What UX/UI Designers Are Actually Doing Now (And It's Not What You Think)
Dec 17, 2025
I'll be honest—there's a moment in a recent YouTube video where a designer says they'd take the blue pill if they could, wishing AI never happened. I felt that. As a freelance UX/UI designer in Sydney, I've built my practice on two things: strategic thinking about business problems through a UX lens, and the execution skills to bring those solutions to life. Watching AI commoditize that second part—the execution—triggers a real designer identity crisis.
But here's what I'm seeing in actual client work right now, not in think pieces: the shift isn't killing product design. It's reshaping what clients pay for. The strategic layer—understanding user needs, connecting design decisions to business outcomes, knowing why before what—that's holding its value. The execution layer is what's under threat.
Execution Is Commoditized, Ideas Aren't
AI performs tasks as well as humans now. That's not future-talk—that's this week. When a product designer Sydney teams rely on can have AI generate interface variations in minutes, the value isn't in creating those screens anymore.
The value is in knowing which problem to solve. Which user pain point actually matters. What business goal this feature serves. AI can't attend your stakeholder meeting, read between the lines, and realize the request is solving the wrong problem.
That strategic thinking? Still human. Still billable.
What "Product Design" Actually Means Now
I'm spending more time in workshops than Figma. More hours questioning assumptions than crafting components. Client calls that used to be "here's the mockup" are now "here's why we shouldn't build this yet."
The UX designer Sydney market is splitting into two camps: those who see this as a threat to their Figma skills, and those evolving into an AI strategy consultant who happens to understand design.
I'm choosing the second path, even though it's uncomfortable.
The "Build What You Need" Renaissance
Here's the unexpected part: AI makes it easier to build solutions for problems you personally face. The video calls this "passion-driven building"—people who actually love the thing they're building make better products.
For user experience design in Sydney, this means something specific: the designers who thrive will be those solving problems they understand deeply, not just executing someone else's vision.
I'm seeing this with AI security projects. Designers who've struggled with prompt injection aren't just designing AI products—they're identifying risks product teams miss. That expertise compounds.
Learning in Public Beats Expert Tutorials
The old model: wait until you're expert-level, then share polished insights. The new reality: document while you're figuring it out.
I'm watching junior designers build followings by sharing their actual process—mistakes, iterations, uncertainty included. They're getting opportunities that would've required 10 years of experience before.
Why? Because companies need people who understand how to learn with AI, not people who learned without it. The specific tools change weekly. The ability to adapt doesn't.
What This Means for Sydney UX Work
The short-term future isn't dramatic. It's this: design consultant roles in Sydney focus more on facilitation than production. We're asking better questions, challenging assumptions, connecting business strategy to user needs.
The designers panicking are those who built careers on execution speed. The designers adapting are those who realize ideas—informed by research, validated by users, aligned with business goals—are what clients actually pay for.
AI handles the screens. We handle the thinking behind them.
If you're a product team navigating this shift and need help focusing on strategy over execution, let's talk about strategic design services that actually fit this new reality.
