Tommy Geoco - The state of the design industry right now
Summary
59% of designers are building their own internal tools—yet most don't realize how common this is. The real trend isn't AI replacing designers; it's roles compressing into 'builders' (design engineers, brand engineers) who code their way to efficiency, though this risks sidelining junior designers from hands-on experimentation.
Key Takeaways
- 59% of designers have built custom tools for their workflow, often dismissing it as 'AI slop' when it's actually pragmatic problem-solving—like a brand designer automating blog post card generation without prior coding experience.
- Designers currently 'vibe coding' (building with code/AI) report higher workflow satisfaction, but the breakdown reveals managers experimenting more than junior/mid-level ICs—suggesting tooling knowledge isn't trickling down, cutting junior designers out.
- New role emergence: 'Brand engineers' and design engineers are becoming standard hires. This signals industry compression where pure design roles blur into builder/engineer titles—raising questions about what 'designer' even means if shipping code is the output.
- Social media is now the primary discovery engine for proving you're experimenting with modern design workflows—portfolio relevance has shifted from polished case studies to public shipping and iteration signals.
- AI fluency will eventually become ambient/expected (not a differentiator), but hiring language still demands designers show 'what if' thinking that doesn't feel dated—a signal to emphasize experimental work and tool-building capabilities.
Related topics
Transcript Excerpt
AI fluency is going to eventually just become like an ambient thing. I don't think we're going to like highlight that language forever. But I think right now it is important language cuz a lot of companies are like, "Yeah, we want this designer who can come in and think we want someone who knows what to do with the question, what if in a way that doesn't feel like it's from 2012, 2015, you know, 2018." That question seems to be being answered by like what are you showing that you're sharing? Like social media is the new discovery engine right now. Like that is the way to for better or worse that is the way to prove that you are someone who is experimenting. >> Welcome to Dive Club. My name is Rid and this is where designers never stop learning. This week's episode is with Tommy Goyoko who …