Is this the end of Figma prototypes? 

Figma prototypes have been the go-to for years. For digital product designers crafting clickable mockups of apps, this powerhouse design platform hasn’t just gained popularity—it’s become the indispensable tool of choice. 

Nearly every app, website, or digital experience that didn’t make you rage-quit was likely prototyped and rigorously tested in Figma before a single pixel was coded. The platform’s dominance is no accident. 

Figma prototypes help product teams communicate direction, test early ideas, and align stakeholders around what’s being built. At design consultancies like ours, they’ve played a critical role in due diligence where we stress-test client concepts before writing a single line of code—saving countless development hours and budget dollars. 

All of that is important, because the first version of any design is usually wrong. It’s based on assumptions about what users want or how they’ll behave. And if you ship based on those assumptions, you risk launching a broken experience that tanks in the market. That’s why prototyping for validation has been industry standard. And Figma has been the undisputed champion in the game the past 5+ years. 

But with the blistering pace of AI, we may be approaching the end of the clickable prototype era as we know it. 

AI can do more 

Until now, prototypes were the fastest way to go from idea to experience. But new AI tools are starting to change that because they can: 

• Generate user interface (UI) from a single prompt. UI is what you see and interact with on a screen, like buttons, menus, and layouts. 

• Simulate logic, state, and user paths. This shows how a digital product would work—how it reacts to choices, keeps track of information, and guides users through different steps. 

• Auto-populate realistic data and content. This instantly fills in a design with lifelike text, names, images, or numbers to show how it would look and feel in context. 

• Create testable product flows. AI tools can do this without manually connecting screens, letting you quickly explore how a user would move through the product. We’re not talking about wireframes anymore. We’re talking about high-fidelity simulations that look and feel like real software. Tiny testbeds for behavior. And they’re being spun up in actual seconds. 

Instead of designing screens, we’re starting to describe outcomes. We’re shaping intent—and AI is helping us fill in the rest. 

This is not just a faster way to prototype. It is a leap forward in how we go from an idea to something you can touch, click, and test. But make no mistake, it’s not replacing designers. Instead, it’s shifting their role—freeing them from repetitive tasks so they can focus on what really matters: understanding users, shaping strategy, and making sure the experience is not just functional, but human. 

Communicate a vibe, not visuals 

There’s a new term floating around in product circles: vibe coding. It’s the idea that instead of specifying exactly how something should look or function, we start by telling the AI the feeling we want a product to evoke. For example: 

“Make it feel luxurious and calm, like checking into a boutique hotel.” “Should feel fast, responsive, and trustworthy—like booking a ride on Uber.” 

And the AI? It generates an interface, interactions, even tone of voice—based on that emotional brief. 

It’s not perfect (yet). But it gets scarily close. 

For designers and product leaders, this unlocks a wild new dimension: communicating vibe, not just visuals. You become a creative director of experience, not just a user experience lead pushing pixels. 

It’s a shift from mechanics to meaning. From layout to language. 

But let’s be real: The tools aren’t quite there yet. 

They’re close. But not close enough to fully replace the fidelity, intentionality, and nuance that a designer brings to a clickable prototype. 

AI misses the thoughtful transitions. The user context. The subtle decisions that are often the difference between something that works and something that clicks. 

That said—it won’t be long before that’s possible. 

Designers will evolve 

We think we’ll see a hybrid approach emerge where designers don’t disappear, they evolve. Our predictions include: 

• AI-generated prototypes to quickly test concepts and assumptions 

• Clickable flows to align teams and create confidence 

• High-fidelity design systems built after AI confirms demand 

• AI copilots supporting live ideation, usability testing, and iteration 

We’ll move from building UI blocks to shaping systems and behaviors. We’ll direct the choreography of an experience, rather than drawing every step. 

Still, it’s time to lean in. 

At Crema, our designers are still using Figma, and we’re still building prototypes. But we’re also exploring what’s next—because we believe in the power of using the right fidelity at the right time to move ideas forward. 

If you’re leading a product team, this shift matters. Because the tools we use to test the viability of our ideas are about to get a serious upgrade. 

George Brooks is CEO and founder of Crema. 

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