I trained as a designer. These days a lot of my work runs through an AI coding agent in a terminal.
It feels less like a new career and more like a new material.
The tools moved into our lane. In Figma’s 2026 AI report, designers taking part in development doubled in a year, to 41%.
Nigel Cross wrote in 1982 that designers “use ‘codes’ that translate abstract requirements into concrete objects.” That is a fair description of briefing an agent, and his paper is worth an evening.
Here is the first habit I would steal from studio. Before an agent writes anything, make it read your brief back:
Before you write any code, restate my brief in your own words: who it is for,
the one job it does, what done looks like, and what you will not touch.
Then wait for my yes.Wrong assumptions die before the first line of code, the same way they did in a client meeting.
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The takeaway
The part a model cannot supply is the part that decides what good means.