Figma's head of design indicated that product design applicants must elevate their performance to capture his attention in interviews.

Noah Levin shared with Business Insider on Thursday that AI resources now enable product designers to build refined interactive prototypes, which has increased expectations for prospective team members. Levin has served as vice president of product design at the San Francisco firm for over eight years.

He noted that ten years prior it proved difficult to locate designers capable of crafting concepts that truly resembled finished products, mainly due to limited technical skills. Prior to AI, producing ten interactive functional design prototypes demanded excessive effort that rarely justified the investment.

AI has transformed the process by allowing rapid prototyping of concepts without requiring technical expertise or intricate details, Levin observed.

He therefore anticipates that every applicant will present designs at the maximum level of detail and accuracy possible. This refers to the precision and completeness found in user interface and experience prototypes.

Levin emphasized the importance of candidates staying current with emerging AI resources, noting that the team values evidence of experimentation with fresh tools rather than outdated workflows.

This does not permit applicants to generate numerous low-effort AI outputs for their presentations, he clarified. The core designer responsibilities of addressing user challenges and maintaining strong craftsmanship remain unchanged, so he requires candidates to infuse personal insight into their submissions instead of depending solely on standard AI results.

He particularly appreciates when applicants present product prototypes that did not succeed and were set aside during development.

The initial concept may occasionally prove successful by chance, he remarked, yet the truth is that every configuration release featured this year involved hundreds of rejected concepts, prototypes, and mock-ups. He believes candidates should highlight this iterative process more often.

Prior to Figma, Levin directed the UX team at ClassPass and held a design position at Google.

Levin's observations arrive as multiple AI platforms have simplified website and product creation for non-experts. Vibe coding services such as Lovable, Base44, and Emergent produce polished outcomes within minutes using basic instructions.

Established design services including Canva and Wix have similarly added AI capabilities that broaden access to design tasks.

Figma executives have repeatedly stated that AI-assisted design will not reduce the importance of skilled designers. CEO and cofounder Dylan Field remarked in June that AI outputs tend to remain average and that the current period encourages designers to explore limits and pursue originality.

He added last October that company tools will not supplant exceptional designers but will eliminate tedious aspects of the design workflow.