Redesigning Design, the Cliff in Front of Us All

Greg Storey exhorts designers to jump gamely into the breach. Design process is leaner, budgets are tighter, and AI is everywhere. There’s no going back, he says—time for reinvention and for curiosity.

I don’t have to like it. Neither do you. But the writing is on the wall—and it’s constantly regenerating.

We’re not at a crossroads. We’re at the edge of a cliff. And I’m not the only one seeing it. Mike Davidson recently put it plainly: “the future favors the curious.” He’s right. This moment demands that designers experiment, explore, and stop waiting for someone else to define the role for them.

You don’t need a coach or a mentor for this moment. The career path is simple: jump, or stay behind. Rant and reminisce—or move forward. Look, people change careers all the time. There’s no shame in that. But experience tells me that no amount of pushback is going to fend off AI integration. It’s already here, and it’s targeting every workflow, everywhere, running on rinse-and-repeat.

Today’s headlines about AI bubbles and “regret” cycles feel familiar—like the ones we saw in the mid–90s. Back then, the pundits scoffed and swore the internet was a fad. …

So think of this moment not as a collapse—but a resize and reshaping. New tools and techniques. New outcomes and expectations. New definitions of value. Don’t compare today with yesterday. It doesn’t matter.