Graphic design
fromMedium
4 hours agoHow design leaders influence decisions without being in the room
Effective design communication requires clear annotations to convey decisions, hypotheses, and outcomes.
Google recently released a new AI model, Gemini 3.1, that demonstrates great results in UI and web design tasks. I've already tested this model for web design tasks and in this article, I want to experiment with Gemini 3.1 and generate UI for a mobile application.
Design tokens are all your design decisions, that define a design system's aesthetic properties, everything from colors and font sizes to spacing units and border radii. They are the modern evolution of hard-coded values. They are stored in a central, platform-agnostic repository, establishing a single source of truth for your entire digital product suite. This central management allows teams to consume the exact same design values across all platforms (web, native apps, documentation).
Most design problems aren't 'design' problems. They're 'Thinking' problems.They're 'Clarity' problems.They're 'Too-many-tabs-open' problems. More prototyping. More pixel-shifting. More polish in Figma alone isn't going to help you with those. For me, without clear thinking, Figma just results in more confusion, more mess, and more mockups than I can mentally manage. The Problem: Figma wasn't the bottleneck - my thinking was
In 2026, the designers who thrive won't be the ones who just create beautiful Figma files. They will be the ones who understand structure, logic, systems, interactions, and implementation. FigmaMake generates surprisingly coherent interface layouts that respect design patterns and component logic. It allows us to create coded interactive prototypes in minutes, allowing to test our experiences faster and see our ideas live. The best part - no need to leave Figma.