ROLE
COLLABORATORS
Kaitlin Chow
Rohina Gandhi
Michael Z
SKILLS
Visual Design
Interaction Design
Prototyping
TIMELINE
4 Weeks
Overview
Building interactive AI tools to train the next generation of designers
We know that many student designers are starting from scratch — which is why we're introducing AI tools made for students to practice core principles of design and raise the bar for the next generation of designers.
With the power of AI, we designed a tool called Design Drills that generates unlimited design exercises for students, with AI assistant that you can interact with and get real-time learning tips.
The Current Space
With AI rapidly changing the tech landscape, students are not tied to a single software and rapidly adopting new ones with unique innovations
Industry standard tools are never as untouchable as they seem. Hence the shift from Adobe to Sketch to Figma. Students are turning to design and developer tools like Cursor and Replit to make their lives easier. It was not long ago when Sketch, a key platform in the industry, was overtaken by Figma. As the current industry standard, Figma has never been more at risk.
So what?
Figma needs to deeply integrate into the lives of students to secure its long-term relevance and success
If Figma entrenches themselves in the lives of students, who will soon enter industry, they secure a future for themselves. A sure way to reach students is through professors, who have a major influence in what tools they teach and encourage students to use.
The Solution
A tool that generates unlimited design practice drills for beginner design students with AI
Students need a space to practice and receive specific feedback — our Figma tool creates infinite workshops for students and gives them personalized feedback. Professors don't have bandwidth to guide students one-on-one — Design Drills can help their students 24/7, taking the burden off of the professors.
AI Live Cursor Chat
Got a quick question about your work? Just start a live cursor chat to get an instant response
You are working on your design, but a question about pops into your head. Get quick, concise and thoughtful responses on your question. The answers are specific to your work, and the cursor can point and guide you to contextualize the answer.
AI Comments
Need some visual inspiration? Leave a quick comment to Figma AI and get more in-depth feedback
You can leave a comment and tag @FigmaAI to get more in-depth and longer answers, with visual references. Comments allows you the ability to go back and review the material, and resolve it when you're done.
AI Figma Voice Call
Let's hop on a voice call with Figma AI to brainstorm together
A voice call with Figma AI feels like a personalized experience with a team member. You can ask it to review and dissect work in a more natural way by pausing, pointing, and asking questions to understand the "why" and process behind design decisions.
Quick tip: unmute the video to hear the live interaction!
AI History Log
Look back at an AI history log to refresh your memory and cement your learning
Learning isn't a one-time experience. You can go back anytime to preview your interactions with Figma AI and get an instant replay of the work you did together.
Quick tip: unmute the video to hear the live replay!
Research, Ideation, & Prototyping
We mapped out the pain points and prototyped nine of the most compelling solutions
After chatting with more educators and students, we identified the main struggles they face and mapped it to existing surfaces in Figma. From there, we were able to rapidly prototype. Aaron La Lau from Youtube (https://www.lalau.ca/), helped us narrow in on the feature to move forward with.
How do we give design feedback?
Design is not black and white — often the best designers break the rules
Adam Ho is a perfect example of this. We were challenged to really find the best way to give feedback in an accurate and nuanced way. But since we've scoped to education, it makes sense to just teach the basic principles. But even then, it's still not that straightfoward.
Experimenting with Feedback
We experimented with different methods of giving feedback to students
We designed a few different methods to indicate feedback and progress to the student. However, it's impossible to say there is a point of completion or perfection. We opted for less binary framework that indicates that you're simply "not there yet" (based on "The Power of Yet" framework), but it was too vague and lacked the specific and personalized quality we were searching for.
A lightbulb moment
Finally, we realized LLMs allow us to cultivate a more nuanced learning experience that is engaging and specific
AI ended up being the right solution because it can adhere to a general set of principles, while accounting for nuance and variation. It provides the context and personalization we were looking. AI would allow students to ask specific questions, get feedback, and watch the entire process unfold.
AI Principles
AI guides you first, designs for you as a last resort
AI Principles
Show you multiple options & breaks down the process
AI Principles
Ability to slow it down and look back at changes to learn
Figma AI & Growth Designer Perspective
Prioritizing and pitching to Figma AI designers
They pointed out that AI comments was the most feasible because responses with slight latency are acceptable, AI is analyzing rather than creating, and it is a lightweight solution to stay in the flow. The voice call would probably come next, because it is a natural way to receive feedback and it emphasizes the idea of AI asking more questions.
