Designing with AI: What’s Changing — and What’s Not

Hey UI Collective -

It’s been a while — thanks for still being here.

Over the last few months, I’ve been head down, not just designing — but rethinking how we design at all.

Especially now, with AI moving from “new toy” to “everyday tool.”
And honestly? It's exciting, but it’s also a little messy.

Let’s talk about it. Before we begin - here’s what’s new

✨ The Collective Kit is officially live!
Launch your design system in under 5 minutes — just by swapping your primary color.
It’s fully powered by UI Collective’s team, built to help you skip the heavy lifting and start designing real products right away.

To celebrate the release, take 20% off using code UIC for the next 24 hours only.

👉 Check out the Collective Kit here.

🎥 New video series: Building UIs (and more!)
We’re also kicking off a brand-new series on building clean, scalable UI’s — from scratch.
If you’ve ever wanted a peek behind the scenes at real-world design decisions, stay tuned — it’s going to be fun.

👉 Watch Now

AI Is Changing Design — Fast.

The new generation of tools like Loveable and Cursor are making it clear:
designers aren’t just using AI anymore — we’re designing with it.

If you haven’t heard of them yet:

• Loveable is built to generate entire apps from prompts — UI, code, database, everything — instantly.

• Cursor is more like a dev tool, but with deep AI assistance — coding, debugging, refactoring, all baked in.

These aren’t just "helpers." They’re shaping workflows in a way that’s hard to ignore.

In Loveable, you can spin up a product idea faster than most people can explain it.
In Cursor, developers are skipping hours of grunt work with a few smart prompts.

The gap between idea and execution is collapsing.

That’s the big shift AI is bringing to design:
It’s making the “doing” cheaper — which makes the “thinking” even more valuable.

But Some Things Aren’t Changing

The tools are evolving — the core of great design isn’t.

• Understanding people still matters.
  No AI knows your client’s audience better than you. Tools can fake it — but not feel it.

• Craft still matters.
  AI can draft a layout — but it’s still your taste, your eye, your attention to nuance that makes it resonate.

• Originality matters more than ever.
  When AI makes it easy to create, differentiating yourself becomes even more critical.

AI can give you 100 options.
But it still can’t tell you which one is right — for the user, for the brand, for the moment.

That's your job. And it’s not going away.

How Designers Can Get Involved — Right Now

This moment isn’t about being replaced.
It’s about getting involved in shaping the future of design with AI — before it gets shaped without us.

Here’s how you can jump in:

• Learn how to prompt.
  Not just use AI tools, but direct them. Think like an art director, not just a user.

• Experiment in public.
  Build mini-projects using Loveable. Try building design tools inside Cursor. Share what works (and what doesn’t).

• Collaborate with devs and product thinkers.
  The next generation of design tools will live between design and code. Get comfortable living there too.

• Stay human.
  Double down on the skills AI can’t replicate: empathy, narrative, vision.

And most importantly:

• Don’t wait for permission.
  You don’t need to be an AI expert to start. You just need to be curious.

Where I’m Heading

I’m starting to integrate Loveable into some personal projects.
I’m using Cursor for faster prototypes and idea validation.
And honestly, it’s making me realize: the real leverage isn’t the tools.
It’s how clearly you can think, frame problems, and guide the tools toward a better outcome.

If you’re reading this, you’re already ahead of 90% of people who are still pretending AI is a fad.

Over the next few months, I’m going to be sharing more experiments, wins, and mistakes as I work through this too.
If you’re building things with AI — even tiny experiments — hit reply. Would love to see what you’re working on.

Talk soon,
Kirk from UI Collective

P.S. Thinking of doing a mini “Building with AI” series — short emails showing real projects I’m making with Loveable + Cursor.

If that’s something you’d want to see, reply and let me know. If enough people are into it, I’ll start sharing them.