Digital Design Career Paths

Moving beyond the chat box: The Rise of Physical AI. 🤖✨ Our Stanford d.school "View from the Future" class is designed to have "conversations with people living in the future" to help our students anticipate and imagine "opportunities of tomorrow, today." Week 2 was exactly that. Thanks to a brilliant conversation led by Ariam Mogos, we explored the emerging world of Physical AI with Archetype AI leaders Leonardo Giusti (CDO/ Co-Founder) and Lauren Bedal (Spacial Design Lead). They challenged our students to imagine the possibilities of AI in industry and infrastructure—looking far beyond software prompts and screens. This was a perfect living embodiment of how our Academic Director Carissa Carter describes the "wider lens" of design. It’s not just about "Product"—it encompasses layers of data, experience, systems, and implications (see the "nested d" diagram in the photos!). Here are 5 big takeaways from our conversation: 🔭 1. AI is a "Lens," not just a tool. The metaphors we use to conceptualize AI matter. We tend to categorize AI as either software (chatbots) or hardware (robots), but we are missing the massive middle ground. Leonardo described Physical AI as a "scientific instrument"—a lens that reveals patterns in the world our eyes can't see. 🌊 2. Reframing from "Ask" to "Integrate." Unlike LLMs that wait for a user's question, Physical AI is "continuously prompted" by the world around it via sensors. It shifts the design paradigm from commanding a computer to interpreting a continuous flow of data and inputs. ⚖️ 3. Design as the strategic translator. Lauren shared a great mental model: R&D is driven by curiosity; Product is driven by consumer need. The designer's job is to reconcile these two worlds—taking the small percentage of R&D ideas that actually address a human need and bringing them to life. 🤔 4. When looking for talent, look for hires who can "Stretch the Practice." Standard Figma/UX skills are becoming table stakes. To work on the cutting edge, startups are looking for talent that can push the "extremes"—either Masters of Craft (deep expertise in visuals/technical) or Masters of Speculation (people who can reimagine societal applications and what design could be). 🎨 5. Building "Robust skills" for the future. This year we're asking all of our guests: What skills will matter in the future, no matter what? Leonardo emphasized the importance of taste: "Learn how to critique and build your own archive" to develop an informed POV. Lauren reminded us to be patient: "In a culture of virality, it takes a long time to sound like yourself." We all left with more questions then answers - exactly what we're hoping for. A huge thank you to the Archetype AI team for helping us anticipate and imagine new opportunities with expansive optimism! 🙌 #Stanford #dschool #FuturesThinking #ViewFromTheFuture #ArchetypeAI #Design #FutureOfWork

The convergence of emerging technologies such as AI, immersive interfaces, and digital representations of people and customers will progressively redefine the dynamics of sales, shaping more adaptive, personalized, and emotionally aware interactions. In recent years we have seen strong signals of this transformation. Gartner has identified seven disruptions that are accelerating change: machine customers, multimodality, generative AI, augmented and virtual reality, emotion AI, digital humans, and the digital twin of the customer. Each of these elements carries a specific impact, but together they form an ecosystem that is starting to alter how companies design their customer experience strategies. Generative AI is already being used to create tailored content and recommendations. Emotion AI adds a new layer of sensitivity by interpreting sentiment and intention. Digital twins of customers allow organizations to simulate behaviors and predict preferences with growing accuracy. When combined with immersive tools such as AR and VR, these innovations create environments where engagement becomes more natural and interactive. The question is not only how to adopt these technologies, but how to shape them in ways that create value and trust in the relationship with customers. #AI #Sales #CustomerExperience #DigitalTransformation

𝟯𝗗 𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗷𝗼𝗯, 𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁 !! 🚀 A year ago, I talked about how 3D fashion design was changing the game for creative minds. Fast forward to today, and this tech is a catalyst for innovation, skill-building, and efficiency across design and product development. As the industry continues to evolve, 3D design has gone from a "nice-to-have" to a must-have. But don’t get it twisted—3D is still not replacing the creativity & intuition, that define our industry. Instead, it’s a powerful tool that continues to amplify your talents. 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲’𝘀 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝟯𝗗 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗴𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹: ✅ 𝗟𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹-𝗨𝗽 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗙𝗮𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗞𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲 & 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: One of the most exciting aspects of 3D technology is the ability to simulate fabric behaviour. You are able to experiment with how textiles move, drape, & stretch before they’re even produced. 💡𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀: Test how different fabrics behave in a virtual environment. You’ll learn to better predict fabric performance and make smarter material choices early on. 💡 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀: With advanced simulations, you can evaluate durability, stretch, & wear, giving you a more comprehensive understanding of fabric behaviour that impacts production choices and timelines. ✅ 𝗙𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗖𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 3D tools make collaboration between design, product development, seamless. Everyone can have real-time access to the latest design. This empowers you to share feedback early, and align on goals much quicker. 💡 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀: You’ll sharpen your communication skills. 💡 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀: Collaborating with design teams will get easier, as 3D tools provide a clear bridge between design and practical production realities. ✅ 𝗨𝗽-𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 As fashion goes increasingly digital, having 3D design as part of your toolkit gives you a major edge. Learning to navigate these platforms boosts your technical skills and keeps you ahead of the curve in a tech-driven industry. 💡𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀: Becoming proficient in 3D tech adds an in-demand skill to your toolkit, making you more agile, versatile, and future-proof in a competitive industry. 💡 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀: Mastering 3D design platforms will enhance your problem-solving capabilities, allowing you to anticipate challenges and innovate solutions before they reach the factory floor. 🚀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 We’re standing at the intersection of creativity, technology, and sustainability—and 3D is the bridge between them all. Your skills will evolve alongside this technology. Have 3D tools transformed your creative process and team dynamics? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments! 💬👇 📸: Browzwear #FashionInnovation #CreativeLeadership

2025 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗡𝗲𝘅𝘁? 🚀 The new year is here, and with it comes the perfect moment to reflect on 2024 and look ahead. In the world of AI, customer experience, and design, I see 2025 shaping up to be a transformative year. Here are three key trends I believe will define our field: 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗔𝗜 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 2025 1️⃣ 𝗠𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝘆���𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀: 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗮𝘄𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗨𝗫 In 2024, we started integrating large language models (LLMs) into design workflows, but 2025 is bringing a new evolution—𝗺𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗶-𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀. Think of them as a team of specialized micro-experts helping you tackle complex tasks faster and with precision. This isn’t just about efficiency; it’s about a whole new user experience: 𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗨𝗫. Imagine machines taking care of mundane tasks, like booking appointments or completing forms, while you focus on what matters most. This paradigm shift will redefine how we interact with digital products and services. 2️⃣ 𝗠𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗲-𝗛𝘂𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝘆𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗰 Design leadership is evolving. In 2025, managers won’t just lead people—they’ll manage people and intelligent machines. Integrating AI into teams requires a new mindset, treating these systems as collaborative partners rather than mere utilities. In my team at Virtual Identity, we’re already exploring how to balance human creativity with machine efficiency. This is the next frontier of leadership, where success will hinge on navigating this hybrid ecosystem. 3️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗿𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 “𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹” 𝗶𝗻 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 As AI image generation tools grow more advanced, we’re seeing a profound societal shift. The boundary between real and generated imagery is dissolving. With AI, anyone can illustrate their worldview, but this raises questions about authenticity. Images that once anchored us to reality are becoming vehicles for personal or imagined truths. In 2025, I predict a surge in idiosyncratic visual storytelling, as people use these tools to shape their unique narratives of what they believe should be real. 𝗔𝗱𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 While the business models for AI companies and ethical frameworks around these technologies are still evolving, one thing is clear: AI is here to stay in the design world. We’re in the early days of these shifts, and adaptability will be key for teams, leaders, and the broader design community. 2025 is shaping up to be a year of exciting, sometimes challenging change. 𝗔𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗮𝗿? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Let’s discuss! 💬 #UXDesign #AIinDesign #AgenticUX #DesignLeadership #AITrends2025 #FutureOfDesign #UserExperience #UX #Design #AI #ArtificialIntelligence

🚀 The Future of UX: Emerging Specializations You Need to Know The field of UX design is evolving rapidly, giving rise to new career specializations with high demand and low competition. If you're looking to future-proof your career, here are three emerging areas worth exploring: 🔹 AX (Agent Experience) Design With the rise of AI agents that perform tasks on our behalf—like booking restaurants or navigating search results—AX design is all about creating intuitive experiences for these AI systems. Understanding AI behavior, APIs, and user interactions with agents will be crucial for this role. 🔹 VUI (Voice User Interface) Design As AI-powered voice assistants become more integrated into our daily lives, designing seamless, conversational experiences is a growing need. Unlike traditional UI, voice interfaces demand expertise in error handling, linguistics, and user psychology. 🔹 Sustainable UX Design With digital products impacting the environment more than ever, UX designers are now focusing on energy-efficient interfaces, ethical data usage, and sustainable design principles. The goal? Minimize environmental impact while enhancing user experience. These specializations are still in their early stages, meaning now is the perfect time to develop the skills and stand out in the industry. 🚀 👉 Which of these areas excites you the most? Let’s discuss in the comments! #UXDesign #AI #CareerGrowth #VoiceUI #SustainableDesign

【Design Engineering】might be the next evolution of product creation. A trending term recently caught my attention: Design Engineering. There’s also a similar concept called Creative Technologist, and AI companies like Cursor and Anthropic have started explicitly including these roles in their job descriptions. What fascinates me is that this role sits right at the intersection of design, product, and technology, exactly the space I’m most excited to explore in my next chapter👉 As AI is freeing our hands, ears, and voices. This is not just an evolution of interaction. It’s a reconstruction of the experience paradigm. A new generation of product opportunities is emerging. 💪 Many people describe Design Engineering as simply: “Designers writing code.” But I think it represents something much bigger. It changes how designers participate in creating products. From: Design - Engineering handoff - Implementation To: Design + Engineering - Co-create new possibilities Historically, one limitation for designers was that many ideas stayed in Figma. A new interaction pattern. A different product experience. A bold idea. Sometimes they were abandoned not because they weren’t valuable, but because the cost of exploring them was too high. AI is changing this. Today, designers can build prototypes much faster, create real interactions with tools like React and Three.js, explore dozens of possibilities with AI Ideas that once took weeks to validate can now be tested in hours. Designers can now create the first version of the future themselves. I see Design Engineering evolving across three levels: 1️⃣ Prototype Engineer Turn ideas into experiences quickly and learn through iteration. 2️⃣ Experience Engineer Understand technical possibilities and create new interaction paradigms — from AI agents and personalized interfaces to multimodal and spatial experiences. 3️⃣ Product Engineer Move beyond defining experiences and participate in building the product end-to-end, connecting idea to impact. The designers who thrive in the future will combine: Human Insight + Design Craft + Technology + Business It may sound like a lot, but I don’t think it means becoming an expert in everything. It means understanding what technology makes possible, and having the ability to bring ideas to life. Maybe this is what makes us fall in love with “creating” again. I’ll continue sharing my experiments and learnings as I explore this space. Curious to hear your thoughts👇

Observations on the evolution of design at IDEO: difficulty to produce really thoughtful, complex prototypes has plummeted. Early in our AI explorations, we used these tools for specific points in the design process like research synthesis, ideation support, etc. Now, IDEO designers are combining multiple emerging tech tools to make amazing things, like these Star Trek rocks created by my work spouse Jenna Fizel: 3D-printed stones containing RFID chips that link to a web app. Tell it what you're worried about, and it recommends a Star Trek episode to support you. Prototypes like this used to require extensive technical support and timelines that often made them impractical for early exploration. Now designers are able to make things that would've felt super complex, really quickly. AI and emerging tech at their best is not just about process optimization, they're about advancing our capabilities and allowing us to do cooler, more rigorous, more ambitious things ❤️🔥

The future of design isn't prettier pixels—it's intelligence architecture. Suff Syed's latest piece challenges everything we know: designers must move from the surface to the substrate—from interfaces to the intelligence layer beneath. We've spent careers perfecting visual design, following leaders like Jony Ive. However, in the Era of Intelligence, we need to look toward different leaders—such as Demis Hassabis—who design systems that think, not just look beautiful. Here's the shift: The skills that got us here are no longer sufficient. As AI becomes the new operating system, designers who understand agentic AI, proactive systems, and personal intelligence will shape the next decade. Why now: 96% of designers are self-teaching AI skills. Startups are adopting AI at twice the rate of enterprises. The window to become an outlier is closing. This isn't about AI replacing designers—it's about designers who understand AI replacing those who don't. My challenge: Stop treating AI as just another tool. Start learning how these systems work intimately. Move from decorating surfaces to architecting intelligence. Read Suff's full article: https://lnkd.in/dtfG4dGn Will you be designing with AI or watching from the sidelines? #Design #AI #UXDesign #ProductDesign #DesignLeadership