Framer Didn’t Chase the AI Hype. Here’s Why That Matters.

Every few days or weeks, a new tweet goes viral proclaiming the death of design.

“No more pixel pushing,” it says. “Just prompting.”

“Designers are dead. AI can do it all.”

And while that makes for a dramatic headline, it’s completely disconnected from reality.

Yes, AI tools are moving fast. You can generate an entire landing page in minutes. You can auto-generate copy, layouts, and illustrations with a prompt. But we’re not witnessing the end of design. We’re witnessing its evolution.

In fact, designers have never been more relevant than right now.

Because in a world where it’s easier than ever to publish something, the value lies in publishing the right thing.

Design is more than output

Great design isn’t about shipping faster. It’s about thinking deeper.

It’s not just about how a page looks. It’s how it makes people feel. How it supports a strategy. How it solves a real problem. How it creates real value.

Design is not a button you click. It’s a process:

Strategic. Iterative. Empathetic. Intentional.

And none of those things can be replaced by an AI tool.

AI can help you work faster. It can take care of the boring, repetitive, and tedious parts of the job. But it cannot understand your client’s feelings or do an in-person workshop to really understand the market. It cannot intuit emotional nuance. It cannot creatively connect dots no one else sees. That’s what designers do.

Framer gets this.

Framer could’ve gone all-in on AI-generated websites, like other tools did. And for those of you who remember the early days of Framer, there was an AI site generator, which hasn’t really been pushed anymore. A new AI site or style guide builder would’ve been the easy route, especially in a time when AI still generates excitement. Instead, they made a deliberate choice: AI should support the designer, not replace them.

Yes, Framer will most likely be shipping more and more AI-powered features.

Yes, some things are becoming easier to generate or automate.

But what Framer makes clear is this: the designer is still at the centre of design.

You drive the vision. You define the brand. You shape the experience on the website.

AI helps you get there faster, but it doesn’t define where you’re going.

That’s why Framer is the perfect example of how AI can coexist with creativity. You will still start with an idea. You will still craft layouts. You will still fine-tune interactions. But now, the tools get out of your way more than ever before.

The craft still matters

Design is a craft. It always has been. It always will be.

And like any craft, it’s best done by hand.

There’s beauty in the details. The tension between structure and emotion. The clarity of good typography. The rhythm of a layout.

You can’t generate that. You feel your way into it.

And while AI can offer suggestions, the final call still comes from your eye, your taste, your brain.

We as humans have an innate ability to extract details, the little mathematical imperfections that make things perfect for the human eye. And as long as websites are used by humans to buy products or inform themselves about a company, this is what it takes to stand out from competitors.

Side note: Don’t get me wrong. I’m not against AI. On the contrary, I like AI and use it regularly for all kinds of tasks. But never for the end result. Always as a way of getting there and to refine ideas, not to build from scratch.

The bottom line

AI is not the death of design.

It’s the end of long hours trudging through the menial tasks that have to be done. The end of spending hours nudging things back and forth just to make them work.

But real design, the kind that moves people, builds brands, and creates trust, still comes from you.

That’s why being a designer today is more valuable than ever.

Because now you can focus on what actually matters.

AI will take care of the boilerplate, Framer will ensure you can use its building blocks with precision. But only you will take care of the brilliance.