The job titles UX Designer and Usability Researcher have existed for a long time, but they didn’t truly take form until about 25 years ago. Looking back, I sometimes think we should have called ourselves UX Planners. Anyone paying attention back then could already feel that this work was more about designing systems than screens.
And now, once again, the field is shifting—this time accelerated by AI.
UX Has Always Been About Architecture
Before becoming a UX and CX designer, I worked as an architect and urban planner.
That experience shaped how I understand design to this day. Architects create spaces that respond to functional, aesthetic, and social needs—and arrange those spaces so people can live, work, and connect.
UX designers and information architects do the same, just in a different medium.
We shape spaces for information, decisions, and actions. We design environments where people navigate complexity, accomplish goals, and interact with others.
And now, AI is entering that environment like a new material—powerful, flexible, and capable of transforming the entire process of creation.
What AI Changes—and What It Doesn’t
AI is already taking over many of the standardized design tasks that once filled our days:
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Drafting screens
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Generating variations
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Producing documentation
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Running early-stage usability checks
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Creating visual assets
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Even drafting flows and patterns
These tasks are no longer the core value of a designer—they’re tools, automated or semi-automated. But AI doesn't replace the strategic foundation of design. In fact, it makes that foundation more important.
Because the more AI accelerates execution, the more human expertise must guide what is being executed.
What grows in importance:
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Deep systems thinking
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Cross-disciplinary service design
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Holistic workflow design
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Behavioral understanding
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Ethical and responsible design
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Structural clarity
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The ability to define constraints, goals, and meaning
And at the center of all of that:
flows, structures, and the architecture of interaction. (other articles about flows, diagrams and structures)
We’re Returning to the Roots: Structure Over Surfaces
Much like before UX Designer became the dominant job title—when many of us were called information architects—we’re returning to a world where structure matters more than surface.
Surfaces (UI screens, components, layouts) were the visible craft of the last decade.
AI can now handle a large part of that production.
But flows—real flows—are not merely boxes and arrows.
They reflect:
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Decisions
Intentions
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Responsibilities
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Dependencies
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Consequences
Values
And this is where human designers remain irreplaceable. Because flows are not about mapping what exists. They’re about shaping what should exist.
- They bridge strategy and execution.
- They reveal misalignment.
- They expose inefficiencies.
- They create clarity.
- They define the logic that AI-generated screens must follow.
Flows and structures will increasingly be the source of truth in AI-augmented product work.
Designers Will Need to Become Strategic Architects of Experience
AI is pushing design from execution to orchestration. Tomorrow’s designers will focus on systems over screens and workflows over wireframes. They’ll pair business logic with usability, craft interactions that adapt, personalize, and evolve with AI, set ethical guardrails and behavioral principles, and create clarity in environments where complexity is rising, not falling.
The work will feel less like polishing pixels and more like shaping the invisible infrastructure of how people interact with technology. We will still be called UX Designers — because people will always have experiences — but the work behind that title will continue to change dramatically.
Why This Future Makes Flow and Structure Work Essential
As AI becomes a true collaborator in the design process, clarity turns into the designer’s superpower. Flows, service blueprints, workflows, and architectural diagrams move to the center of the craft. They set strategic direction for AI-generated outputs, tie business goals to user needs, and keep sprawling systems consistent. They also help teams move faster and with more confidence, ground decisions in logic rather than guesswork, surface gaps early — before AI magnifies them — and guard against fragmented experiences.
In a world where screens can be generated in seconds, intentional structure is the real craft. Flowcharts aren’t just documentation anymore—they’re design.
Final Thought: The Future Is Structured
The UX field is entering a new era — one where AI accelerates execution but elevates the importance of strategic, architectural design work.
We’re moving from crafting artifacts to shaping systems.
From designing interfaces to designing infrastructures.
From creating screens to creating meaning.
And in this shift, the work that many considered “old-school” — flows, maps, frameworks, structures — becomes the foundation of everything.
Just like in architecture, the blueprint matters more than the rendering.
AI builds fast.
Designers must decide what’s worth building.
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