AI in Design: From Buzzword to Backbone

AI has officially transitioned from a buzzword to a backbone in the design world. It's no longer about whether we should use it, but how we use it effectively to enhance, not replace, human creativity. In September 2025, the design world is seeing a clear evolution in this partnership. AI has moved from a simple tool for one-off tasks to an integrated co-creator, a powerful assistant that amplifies human skill and taste.

At Value at Void, we’ve been tracking how design, motion, and branding intersect with AI. Here’s a breakdown of the trends that are dominating. Not just hype, but actually shaping real products, platforms, and user experiences globally.

From Prompts to Co-Creation

Early AI design workflows relied on one-off prompts: describe an app screen, get a design. But in September 2025, the standard has evolved into iterative co-creation. Designers now guide AI step by step, setting intent, generating drafts, refining outputs, and steering them toward production-quality results.

Structured Specifications for Control

To combat the unpredictability of AI, tools like SpecifyUI are emerging. This research project allows designers to set structured rules and constraints like brand palettes, accessibility standards, and specific layouts before the AI begins generation. This ensures that the final design aligns with project requirements and brand guidelines, giving designers unprecedented control.

“Vibe Coding” & Natural-Language Prototyping

A key concept coined by AI researcher Andrej Karpathy, this approach lets designers describe the "feel" of an interface using natural language (e.g., "a bold fintech dashboard with a neon glow"). AI then rapidly generates variations, freeing the designer to focus on strategic decisions and maintaining brand coherence. Academic research has demonstrated this shift, proving that the designer's role is now less about manual pixel placement and more about judgment and taste.

Immersive Visuals: Liquid Glass, 3D & Spatial UI

Flat is fading. 2025 design leans into depth. Apple’s Liquid Glass UI, announced earlier this year, exemplifies a shift towards depth: layered translucency, real-time distortion, and spatial awareness. Combined with diffusion-based UI generation models, designers can now create interfaces that feel fluid and adaptive across devices.

Brands are embracing 3D elements and motion layers that adapt fluidly across web, mobile, and wearables.

Immersive Visuals: Liquid Glass, 3D & Spatial UI

Flat is fading. 2025 design leans into depth. Apple’s Liquid Glass UI, announced earlier this year, exemplifies a shift towards depth: layered translucency, real-time distortion, and spatial awareness. Combined with diffusion-based UI generation models, designers can now create interfaces that feel fluid and adaptive across devices.

Brands are embracing 3D elements and motion layers that adapt fluidly across web, mobile, and wearables.

Design Automation at Scale

Automation is here to stay. AI can now suggest layouts, create component variations, and even write front-end code. However, this isn't killing creativity. It's eliminating the repetitive, tedious tasks.

By automating the mundane, designers can dedicate their time and energy to higher-value work: narrative, storytelling, and strategic thinking. The human designer remains the essential creative director, shaping the emotional and conceptual core of the product.

Conversational & Touchless Interfaces

Voice UIs, chat-based design flows, and gesture-driven interactions are finally hitting mainstream. AI not only powers the recognition but also helps design the conversation itself, deciding tone, clarity, and flow.

The Ethical Layer

As AI embeds deeper into design, the focus is shifting from “what it can do” to “what it should do.” Accessibility checks, inclusivity standards, and bias detection are now part of responsible design practice. Ethical considerations are not optional anymore; they’re expected by users and regulators alike.

The Bottom Line

AI in design is no longer about novelty; it’s about coherence, control, and context. AI is not a replacement; it’s an accelerator. The most impactful design work comes from a synergy between human creativity and AI-powered execution. It’s a mix of strategy and technology that keeps brands authentic and future-ready.

At Value at Void, we believe this mix is how design will continue to evolve, keeping brands authentic while staying future-ready.