Design Is Not Enjoyable Anymore... or Is It?

Designing has never been faster.

We can generate layouts in seconds. We can prototype entire flows in minutes. AI writes copy, suggests visuals, adjusts spacing, and even debates typography choices with us. The friction is gone.

Did we actually enjoy the process.. or did we just enjoy getting things done?

Somewhere between velocity and efficiency, something feels different. And I am not sure we’re talking about it enough.

When speed replaced craft

The modern design workflow optimizes for output: faster iteratons, faster shipping, faster validation, and… faster growth.

And honestly, it’s impressive.

But craft is slow.

Craft for me requires sitting with a layout longer than necessary. It means adjusting spacing not because anyone will notice—but because you will. It means obsessing over motion timing that user may not consciously register. It’s caring about the invisible.

Today, we often optimize for shipping over shaping.

Are we still enjoying design.. or just completion?

There was a time when designing felt like sculpting.

We take a lot of times arranging noodles in our prototype, experiment with hierarchy, explore typography combinations, refine visual rhtym. You’d lose hours in micro-decisions. It wasn’t always efficient, but it was so enjoyful when we found things that click.

Now, with automation and design systems doing much of the heavy lifting, the “hard parts” are abstracted away.

We’re becoming orchestrators instead of makers.

When craft still matters

One thing that keeps pulling me back into design thinking is the work from the Shopify Design team. After Shopify brought Molly Studio into the fold, I started noticing small shifts and changes in the way things were put together.

That shift became really clear when I looked at what they did for Black Friday Cyber Monday 2025. BFCM always feels like a sprint: tight timelines, performance targets, dashboards buzzing with numbers. Most teams would lean hard into “make it work.”

There was no grand statement about “craft.” But I could sense it in the choices they made, choices that didn’t have to be made, but were.

Reflection

Here’s what keeps me thinking about it:

• Maybe the real question isn’t whether design is possible to enjoy these days.
• Maybe the real question is whether we still let ourselves enjoy it.

We’ve become great at shipping quickly. We’ve optimized for getting it done. That feels good in the moment.

But slowing down is quieter. It doesn’t show up on charts. It doesn’t get applauded in Slack.

It shows up in the little moments you notice only if you’re paying attention.