This might take some mental gymnastics, but if you’re up for it, I’ll do my best to change your mind. As Morgan Wallen says in his song  “Spin You Around.”

Here’s the deal: designers everywhere are gearing up for the AI wave, bracing for impact. But let’s be honest—when machines can generate assets and define patterns faster and better than we ever could, Figma and its fan club will get tossed aside in the next AI upgrade. Or, Figma will finish training their AI model on our assets and... that's for another post.  

This isn’t me taking a shot at designers; it’s a wake-up call, a necessary look in the mirror.

Design as a function isn’t going anywhere, but designers? They risk being replaced by people who know how to wield AI to build entire websites in minutes.

We can’t clutch our toys and shout “consistency and scale” anymore.
AI eats that for breakfast. If we don’t evolve, we’ll become irrelevant, and fast.

Design as a function won’t survive the age of AI unless we, as designers, grow up and start sharing our toys.

The design system as it exists today is broken. It must die to be reborn into something that serves a higher purpose.

Here’s a definition most designers nod along to when they hear “Design Systems”:

Design systems are a comprehensive set of guidelines, components, and standards used to create a consistent and cohesive visual language and user experience across a product or a suite of products. They encompass a range of elements, including typography, colour palettes, iconography, components, and patterns, along with guidelines for their usage. The goal of a design system is to streamline the design process, improve collaboration among teams, and ensure a unified user experience, regardless of who is designing or building different parts of a product.

The core idea of the above has been fetishised for almost a decade. Companies like Figma have built their products [and profits] on it. However, instead of making design teams indispensable, this has had the opposite effect. Design output is increasingly seen as a “nice to have” that can be automated even as interfaces grow more complex and the rituals around tools like Figma border on absurd.

When your ROI argument begins and ends with “consistency and scale,” any serious business will ask, “What else?” And no, the cult-like devotion to Figma’s ideology doesn’t count. Because soon, Figma will replace the designers and the front-end engineers, too. Damn it, I have to write that post...

In the modern business jungle, the difference between thriving and dying often depends on how effectively you solve problems in a particular context.
Yet, what we call a “design system” today is stuck in the shallow end—little more than a fancy toolkit for visual consistency. Don’t get me wrong, sleek buttons and pixel-perfect spacing are nice, but they won’t save your business. A real design system doesn’t just tidy up your UI; it creates order out of chaos, syncing your entire organisation around a shared playbook for solving complex problems.

What most companies today call a “design system” isn’t even a system—it’s a visual language at best. That's not all that designers do. That's not how you compete as an organisation. It has never been about who has the most complex visual language.

It’s like bringing a knife to a gunfight when you need an arsenal of strategies, principles, and cross-functional alignment.

Let’s get one thing straight: design isn’t just about looking good; it’s about getting sh*t done for the business and its customers.

A true design system integrates frameworks like system thinking and design thinking to address challenges at scale. It doesn’t just live in Figma or Sketch; it’s embedded in your company’s DNA, guiding how every team—from engineering to marketing—approaches their work. It’s about creating a shared foundation for problem-solving that transcends departments, roles, and egos.

Take conversational interfaces as an example. In a voice-first world, nobody cares about your button gradients because they don’t f/cking exist. What matters is how users flow through a conversation, the tone of voice, and the friction (or lack thereof) in their interactions. That’s a design system in action—shaping how people experience your brand, whether clicking, tapping, talking or walking into your store.

While building application infrastructure, even your CTO is unwittingly applying design system principles: researching needs, testing solutions, and building scalable frameworks. The goal is the same: alignment, efficiency, and long-term impact.

By integrating a design system into the very foundation of your company and sharing it across all departments, you unlock something powerful: a unified approach to problem-solving. This isn’t just about smoothing workflows; it’s about embedding design into every decision your business makes.

Imagine this: Marketing uses the same principles to craft campaigns engineering uses to build scalable solutions. Customer support draws on the system to respond with empathy and efficiency. The result? A design-driven organisation where every team member, from the intern to the C-suite, operates with the same clarity and purpose.

This is where design systems transcend the design team. They don’t just make your business look smarter; they are smarter. Every decision is made faster, every process tighter, and every solution more efficient.

Right now, most companies treat design like window dressing. Nice to have. Aesthetic. Superficial. This mindset is not only wrong—it’s dangerous.
You know how design is treated in your company and how far from the table your seat is, in case you have one.
Design isn’t a department; it’s a function, a mindset.

Let’s talk about what matters most: results. Businesses that integrate design into their core are faster, leaner, and harder to kill. They’re better at solving problems because they approach challenges holistically. When your teams speak the same language, use the same frameworks, and align their efforts, inefficiency dies—and innovation thrives.

Look at Apple. They don’t just build products; they create the tools to make them. Some of the tools they need don’t even exist, so they invent them. That’s not luck; that’s deliberate, systemic design. From logistics to research, operations to materials, Apple has created a framework where every part of the machine feeds the next. This isn’t just smart—it’s what separates good companies from legendary ones.

Without designing the tools to create the tools, Apple wouldn’t be Apple. It’s not just about making beautiful products—it’s about designing an ecosystem that allows innovation to happen at scale. That’s design at its highest level: not a finishing touch, but the engine that drives the whole damn thing.

In the context of the new AI flood, a design system that works isn’t just a tool; it’s a cultural shift. It’s the difference between a company that survives and one that dominates. We should stop thinking of design as a cost centre or a finishing touch.

“Design systems”, as they’re known today, need a rebrand. Call them what they are—visual language. A real design system is a strategic framework that enables your entire organisation to align, innovate, and execute at the highest level. It’s not a nice-to-have—it’s your company’s north star.

The question isn’t whether you need a design system. It’s whether your design system is solving problems—or just making things pretty.

The future belongs to design-driven organisations with a robust foundation that can add AI nitroglycerin to their fuel without going down in flames.