me an image of a thumbs up store manager. Like, you get the same image, and that's something you recognize. But it's not because you see six fingers, you know, or a strange text mess up anymore.
Nick:Yeah. So so, I mean, that's that's how you can spot it. But with a little bit of better prompting, you will not spot it anymore. I also think this year is about people not being ashamed of AI anymore. You know, I started this year really about well, let's you know, when I record a loom, I would hide Claude from my view.
Nick:You know, people should know. But now even the most experienced developers I work with, they are are like, well, you know, I just use Claude for this. I'm like, I don't have to hide it anymore. You know, it's accepted now.
Tyler:That's true. And then, like, developers that I that I speak to, they're also, like, within their companies are adopting AI as part of the practice. So one strategy is when you do your kind of sprint planning using that Fibonacci sequence that still still scares me why we use that. But they are assigning tasks, like, low hanging fruit. So, like, the the the one ranked like, the the features that are really, really quick to do, they're tasking AI to complete them, which is an interesting way.
Tyler:So, like, the more complex you need human intervention, but for, like, low hanging fruit, change a variable here, create this new component here, like, very low hanging fruit, that's becoming adopted, which is interesting.
Nick:Yeah. I think so. Do you think so that's the one, and then you have two, three, five, etcetera. Do you think well, how far do you think it's going to go? Like, up until what number do you think AI will be able to do everything autonomously?
Tyler:I it probably depends on how advanced it gets, but, like, one thing it needs to understand is the context. So you're in a page editing a file, but, like, you know, when you're coding something, it's you have libraries that you're connecting to. There's variables that are that are referencing another page. Like, it has to understand the entire context of your project as a whole. If it has that context, I think it'll go up the number.
Tyler:So it'll it'll reach a five eventually. Mhmm. You'll have to to kind of do a QA check. Better the better it gets and the better that we get at prompting, I think it'll get close. Mhmm.
Tyler:And then you'll have that, like, art director version of a developer where they're gonna be architecting the features and just allowing AI to kind of build out, spit it out because they they understand what it should be writing. Just the AI will be able to do it quicker.
Nick:Right. Yeah. That's yeah. Yeah. I'm I'm very like, I keep in mind, like, the the the straight line bias, you know, that we all have.
Nick:You know? We had a times two, for example, in 2025, so we will have a times two every year. You know? But nobody knows if we will plateau or not. You know?
Nick:And I'm not saying this as someone who's, like, a a skeptic or or against AI. You know? And I use it all the time. But I am, you know, I I think perhaps cautious again. You know, I'm repeating myself with that word.
Nick:You know? It's that's perhaps one of the the most important words here is that, especially with social media around, you know, how many people say things like, you know, r I p or, you know, game changer design is that, you know, that type of fear creating. Like, I'm really the opposite of of that, and I think that's perhaps good to keep in mind. Yeah. Well, that's basically it.
Nick:I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but I want it to be set.
Tyler:Yeah. I think I think I think the fear is I think it's just like what people say. I don't think there is a fear in, like, Figma going away. They're they're this year, they've really kind of were keeping a pulse on what's happening, and then they they made the right moves. I don't think they're going anywhere soon.
Tyler:I think they're gonna be the the software of choice moving forward for designers into 2026. I don't think that's changing with, like, the MCP work that Figma make that that that's becoming that's actually really good. The fact that it leverages your design system and creates something that that looks exactly what your design system contains, and then it's it almost looks one to one with what we have in our code base. So Yeah. Yeah, I think the different companies are evolving, and they're keeping the pulse.
Tyler:And they have to iterate and evolve quickly because things are moving so fast. Mhmm. Hard to keep up sometimes.
Nick:Yeah. Well, that that that's another thing I want to to focus on, like the the the notion that everything is moving so fast. You know? Does it? Really?
Tyler:I mean, if I'm harking back to, like, the image quality, like, seeing, like for example, like, I've been trying to leverage at the beginning of the year, I was trying to leverage ChatGPT to generate our thumbnails. Didn't land whatsoever. They are terrible. They it doesn't look like the real person because I think it's like a rule. You can't recreate a person.
Tyler:Though Gemini in the last month has just leaps and bounds what what ChatGPT was doing. Like, they replicates you. You can change, like, your position, your expression, and it still retains that personhood that you have, And it looks and it looks like you, and then it creates really detailed images. So in that sense, I think image creation, specifically with AI, has has gotten better and better so much so that, like, Shutterstock and all those, like like, oh, like, those, like, image image banks are leveraging those tools because they they have to keep up. Because I can I can I don't search for stock imagery anymore?
Tyler:I just generate it with Gemini now.
Nick:Yeah. And then I won, you know, the the the big leap at the end of the year. You know, with the reason I'm asking is, you know, it's it's something lots of people are saying. Like, it's hard to keep up. It's moving so fast.
Nick:But we started the year with large language models with, you know, image generators and, you know, Claude code and that kind of stuff. MC Now it's the end of the year. We still have those things, but they became better. You know, I am using Claude a lot. Mhmm.
Nick:I used Claude in the beginning of this year, and I still do because it's getting better. I think, you know, switching over because something else is slightly better takes you a week to get used to it, but then within that week, the thing you left behind became better. You know, they're all catching up to each other. So, you know, my quote, unquote stack, you know, because that's a popular social media post to make. Look at my stack.
Nick:You know? It's very simple. You know? I have one image generator. I have one LLM for, you know, general use, and I have one design tool.
Nick:And that's basically it, and they will get better. So I do not have any FOMO or fear of missing out feelings about, you know, oh, it's going so fast, and what tools should I use? You know, I just think you should use the tools that you can use that are up to a certain standard because you can get the job done that way. You know? Your clients don't really care what tool you use.
Nick:They just want their products or their thing or their goal achieved. You know? Yeah. Long rant, I know, but I don't think it's changing that fast in terms of new tools, but it is changing fast in in in a way of the existing tools becoming better.
Tyler:Yeah. I think that's what I'm what I was kinda pointing to. Like, there are plethora of these different tools, Clawd, ChatGPT, Gemini, etcetera. And the thing is that they each do they excel at one particular thing at a period in time. So it's it's keeping track of, like, which tools excel in this specific area and trying to use that tool at the right moment Yeah.
Tyler:Can sometimes feel overwhelming because from one week, ChatGPT is better at ReadyCode. Then the next, Claude is kind of the front runner, and then Gemini is the image tool of choice. So it's about sometimes if you feel like and if you're trying to keep up with all, like, the different updates, it could feel overwhelming.
Nick:True. That's true. I've and, I mean and that's also the thing. I don't think you need to keep up with everything. You know?
Nick:If there's something really big, you know, it will find its way to you. And I think the best examples are the one you already mentioned, you know, the cursor, you know, playground slash front end Figma like editor. Like, you are the third or even the fourth or fifth person telling me, hey. Did you see the cursor update? So that's a big one because everyone's talking about it.
Nick:And then the Gemini image creation is also a big one because also everyone's talking about it. Look at the thing I made. You know? So those will find their way to you. Mhmm.
Nick:And I also remember someone saying something along the lines of, you know, if if you are without work and and left behind, using a slightly better large language model will not solve your problem because it is not your problem. Yeah. You know? So I I I think that's also something to keep in keep in mind here. Pick your tool, stick to it, become an expert at it, and things will be okay, I think.
Nick:I think so too.
Tyler:Any big I'm curious. Any big anything that's making you excited for the next year as you kind of look over this year, all the different tools, all the different projects you work on, what gets you excited about next year?
Nick:I you know, it's a good a fun thing to say is that I for the first time ever, I purchased a Figma pro plan. Ah. Professional instead of the free plan. I have always been a bit stubborn and almost proud to say that I you know, you don't need it. You know?
Nick:You can do everything you need with the free plan. But now recently, I still pulled the trigger and got a pro one because I want to do more Figma MCP to clot coat experimenting, mostly because, you know, perhaps my biggest change for 2025 was that at the start of the year, I had, like, one or two projects where I did some sort of coding, and that was a big step for me. I went from no coding to a little bit of coding for clients. And at the moment, like, for the past six months or so, literally, every project that I do has me in Figma and in the code base. So that's my biggest change.
Nick:And when you're looking at Figma and then having code next to it and what type of border radius is over here and what's the the flex cap and all that kind of stuff, it's I feel like there's something to achieve to make it easier. But I also noticed that Figma and the code base or the design system, they have to align perfectly for the MCP, like, the communication to work and to understand each other. And I think that's that's perhaps a project in and of itself. You know, you you, you know, cleaning everything up. You know, you come into a project.
Nick:They've been working for five years on a code base. It has tons of, you know, workarounds and quick fixes, you know, and tech debt and that kind of stuff. If you connect it to Figma or MCP, like, it just doesn't work. You know? Too many things they have to guess.
Nick:So I now have everything set up, and next year, I'm going to see if I can make it work, like, perfectly. Like, here's the fit my design. It's set up well. Take that frame, put it in that code base, make it work, and then see if I can get it to be you know, I don't have to touch it anymore, that type of output. So that's something that makes me excited because it's a challenge.
Nick:And then the question is, is it easy enough that someone's willing to pay for it to get to that level? Or is the investment to get it set up taking so much time, so much money, and effort that it's not worth it to go that way? You know? Is it error prone or not? So that's a big experiment that I'm going to, well, you know, basically experiment with next year.
Tyler:That's that might be exciting for our listeners, actually. Like, once you've kind of dabbled and become the get really good at and excel at it, something to share with our audience, I've I'm I'm sure they'd be excited to see it.
Nick:Yeah. Well, I mean, that's a good thing to put on our on our list. Like, give me a few months because it's something I would do on the side, you know, when I have a bit of time.
Tyler:Of course.
Nick:And then I'll let you and everyone else know. Yeah. So and any any big goals you achieved this year, like, personally, like, you know, in, you know, career def development wise?
Tyler:Yeah. I think I think I'm just evolving in in terms of, like, what what I'm kind of interested in. I think I started the year as, like, the ROI of design guy, but I think what that is kind of some kind of reflection, self realization. I think I'm evolving into growth and, like, the new definition of what that is. So not product led growth specifically, but I'm just really interested in the strategy around, like, having users adopt features.
Tyler:Like, what are the different mechanisms and tricks to take the features that we're releasing and then having people get quickly to value as as quick as possible. So I think I'm gonna do a lot of experimentation next year in kind of the growth area, and I'm excited to kinda see where that takes me.
Nick:Interesting. Interesting. So and then we're talking mostly about your day job. Right? Or is it the ROI design guide that's that's more of your side hustling, you know, LinkedIn content, that kind stuff?
Tyler:Yeah. I think they're everything is gonna evolve together. I think both, like, my personal website, my newsletter will evolve with me at at the same time on the job as well.
Nick:Mhmm. Interesting. Yeah. Of course. I mean, they're they're not two separate things.
Nick:Like, the things you learn on the day job is something you can talk about on LinkedIn and the other way around too. You know, for me in terms of goals, I'm thinking about niching down more. I've been reading some some books, interesting things. I've always had the fear, lots of people do that, I have to do everything to capture as much work and projects and income as I can. But now I'm really zooming out.
Nick:You know, I I have a one to five scorecard for clients. And then if I look at the the the five being, like, my favorite clients or my favorite projects, they're all the same type of work. And I know if I can have, like, five of those in a year, which I already do, that means that I can probably get five new ones next year, you know, in addition to replace some of the, like, one or two score projects that I didn't really like. And that requires me niching down, and it's probably going to be around I'm curious what you think about the name because I I think it's a bit long maybe, but not because I like design, I like building, and I like strategy. So the label could be strategic design engineer.
Tyler:I like it.
Nick:It's a bit it's a bit long, I think.
Tyler:It's a mouthful, but
Nick:it's It's a mouthful.
Tyler:Yeah. I understand it when you say it out loud.
Nick:Okay.
Tyler:Like, it resonates for me. To know.
Nick:Yeah. So you get it. That's that's that's important. And because in my favorite projects, I am the only designer there, and I'm helping a startup go from one to a 100. You know?
Nick:There's something there. They've done everything themselves so far. So I'm cleaning up important parts of the project, you know, the onboarding, the important flows, how to get users from trial to subscription, that kind of stuff. I'm building. I'm designing.
Nick:I'm doing SEO in the code, that kind of stuff. And that's something that really, you know, is it speaks to the the gamer inside of me. Like, I enjoy the civilization type games, you know, the strategy games. You know, build a warehouse there, get more, you know, stone or or clay in there and that kind of stuff, make people happy in the village. And that works with with with building a startup as well.
Nick:So, yeah, I'm I'm playing with this idea of becoming, like, strategic design engineer for startups going from one to a 100. The sentence becomes longer, but you have to niche down. You know? You have to be specific.
Tyler:I think it make totally makes sense for you. It sounds like that's where I think you'd really excel at it, and, also, that's where that's just where the startup world is starting to evolve in. Like Mhmm. Wear multiple hats. Yeah.
Tyler:But when you're wearing the hats, you need to be good at the different hats you're doing. But I I I think over time, you start, for lack of a better word, you fill out those hat those hats very nicely.
Nick:Yeah. Well, I mean, this this is the first time I'm telling anyone about the the strategic design engineering. So good to hear your feedback on it. Thanks for that.
Tyler:Yeah. I think it's a good move.
Nick:Nice. Alright. Any final things like big takeaways that we didn't talk about yet for 2025? I think we users and listeners should know.
Tyler:Here's the message I give. It's the end of the year, and I think designers in general, I saw a little stat that had been floating around for the last month or two that designers which which job role has the most stress or burnout? And I think designers landed at the top of the list. I don't know if you've seen those polls recently. But here's my comforting message to all the designers.
Tyler:You did well. K? We are our harshest critics, and we we we live in a space where we don't often get a lot of validation, but just know that this year you did well and next year you're gonna do even better.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah. That's a very comforting thing to say. So It's true. Yeah.
Nick:Yeah. You almost have me in tears there.
Tyler:Oh, there you go.
Nick:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That
Tyler:was a great episode. So if you like this content and wanna hear more, please like and subscribe.
Nick:Yeah. And if you want to see more, please go to designtablepodcast.com. Spotify, Apple Music, all the big players.