Designers Pivot As Figma's Grip Weakens

(MENAFN- The Arabian Post)

Momentum is building across the digital design world as designers and product teams rethink long-held workflows, with a noticeable shift away from screen-first tools towards building functional products from the outset. Figma, long regarded as the industry's default collaborative design platform, remains widely used, but its centrality is being questioned as artificial intelligence reshapes how ideas move from concept to code.

For more than a decade, Figma's browser-based interface and real-time collaboration features helped it dominate interface design, particularly among UI designers and front-end developers. It became the shared canvas where early ideas were sketched, refined and approved before being handed off for development. That dominance, however, is facing pressure as teams prioritise speed to market and working prototypes over static mock-ups.

A growing number of designers are adopting what is increasingly described as a“build-first” mindset. Instead of spending weeks refining pixel-perfect layouts, they are turning to AI-assisted coding environments that allow concepts to be translated into interactive prototypes or minimum viable products almost immediately. This change reflects broader commercial pressures on technology teams to demonstrate tangible progress, not just polished visuals.

The trend gained wider attention with the rise of what many designers call“vibe coding”, a loose but influential movement that blends natural-language prompts, AI code generation and rapid iteration. Advocates argue it enables designers to express intent and user experience goals while machines handle much of the implementation. Rather than being a short-lived experiment, the approach has pushed teams to reassess the value of traditional design artefacts.

Within major technology firms, this shift is already visible. Product managers and designers at Meta have spoken publicly about internal reviews that now favour live, working products over static interface prototypes. Demonstrations increasingly involve functional flows, data handling and real user interactions, offering stakeholders a clearer sense of feasibility and impact at an early stage.

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This evolution does not mean design thinking is losing importance. Instead, its role is changing. Visual design remains critical for usability and brand consistency, but it is no longer treated as a separate phase. Designers are expected to think in systems, understanding how interfaces connect to back-end logic, APIs and performance constraints. Tools that blur the line between design and development are therefore gaining traction.

At the same time, Figma's strengths are being re-evaluated. While it continues to excel at collaborative layout work, critics argue that its outputs can create a false sense of completion. High-fidelity screens often mask unresolved technical challenges, leading to costly rework later. As AI tools generate functional components more easily, some teams see less value in investing heavily in static representations.

Competition in the design tooling market is also intensifying. A wave of startups is offering AI-driven platforms that promise end-to-end workflows, from ideation to deployment. These tools appeal particularly to small teams and start-ups that lack the resources for extended design cycles. For them, the ability to test assumptions quickly with a live product can outweigh the benefits of exhaustive interface planning.

Industry analysts note that the shift mirrors earlier transitions in software development, such as the move from waterfall to agile methodologies. Just as agile reduced the emphasis on upfront documentation, build-first design reduces reliance on detailed mock-ups. The focus moves to continuous learning through real usage data, with design adjustments made alongside code changes.

Figma's leadership has acknowledged the changing landscape and has introduced features aimed at bridging design and development, including deeper integrations with code and automation tools. Whether these steps will be enough to maintain its central position remains an open question. Much will depend on how effectively it adapts to designers who now expect tools to produce working outcomes, not just visual alignment.

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