Introduction
AI is fundamentally transforming the frontend web ecosystem. The boundaries between designers and developers are blurring as new tools empower designers to generate code and developers to generate designs. It’s not just about speeding up workflows- AI is changing what it means to build for the web. In this article, I’ll explore how AI is reshaping both roles and why we’re likely to see the rise of a new kind of professional - the Frontend Architect.
🎨 Designers Generating Code
AI-powered tools like Builder.io and Codia can now convert designs (e.g. from Figma) into working code. The quality of the code can be debated - and I've seen the drawbacks (the code is often messy, and you can forget about the usage of proper HTML elements) - but we can only expect the models to get better over time.
If you'd like to learn more about the code generation process, I recommend taking a look at Vishwas Gopinath's article about Builder.io's Visual Copilot.
⌨️ Developers Generating Designs
On the other side of the isle we have the developers. I think most of us have tried generating images using AI. Unsurprisingly, AI is also really good at generating designs for UI - landing pages, dashboards, and even individual views. You can see design websites drowning in these, almost like a disease. But what's the downside of AI-generated designs?
Well, there are couple. First of all, the job of a designer is not merely crafting a beautiful design. It's much more - user experience, structuring, user research, understanding pain points, design consistency, and even accessibility. Skills that are sometimes shared by developers as well. Skills that are quite difficult for a model to recognize.
🪄 The Rise of Hybrid or "Architect" Roles
AI-generated designs can serve as a great source of inspiration; though we shouldn't rely on that only - but that's a topic for a different day.
The evolution of AI in both design and development fields leads us to a need of evolving our designer and developer roles. Instead of two different roles, where one describes technical downfalls, the other creates effective designs, which are then pushed to the developer to implement, we will probably see the rise of hybrid designer-developer roles - Frontend Architects.
The Frontend Architect role entails understanding both development and design on a deeper level, and utilizing AI to create inspiration and avoid mundane tasks such as component initialization.
The "architect" takes what AI is good at - generating design inspiration and code - and modify the outcome with user experience, efficiency, and accessibility in mind.
Not only that, but we will no longer rely on successful design handover and no miscommunication between the developers and designers - leading to a more cohesive product in the long run. The "designer" part of the role does not waste time creating something that's later found to be infeasible for implementation, while the "developer" mindset can already prepare for how to optimally choose technologies relevant to the UX requirements.
📝 Summary
The rise of AI in frontend development is dissolving the wall between designers and developers. Designers can now generate code with tools like Builder.io and Codia, while developers are leveraging AI to create and refine UI designs. However, true design is more than visuals - it’s about user experience, structure, and accessibility, aspects that AI still struggles to master.
As these technologies mature, we will see the emergence of new, hybrid roles - Frontend Architects - who combine the strengths of both design and development. The future of frontend is not about choosing sides, but about bridging the gap for better, smarter product creation.
Thank you for reading!
I’m Tom, a frontend architect & software engineer based in Prague.
🎨 I believe the bridge between designers and developers is crucial. I work to strengthen it, delving into both worlds to create better products. I bring 3D design to the web, blending visual art with code - a skill not many embrace yet.
You can find more about me here: 🔗 grusz.dev
Find my projects on GitHub: ✨ @tomasgrusz
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