The AI UI Challenge

Is it Time to Rethink the Approach to Digital Experience Design: 

Two years ago, I was sitting around a room where a few of us predicted we would begin seeing the end of traditional website design before too long. It was not happening anywhere yet, but we could imagine the convergence of AI powered interfaces and the general pick up in people using ChatGPT.

We could also see a world where content, imagery, and technical development would be speeded by AI tools. Today, this is becoming reality. In fact, within the large enterprise we support, we see the AI automation arms race really picking up, especially in these areas. And honestly, some of it is really impressive. Some not so much, but that is the nature of innovation. 

Where the race is not so impressive is digital experience design. It many ways, it seems to be stalling out in favor or more tradition approaches to experience design. 

Why the AI-Shift in Experience Design is Not Happening (Yet):

Today’s web experiences are still being crafted by teams trained in traditional techniques, using traditional tools (think Figma for example). While this has been the best available method in the past, I am seeing no evidence of UX teams looking for now ways to build sitemaps, information architectures, or embed more agile ways of getting user research and validation done. Most importantly, they are not embracing the potential of new interaction paradigms. 

The heart and soul of innovation has not inspired the UX community yet. 

Aside from antiquated tooling, the UX community is having a real hard time thinking beyond page-based website design. Sure, there are innovative experiences within web pages that make navigation more enjoyable and interactive, take an example of an automotive company’s build and price tool for a new car. These experiences have become more usable over the years, but every experience works more or less the same, with quality varying here and there. 

I fault designers less for holding back on change, but they are somewhat culpable too. In many shops, designers wait for UX teams to produce a blueprint, and from there get to work making that blueprint look amazing. I fault developers less too, but it is the same idea. They wait for design teams to hand off designs and then they get to work bringing those designs to life. 

The potential for new digital experience is profound, yet we are barely seeing any real evidence of progress with the exception of Accenture, Nvidia, and Land Rover offered a spark of hope back in March 2024. Why are we not seeing more innovation like this (whether in concept or reality).

The answer…the teams, ways of working, an ambition to create truly ground breaking experiences are lacking. The next problem, enterprises launching digital experience projects (especially website design) are giving agencies and internal teams the same old brief: redesign my website. Or if they are more bold than this, other realities hold them back. 

Thought Starters to Turn the Corner: 

• Redo the Brief: While I have seen teams push at the edges here, enterprises need to change the tone of their digital experience briefs. The word, redesign should be removed, replaced with words that evoke ideas of leaving behind the norm, challenging current conventions, and breaking new ground. If enterprises ask teams and agencies to redesign a digital experience, that is exactly what they will get. This is a strategic change.

• Get Everyone Into the Room Early: Technology capabilities powered by AI are changing so fast that every project should start with a few simple questions…what new technology is available to us now and what is likely to emerge during the course of our work. Simply put, UX and UI teams are too far away from emerging tech and not including that into their thinking. This is a process change. 

• Find the Fit Between Bold and Seamless: Everyone loves tech they don’t see…it just works. Think a sliding door that opens as you approach. Today’s default approach to AI is to brand it, throw it in a floating box, and applaud the power of a content discovery assistant. While this is a great starting spot, it is the lowest common denominator of imagination. New experiences need to think way beyond this starting point and not let the anchor of today, hold back the potential of tomorrow. This is an ambition change.

• Get Comfortable with an Experience Toggle: Converging new tech, new techniques, and bolder ambitions is no easy task. Furthermore, there are plenty of people that don’t want a new experience and more than happy to for a digital experience to work in its traditional format. This cohort of people will get smaller over time. Search engines love the structure of today’s site and have been built to consume structured content. Providing this structure to search engines will be necessary for the foreseeable future. Like we see with light and dark mode within digital experiences, we may have to live in a world where there is a toggle for traditional and advanced experience mode. This is a practical change. 

Wrapping Thoughts: 

This article comes as a reflection on the last few years of digital experience design and a general frustration with not pushing the boundaries enough. It serves as a call to action to think through what needs to change for digital experience paradigms to shift. While it does not cover all of the important and related topics (take legal and compliance as a big one), enterprises need to really begin asking themselves…when and were do we want to make a bold leap forward (and what could that mean for our business).  

This a dialogue of importance and passion at NewCo…if you have thoughts or want to consider how to turn the corner in your enterprise, please reach out.