Vibe Coding is Design

Development is Design/Design is Development

How designers interact with development is changing, as is how developer's interact with design. As a longtime advocate of zero handoff and designing-in-the-browser, the new wave of design/development tools break down the barrier between design and development even further.

In practice, the shift toward less rigid, interdisciplinary problem-solving in web development invites more iteration, collaboration, and creativity. This approach feels closer to how designers, writers, and artists work. It's "Vibe Coding" because it's actually just design.

Design and Iteration

Anyone who's spent time designing knows the design cycle is not always as rigid as we wish our processes to be. Working with AI follows this same wave, so don't get lost and drown. However, this also means you can quickly visualize concepts, test variations, and refine them in real time. This way of working is design, and design is based on intuition as much as logic. I'm personally excited for the outcomes that will emerge from the unexpected, with AI acting as a creative collaborator rather than just an automation tool.

Endless Loops and Dead Ends

Now that I've properly romanticized vibe coding let me burst your bubble. Just like designers can fall prey to endlessly spinning their wheels without moving forward, developers can get caught in cycles of AI-generated variations, a weird LLM dead end, or culdesac where the model doesn't quite know what it's doing. Many of these early problems are already being solved by new models or simply layered data and context. Regardless, the jagged edge of AI abilities creates a dangerous sense of precision and endless possibilities. This odd dichotomy makes it easy to lose focus on the real-world design, business, and brand challenges. bad vibes. : (

The Future: Development as a Creative Practice

AI is rapidly changing everything. By approaching development as a creative practice, designers can tap into new ways of thinking, building, and working. Reach out if you want to learn more about any specific tools, workflows, or processes you can implement to ensure you don't get lost in the weeds of gen-AI design and development. Stay cool, you party animals!

Image: Krea.ai, Recraft.ai, Visual Electric, Grok, Photoshop Video: Channel42.co, ComfyUI, After Effects