When will the future of design arrive?

In the AI age, why do I still need four apps to get my design work done?

I keep thinking about how much context I carry between the brief, the conversation, the call, and the design itself. AI can help me get a first pass together quickly. I still have to explain what we’re trying to do, try the thing myself, figure out what feels frustrating, and bring other people into that process.

A Threads post by @blakejakely got me thinking about the people part. The post described AI coding helping with burnout, while also missing close collaboration: “I miss working closely with more folks.”

Threads AI coding and close collaboration, by @blakejakely

Open on Threads ↗

I feel that. I want to be able to think out loud with people, look at unfinished work together, and have somebody notice something I missed. Those moments matter to how I design. I want AI to make room for more of them.

So, hear me out. What if the future of design teams looked like a cross between Slack and Figma?

A project channel where the work is happening

Imagine opening a project channel and seeing two people working on the same canvas. You can join their call, look at the brief, and start sketching beside them.

While you’re talking through an idea, an AI agent is building a draft nearby. You can see its cursor and what it’s working on. When it’s ready, the draft gets a small cue so the group can look when it makes sense.

Then you all jump in. Move things around. Edit the copy yourself. Ask the agent to try a different layout. Leave a comment on the part that feels confusing.

The conversation keeps moving while the work takes shape. Direct editing and asking AI for a change can happen in the same place.

Someone else can pop in later, see the current goal and open question, and understand where to contribute. They can read a short summary, look at the relevant version, and join the call when they want to.

I’d love to work this way.

Keep the people in the process

One thing I care about is still being able to use the thing we’re making. I can get help creating a screen, but I still need to try it and decide whether it makes sense. Sometimes the useful feedback is as simple as: I couldn’t tell which time I’d selected.

I’d want that feedback attached to the version we were actually looking at. The next person should be able to see what changed and why. A reviewed screen, the conversation that shaped it, and the decision to keep it should stay connected.

I also want the AI’s background work to be easy to understand. If it’s drafting, show that. If it needs feedback, make the relevant area easy to find. Give people a way to pause it or ask for a different direction.

Let it work quietly while we talk. Let us decide when to look.

The small UI details say a lot

Exploring the idea made me notice how quickly the interface could get in the way of that feeling.

I wanted more canvas and less conversation sidebar. The conversation still needs to be close by, so I imagined a smaller panel that can expand when you need it and close when you want the whole canvas.

People and agents should be easy to tell apart. In the concepts, people have normal arrow cursors with their names. The agent has a different shape and shows its role and state. I don’t need a label telling me that my teammate is human.

The call has a small group of profile circles in the top right. A ring lights up when someone talks. The AI profile shows a loading treatment while it’s working, and the call’s elapsed time sits nearby. I initially had extra microphone and speaking labels, then stripped those back. The ring already gave the visual cue I wanted.

Those are small choices, but they shape how much attention the interface asks for while you’re trying to work together.

One collaboration moment to explore

Parts of this already exist. Figma has an agent working inside design files, with visible task progress. Slack huddles keep a call connected to a thread and notes.

That makes me curious about the whole experience: taking a brief through discussion, drafting, direct editing, review, and a deliverable while people stay involved and the context stays with the work.

I’d start by exploring one small moment. Two people discussing a brief, an agent drafting one screen beside them, and a reviewer arriving later. Can the reviewer understand what we’re trying to do? Can either person steer the agent? Does the draft help us think together?

I don’t have those answers yet. The screens helped me picture the questions.

Maybe I’ll revisit building something after I clear a few projects. For now, I wanted to make the idea concrete enough to talk about.

I’d love the future of design teams to feel like this: people talking, making things together, and staying involved as AI helps the work move forward.