Figma's new AI is a mess
And that’s the most exciting thing to happen to design in years
It's buggy!
Why do we need Figma Make when Lovable, Cursor, and MCP exist?
It barely works.
This is the first time in years Figma shipped something genuinely interesting for designers. Not another collaboration feature or commenting system - an actual AI agent focused on visual thinking.
Yes, it's rough. But Roger Wong's deep dive into AI design tools (https://rogerwong.me/2025/04/beyond-the-prompt) reveals why this matters: most AI tools force designers to think like developers. Figma Make understands that designers think visually, not syntactically.
You describe what you want - "make the heart pulse when clicked" - and it builds it. Not just static mockups. Functional, interactive experiences.
This connects to something deeper about micro-interactions. Those tiny moments of feedback - a button responding to touch, a heart pulsing when favorited - they're not decoration. They're communication. The Nielsen Norman Group has been saying this for years (https://www.nngroup.com/articles/microinteractions/): micro-interactions tell users the system is listening.
But creating them required complex designer-developer handoffs. Now you can just describe your intent and watch it happen.
The psychology behind this is fascinating. Every interface decision affects how our brains process information - cognitive load theory, Gestalt principles, the Von Restorff effect. UXPin's analysis (https://www.uxpin.com/studio/blog/cognitive-psychology-for-ux-design/) shows just how complex this is. Somehow, AI tools are learning these invisible rules without being explicitly taught them.
This is where visual-first AI systems become crucial. While everyone builds code-first tools, Figma is betting on something different: AI that understands design intent, not just syntax.
I'm not just theorizing about this future - I'm building it. We've developed what we call the AI Art Director: a system that evaluates design quality, brand consistency, and user experience principles with the precision of a senior creative director. It doesn't generate designs; it understands them deeply enough to provide the kind of objective analysis that frees designers to focus on strategy and creativity instead of pixel-perfect alignment checks. We're now teaching this methodology to a select group of designers who want to build their own AI design partners - because the future belongs to those who can teach machines to think like they do.
This is the conversation revolution: AI systems that speak design language fluently. Not replacing visual thinking, but amplifying it.
Figma Make might be rough around the edges, but it's pointing toward something important. The first AI agent that thinks like a designer, not a developer.
The conversation revolution isn't about talking to code. It's about talking to systems that understand visual intent.
And that changes everything.
With love, your Ilia Werner.
If you're ready to be part of this conversation revolution: https://delo.studio/courses/aiartdirector