AI can shorten design tasks—but not uniformly
A randomized study of 100 designers and product managers found roughly 20% shorter completion times with Figma Make, with larger gains among product managers.
shorter completion times in the study’s prompt-to-design condition
The Story
A randomized controlled experiment with 50 product designers and 50 product managers found that access to Figma Make was associated with approximately 20% shorter completion times among participants who completed the tasks. The gains were larger for product managers than for professional designers. ([arxiv.org](https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.26725?utm_source=openai))
That distinction matters. AI may be especially powerful for people who need to cross into design work, while experienced designers may see benefits that depend on the task, the quality of the brief, and the amount of refinement required.
Treat this as a reason to measure—not assume. For Studio Wensday, track time saved on exploration separately from time spent reviewing, correcting, and aligning the result with the intended system.
Studio Wensday Angle
The strongest case for AI is empirical and task-specific, not universal.