figmaFeb 5, 2025

Double click: Human Takes on Agentic AI | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Agentic AI could fundamentally change UX by handling tasks across apps with minimal supervision, reducing the need for users to navigate complex interfaces. Supporters see agents as a new abstraction layer that lets people focus on goals rather than buttons, menus, and tabs. However, the shift also raises concerns about designing for machines at the expense of human creativity, agency, and meaningful interaction. ## The Promise of Agentic AI - Agents can take routine work off users’ plates, such as paying bills or completing multistep tasks. - Perplexity’s Henry Modisett argues that AI should be “how something works,” not necessarily what users directly interact with. - The ideal experience resembles starting a car: users specify where they want to go without needing to understand the machinery underneath. - Agentic systems may reduce the cognitive load associated with chatbots, personalities, and complicated interfaces. ## Agents as a New Web Abstraction - Agents could operate across platforms, creating a more interoperable web that works more like human workflows. - They may reduce the need to navigate menus, manage open tabs, or repeatedly switch between applications. - Rather than one all-purpose AI, the future may involve specialized agents collaborating like a team. - This could shift users’ attention from browsing and operating software toward creating, connecting, and pursuing goals. ## Designing Websites for Machines - Maintaining and optimizing websites for AI agents could become a distinct industry. - Websites may increasingly prioritize: - Clean APIs - Machine-readable content - Clear structure - Streamlined navigation - Visual polish, animations, and pixel-perfect layouts may matter less to agents than accessibility and functional interoperability. - Designers and developers must consider whether they are primarily building for humans, machines, or both. ## Preserving Human Creativity - Optimizing exclusively for AI could flatten the web and remove creativity, depth, and intentional visual experiences. - The growth of agentic systems arrives alongside renewed interest in: - Creative coding - Handcrafted websites - Experiences that move beyond templates - The industry has an opportunity to decide which tedious work to automate while preserving the aspects of the web that feel expressive and distinctly human. ## The Value of Friction and User Control - Traditional UX often treats friction as something to eliminate, but autonomous agents complicate that principle. - Users need deliberate moments to: - Review an agent’s proposed action - Approve consequential changes - Correct mistakes - Stay aware of what the system is doing - Carefully reintroduced friction can preserve agency and trust, even when the agent performs most of the work. - Good agentic design may therefore prioritize appropriate checkpoints over completely invisible automation. Agentic AI is still in its early stages, but it is likely to reshape both web infrastructure and interface design. The strongest approach is to automate complexity while preserving human oversight, creativity, and opportunities for meaningful participation.

apisuxagentic-aiui-ux+4

figmaJun 17, 2020

How to get closer with your developer | Figma Blog (opens in new tab)

Bringing engineers into product design early helps teams uncover technical constraints, explore better solutions, and move faster. Rather than waiting until designs are polished, designers should use early, exploratory collaboration to expose assumptions and edge cases. The post recommends partnering closely with one engineer through ideation using straw man mocks, brainstorming, and clearly defined questions. ## Technical Knowledge Improves Ideation - Engineers can identify technical constraints and unexpected edge cases early. - This input helps designers avoid solutions that seem promising but are difficult or costly to build. - Early collaboration does not eliminate creativity; it makes ideas more thoughtful and grounded. - Sharing unfinished work can be more productive than protecting designs until they appear complete. ## Establish a Close Engineering Partnership - For Coda’s Packs Tables feature, Helena Jaramillo worked closely with one engineering partner, Gil. - Packs Tables connected services such as Spotify, Google Calendar, and Gmail to Coda documents. - Because the feature had to work across multiple APIs, close engineering collaboration was essential. - The broader team was involved, but having a consistent partner enabled faster brainstorming and continuous feedback. ## Start with Straw Man Mocks - Straw man mocks are quick, rough visual proposals intended to generate discussion rather than finalize a design. - They should: - Be fast to create, since early assumptions are often incorrect. - Ask more questions than they answer. - Present multiple directions instead of prematurely narrowing to one solution. - Designers should first imagine how the feature might work if it were easy, then test those assumptions with an engineer. - Useful questions include: - What assumptions or misconceptions are we making? - What are we overlooking? - Which directions are interesting? - Which directions are technically difficult, and what trade-offs would they involve? ## Brainstorm Through Visualization - Early brainstorming should involve both designers and engineers, not just a finished design review. - Teams can use wireframing kits, high-fidelity components, paper sketches, iPads, or screen sharing. - During Packs Tables, Helena and Gil used whiteboarding to explore UI ideas and clarify potential problems. - The goal at this stage is alignment and exploration—not polished interface design. ## Define Key Questions - Key questions act as principles for making later decisions. - They help teams address foundational issues before debating individual solutions. - Answering questions about constraints, resources, priorities, and desired outcomes makes detailed decisions easier. - Helena and Gil recorded their key questions in a Coda document and reviewed them with the engineers involved in the project. Designers should treat engineers as creative partners from the beginning of a project. Rough mocks, shared brainstorming, and agreed-upon guiding questions create a faster path to feasible, thoughtful solutions.

apisproduct-designcollaborationwireframing+2