Podcast Summary: Dive Club 🤿 Episode - "Why AI has Changed Prototyping Forever"

Host: Ridd
Guests: Nicholas Klein & Holly Lee from the Figma Make team
Release Date: July 25, 2025

Introduction

In the episode titled "Why AI has Changed Prototyping Forever," host Ridd engages in an in-depth conversation with Nicholas Klein and Holly Lee from the Figma Make team. The discussion centers around the transformative impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) on the prototyping process within design workflows. The guests delve into the advancements in design tools, the evolution of prototyping methodologies, real-world applications, and future implications for the design industry.

The Transformation of Prototyping with AI

Nicholas Klein opens the discussion by reflecting on the rapid advancements in prototyping tools, highlighting AI's role in accelerating this progress:

"[02:52] Nicholas Klein: …AI ENCODE comes along and makes all of this progress feel like miniature. And already we got kind of used to that. That's possible. Like it's possible to create a 3D modeling environment in Figma Make. Like that's like that's ridiculous."

Klein emphasizes that AI has shifted prototyping from incremental improvements to exponential advancements, enabling designers to explore complex interactions and behaviors that were previously time-consuming or technically challenging.

Holly Lee adds to this by sharing her experiences with AI-driven tools outside of Figma:

"[03:44] Holly Lee: …the last few prototypes that I've made haven't been in Figma. Instead, I'm using Lovable. And honestly, it feels like magic to create real software without touching a single line of code."

This highlights the growing trend of no-code and low-code platforms empowered by AI, allowing designers to build sophisticated prototypes rapidly.

Key Features and Innovations in Figma Make

The conversation delves into Figma Make's pioneering features that leverage AI to revolutionize prototyping:

Code Layers:
Introduced as a significant advancement, Code Layers integrate code directly into the design environment, allowing for more dynamic and interactive prototypes.

"[07:48] Nicholas Klein: …we just launched Code Layers as like the first time the make technology is actually integrated into an environment in which designers are more like intuitively at home."

Interactive Tools:
AI-driven interaction tools enable designers to experiment with various behaviors effortlessly.

"[00:41] Rid: They're basically building interaction tools so that they can compare a b. Like, how does it look like to bounce at this speed versus to slide at this speed? And it's as easy as literally like prompting make to add those toggles."

Style Context Feature:
This feature allows designers to maintain aesthetic consistency by extracting and applying design system styles across prototypes.

"[37:12] Nicholas Klein: …we just have a version of it that we looked at. And the crazy thing Rid is that it took less than five minutes. It took less than five minutes. We shared that artifact around."

Such features ensure that prototypes not only function seamlessly but also align with the brand's visual language.

Real-world Applications and Use Cases

The guests share several practical applications of AI-enhanced prototyping:

Dynamic Interaction Prototypes:

"[20:01] Holly Lee: …playing with that was really only possible using code prototypes."

Designers can now experiment with intricate interactions, such as conditional behaviors and animations, without deep technical expertise.

Collaborative Prototyping:

"[24:02] Holly Lee: …I was like, add a inspect tab at the top and break down exactly all of the logic and format it for developers. And then I was like, sick. It just worked."

This exemplifies how AI tools facilitate seamless collaboration between designers and developers by providing clear, actionable insights and documentation within prototypes.

Exploration of Adjacent Territories:

"[25:33] Rid: …they used MAKE and kind of like at least these two tracks. One is like, help me prototype exactly what I have today and then help break the bounds of what we're doing today by 10% and then by 20% and explore kind of like adjacent territory from what we have."

Design teams are leveraging AI to not only replicate existing designs but also to push creative boundaries, exploring innovative design directions with ease.

Impact on Design Workflow and Collaboration

AI-driven tools are fundamentally altering the design workflow, making it more iterative and collaborative:

Fluid Integration into Existing Workflows:

"[15:54] Rid: …Sigma Make exists within kind of the existing Figma workflows, meaning that like, people are being able to share with their teams in the same way and it's all kind of in that same ecosystem."

Empowering Non-Design Roles:

"[06:28] Rid: And you know, it's worth also noting that 2/3 of Sigma users are not designers. And so there's a huge population of folks that are maybe a little bit more native in ideas and in sketches that now also have their own kind of mechanism for prototyping and idea production that like wasn't as easy to them before."

Product Managers (PMs) and other non-design team members are now actively participating in the prototyping process, fostering greater cross-functional collaboration and reducing bottlenecks.

Standardizing Output through Code:

"[47:37] Holly Lee: …code as the glue is the only way that you can standardize output within a software team, because at the end of the day, the code is what ships."

By embedding code within prototypes, teams ensure that design iterations are directly translatable into production-ready code, streamlining the development pipeline.

Future Directions and Industry Implications

Looking ahead, the guests explore the broader implications of AI in design:

AI as a Collaborative Partner:

"[47:37] Holly Lee: …code as the glue is the only way that you can standardize output within a software team."

AI is envisioned not just as a tool but as a collaborator that enhances the collective creative process, enabling teams to co-create more effectively.

Redefining Design Roles:

"[43:23] Rid: …when everybody can contribute in design and code, it does make you kind of wonder, like where does PM live and where does design live?"

The democratization of prototyping tools powered by AI blurs traditional role boundaries, fostering a more inclusive and versatile design environment.

Sustaining Design Quality:

"[22:39] Rid: …with MAKE, you can be really, really creative at what stage you're exploring. And it can be the wireframe stuff as well."

While AI accelerates prototyping, the emphasis remains on maintaining high-quality, user-centric designs. Designers are encouraged to use AI to explore and validate ideas without compromising on design integrity.

Conclusion and Key Takeaways

The episode underscores the pivotal role of AI in transforming the prototyping landscape. Figma Make, with its suite of AI-powered features, empowers designers to:

• Accelerate Prototyping: Rapidly build and iterate on prototypes with minimal technical overhead.

• Enhance Collaboration: Facilitate seamless teamwork across design, development, and product management through integrated tools.

• Expand Creative Horizons: Explore innovative design concepts and interactions that were previously challenging to implement.

• Maintain Consistency: Ensure design fidelity and brand consistency through advanced style management features.

• Foster Inclusivity: Enable non-designers to actively participate in the prototyping process, democratizing the creative workflow.

As AI continues to evolve, its integration into design tools like Figma Make promises to further streamline workflows, enhance collaborative efforts, and push the boundaries of what's possible in digital product design.

Notable Quotes:

• "[02:52] Nicholas Klein: …AI ENCODE comes along and makes all of this progress feel like miniature. And already we got kind of used to that. That's possible. Like it's possible to create a 3D modeling environment in Figma Make. Like that's like that's ridiculous."

• "[15:54] Rid: …Sigma Make exists within kind of the existing Figma workflows, meaning that like, people are being able to share with their teams in the same way and it's all kind of in that same ecosystem."

• "[25:33] Rid: …they used MAKE and kind of like at least these two tracks. One is like, help me prototype exactly what I have today and then help break the bounds of what we're doing today by 10% and then by 20% and explore kind of like adjacent territory from what we have."

• "[36:50] Rid: …MAKE outputted something within, I think three back and forth messages that I then shared with the rest of the crew that immediately allowed us to visually grok. Oh, that's what happens."

This episode of Dive Club 🤿 offers a comprehensive exploration of AI's transformative impact on the prototyping process, highlighting both the capabilities of modern design tools and the evolving roles within design teams. The insights shared by Nicholas Klein and Holly Lee provide valuable perspectives for designers seeking to leverage AI in their creative workflows.