The Rise of Design Engineer and the Future Roles in UX
Summary
TLDRThe script discusses the evolving landscape of design engineering, highlighting the growth of roles such as UX/UI designers merging into product design and the increasing importance of design systems. It emphasizes the blurring lines between design, engineering, and UX, leading to a demand for design engineers who can bridge the gap between aesthetics and functionality. The future is painted with AI potentially automating many design tasks, but the human element in defining user needs remains crucial, possibly leading to roles like 'Human Experience Manager'.
Takeaways
- 📈 Design engineering is expected to grow as companies invest in Design Systems to ensure quality and further develop features like those in Figma.
- 🔍 The lines between front-end engineering, design systems, and UX roles are blurring, leading to better UX organizations.
- 🎨 The traditional UX/UI roles have evolved, with a shift towards product design and a continued need for specialized UX roles.
- 🌐 There is a growing demand for product managers to have a fundamental understanding of UX, reflecting the importance of user experience in product development.
- 🛠 The role of design engineers is becoming more prominent as they combine UI/UX design skills with an understanding of coding and engineering.
- 🤖 As AI models advance, the need for human involvement in certain roles may decrease, with AI potentially taking over tasks traditionally performed by design engineers.
- 🔑 The concept of jobs being fully automated is not a reality; instead, the way tasks are performed and the tools used are evolving.
- 🌟 The best product designers are those who can code or have a strong understanding of web technologies, allowing them to better communicate with engineers and innovate.
- 🔮 Looking to the future, roles like Human Experience Manager may emerge, focusing on engaging with automated systems to define human needs.
- 📚 The speaker suggests that the roles and skills required in the design and UX field will continue to shift and adapt, with a focus on those who can work effectively with AI and automation.
- 🚀 Companies are already investing in combining product design with engineering and AI, indicating a trend towards fewer but more skilled design engineers.
Q & A
What is the current trend in the growth of design engineering?
-Design engineering is expected to grow further as companies and design organizations invest in Design Systems to ensure quality, with tools like Figma continuing to develop their features.
How are the roles of designers and front-end engineers evolving?
-The lines between front-end engineering, design systems, and user experience roles are blurring, leading to the formation of better UX organizations where these roles come together.
What was the traditional division of roles in the UX/UI world?
-Traditionally, there were two distinct roles: one focusing on the details of UI design and the other being more strategic from a user needs perspective or conducting research and architectural planning.
How has the demand for UX roles changed over time?
-There has been a 'gold rush' of UX roles with growing demand and a lot of space to challenge business perspectives, but the roles and demand have shifted towards specialization.
What is the current state of product design roles?
-Many UI designers have transitioned into product design roles, while some companies still maintain a broad 'UX design' role that encompasses various specializations.
Why is there a growing demand for UX understanding in product management roles?
-Product managers are increasingly expected to have a good grasp of UX principles, as they are learning to wireframe and understand the user experience, which is vital for effective product management.
What is the significance of the 'jobs to be done' framework mentioned in the script?
-The 'jobs to be done' framework is an important principle that emphasizes understanding who is doing what and why, and then shifting the methods of how tasks are performed to improve users' lives.
How are design systems and front-end engineering becoming more integrated?
-Design systems and front-end engineering are converging as the same teams handle both, with the best product designers often having coding skills or a good understanding of web technologies.
What is the potential future role of 'Human Experience Manager' in the context of AI and automation?
-In the far future, as AI models become more autonomous, the role of a 'Human Experience Manager' may emerge to engage with automated production models and AI counterparts, defining human needs and guiding AI development.
How is the demand for design engineers likely to change in the future?
-The demand for design engineers is increasing as the roles of product designers and engineers with UI/UX thinking converge, but the pace of this change is uncertain and will depend on various factors.
What does the script suggest about the long-term impact of AI on design roles?
-In the long term, AI could potentially automate many design tasks, reducing the need for human designers and leading to roles like 'Human Experience Manager' that focus on guiding AI in creating user experiences.
Outlines
🚀 The Evolution and Growth of Design Engineering
The first paragraph discusses the ongoing growth of design engineering as companies invest in Design Systems to ensure quality. It highlights the blurring lines between roles such as front-end engineering, design systems, and UX, leading to better collaboration and more integrated teams. The speaker reflects on the historical division between UX and UI roles and how they have evolved, with a current trend towards product design and the increasing importance of UX research. The paragraph also touches on the role of product managers in understanding UX and the potential for automation in task performance, rather than the disciplines themselves.
🔄 Shifting Dynamics in Design and Engineering Roles
The second paragraph delves into the changing dynamics between product designers, engineers, and the emerging role of design engineers. It emphasizes the importance of understanding web technologies and the benefits of being able to code or at least communicate effectively with engineers. The speaker predicts that the demand for design engineers with a dual skill set will increase, but also acknowledges the uncertainty of the pace of this change. The paragraph also contemplates the future of these roles, suggesting that as AI models become more advanced, the need for human involvement in design engineering may decrease, with a potential shift towards roles like Human Experience Manager.
🛠 The Convergence of Design, Engineering, and AI
The third paragraph focuses on the convergence of product design, UI design, and engineering with the rise of Design Systems. It suggests that the demand for specialized roles may decrease as the industry moves towards a more consolidated design engineer role, capable of producing high-quality code with a strong understanding of UX principles. The speaker also mentions the importance of capturing design decisions for AI training and the potential for AI to shape future design processes, ultimately leading to a reduction in the need for human designers in the long term.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Design Engineering
💡Design Systems
💡Figma
💡UX/UI Design
💡Product Design
💡User Researchers
💡Technical Product Management
💡Front-end Engineering
💡Prototyping
💡AI and Automation
💡Human Experience Manager
Highlights
Design engineering is expected to grow as companies invest in Design Systems to ensure quality and further develop features like Figma.
The lines between front-end engineering, design systems, and UX are blurring, leading to better UX organizations.
The traditional UX/UI roles have evolved into product design and UX research, with varying specializations across companies.
Product managers are increasingly expected to have a fundamental understanding of UX, influencing the shift towards hybrid roles.
None of the disciplines are being fully automated; instead, the tasks and tools are changing how jobs are performed.
The 'Jobs to be Done' framework is highlighted as a key principle for understanding the shifting methods of work.
The meta perspective of UX remains, but the roles are shifting towards a combination of UX, UI, and product design.
AI is influencing the convergence of UX/UI and product designers into new roles like design engineers.
Design engineers are becoming more prominent as front-end engineering and product design teams merge.
Understanding web technologies and being able to code is becoming increasingly important for product designers.
The best UI interaction design ideas often come from engineers pushing the boundaries of what's possible.
The demand for design engineers with the ability to produce code and UX thinking is increasing.
The pace at which design engineering roles grow is uncertain, but the demand for the skill set is rising.
In the far future, roles like design engineers may become less relevant as AI models become self-sufficient.
The concept of a 'Human Experience Manager' is proposed for a future where AI models shape themselves with minimal human involvement.
The transcript suggests that AI and automation are already being integrated into product design and UX roles.
The future of UX may involve AI models that adapt and learn from user data without the need for a human counterpart.
Transcripts
people basically are saying that things
like design engineering is going to you
know um grow even further it has been
already growing slowly because companies
and design organizations needed to
invest in the Design Systems you kind of
need to assure the quality the the likes
of figma further developing their
features the blurring lines between
front end engineering design systems
designers or managers and the actual
uxers prototyping are blurring and they
come together to form better ux
organizations so as such design engineer
I think is going to persist but I'm
going to tell you exactly
[Music]
why so if you walk back long enough we
had this ux UI world where there are two
different hats the people in ux war a
person who would look into the detail
and the actual UI design plus someone
who's more strategic from the user needs
perspective or can do more research or
architect things better forms this Duo
of Unstoppable force and the teams I
managed and worked in as an IC back in
the day who had those two at least you
know on paper we might have been both ux
designers or uxui designers but had
certain like strengths and if they would
two come together like the projects
would just glow and then they were
accompanied by a project manager let's
say and the business analyst as well
which was typical back in the day and of
course course Engineers which don't
really change much and in between that
and what we have today we had this ux
world the gold rusher of ux Surfing this
never stopping wave of lucrative roles
growing demand for ux and a lot of space
to still challenge the business
perspectives and people who don't know
what ux is about it never was easy but
still there was a lot more roles a lot
more demand and if we skip to now the
quote unquote post ux world is we have
product designer which really a lot of
the people who are specializing in UI
design went into product design there is
still some ux design which is do it all
basically or depends which company
you're part of they're skin differently
sometimes if you take like Google
openings they're all saying ux designed
even if let's say some people there do
research or product design it's still
like a one big row some startups are
going to split research and product
design and so forth it varies massively
but you still have that kind of like a
majority of people dropping in in in
these buckets and of course us a
researcher which has been booming is
going to grow further I think for a
while and just because a lot of the PMS
the product managers are learning to
wireframe or learning to ux and you
probably notice that a lot of them have
this requirement that you should have a
good grasp of ux to do product
management even the I saw the roles for
technical product management the backend
product or AI product management and
it's stated that you have to have a
fundamental ux understanding and as such
this ux designer then becomes a a a a
hybrid of course product managers do
much more but just so you understand why
like like why the shift is happening is
because a lot of activities are being
shared and this is important principle
which I want to highlight none of the
roles none of the disciplines are being
truly automated or will be ever truly
automated it's just the tasks the
activities the tools are going to change
how we perform those jobs and that's
boring almost that jobs to be done
framework which you should know about
anyways but it's understanding who is
doing what and why and then basically
Shifting the methods of how they are
doing those things in order to improve
user's life let's say so if we take the
meta perspective us doing ux you know
it's still going to remain it's just
those roles going to shift if you kind
of go back a step you know there are
different roles doing similar stuff
don't you think that with AI the uxui
and product designers will combine into
a new role like design engineer yeah
that's what I'm getting at and that's
perfect segue happening already again as
I said with Design Systems and the
proximity between the actual front end
engineering design systems and product
design those are becoming basically same
teams and the best product designers can
code already or understand enough of how
to code basic HTML CSS JavaScript it's
it's unarguable like if you understand
web Technologies and you can let's say
use frameware web flow or WordPress or
just code it yourself you're going to be
much you know ahead than anyone else
because at the minimum you're going to
know how to talk to the engineers that
always has been the case you're going to
see that the actual front end engineers
make a lot of those product design
decisions and we always have been let's
say the best ideas usually come from
experimentation or the best UI
interaction design ideas let's put it
straight are going to come from actual
Engineers pushing the boundaries and and
taking it a notch further the worst
thing is when the engineers just
Implement what designer says without
kind of trying to push because designers
know enough but they might not know the
different web Technologies or what else
could be done and as such the things are
shared the Dynamics are shifting and
that's why design Engineers are going to
pick up with speed the product designers
and Engineers again budding up as a twin
skill sets going to form these new
structures of design Engineers again
it's happening if you take ux engineer
roles that has been the first that this
is going to come the number of the row
fo is questionable and if someone is
saying oh everybody's going to be a
design engineer not thinking in terms of
the time frames because the tomorrow or
the near future is definitely not going
to be the case it's just that the demand
for that skill set or capability is
definitely increasing but at what pace
is to be seen and I would just be
bullshitting you if I would say oh it's
going to happen like immediately or like
this is the case it's you cannot predict
that what you can predict fo is that the
ux designer is still going to persist
like the need for the ux design or those
skill sets are still going to persist
and maybe going to be shared across the
board and especially if the design
engineering is going to increase
ultimately if we zoom out basically so
if tomorrow we have a lot of design
engineers and some product designers
some user researchers we still have
someone who does ux design some
engineering some product management I
see that a lot of those roles still
going to fall in into these bigger
buckets and the when I say the future
this is far future this is basically
either full or partially full automation
which means that the human involvement
is minimal it means that AI models can
teach other AI models and shape other AI
model or AI model like Chad GPT would be
able to write code for another AI model
and publish it so means basically closer
to the AGI in that case the design
engineer are going to be quite
Irrelevant in a way cuz someone who's
going to be in the seat of the control
going to be able to use basically
automation mechanical Ts for a for a for
a lack of better term which are going to
basically be modeling the model and AI
is going to be making itself with the
input of the humans so the human would
bring a human need and they're going to
basically be uh creating different
models as such the design Engineers
product designer user researchers are
going to be consumed with f automated
production and this is very long term
this is saying like 20 years in advance
basically where those actors those roles
are just going to be Vanishing the role
which is going to definitely come into
place and I'm not going to take and say
that this is exactly how it's going to
be sounding or the label is going to
persist it's going to be something like
Human Experience manager maybe there's
going to be a better marketing slogan
which just you know rolls of a tongue
easier but Human Experience manager is
going to be that person who literally
engages with the automated production
model or AI counterpart and telling them
what the needs are of a person if you
even would go further than that you
wouldn't even need The Human Experience
manager but imagine if there is a model
which every other person uses let's say
it's a future Apple device right and the
Apple iPhone has some sort of app which
tracks Health Data or something along
those lines if they're smart enough
they're already considering to implement
the models which could track the data AB
test data they would roll out AB test
they would basically track a lot of
those data signals and the behavioral
data exactly what the people do and
learn from it and you know use the
actual heavy processing nii models to
learn from it and shape it and as such
the actual product or the experience
could adapt by the model itself it's not
going to even need a human counterpart
because there is already a petri dish
which exists and if you put enough
signals and the models are free to shape
themselves the humans are out of the
pictures the humans are only going to be
served the only thing is the quality but
quality also could be improved and
locked in through enough Generations 10
20 30 50 100 years Apple could be run by
AI with no people involved again
corresponding to Market signals
financial data every other role
completed but this is the long-term kind
of um notion and view if we pull back to
again design Engineers on the Design
Squad Community the other day I saw the
opening and why the other day is like
last month or so um but the opening was
um we are seeking product designers and
I'm paraphrasing but it was in terms of
we're seeking product designers to
design stuff on figma we're going to
track what we do and in in part train
the AI models of what decisions they
make and we're going to basically say
okay this design is did this that that
you know you can capture enough signals
in the train W model so it's already
happening and US investing heavily in
combining the product design UI design
with Design Systems with engineering it
might sound like it's growing in terms
of a demand and the roles and we're
going to need more people to do it it's
not the case if anything we're going to
need less people basically to focus
that's why the combined design engineer
role and a role of a person who can
produce good enough code a good enough
output with some horis ux thinking or
some understanding or or just knows
enough patterns to combine them is is a
clear signal of what's basically coming
as you consolidate those things you
create these Champions and I going know
this is a philosophical note but you
create these Champions who basically are
perfect seedlings for AI they are the
ones whose decision is going to be
captured the most and then you know the
models are going to be trained up I
think the most important thing to follow
up on that is for everyone to take a
look at this live stream which is
basically the road map to complete ux
Automation and AI uh ux and this is
where I outline basically of when and
what sort of AI you can expect and
across what type of uh time frame
roughly speaking
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