Designing With AI With Designers of Figma & Codex
5.9K views · 2026-04-10
UI DesignProduct Design
Ed Bayes (Design Staff at OpenAI, leads design on Codex) and Gui Seiz (Director of Product Design for AI at Figma) break down the new design workflow where code and canvas work together seamlessly. Includes a live demo of the Codex-to-Figma MCP integration, behind-the-scenes of how these teams actually ship, and a step-by-step roadmap to adopt this workflow at any company.
Full Writeup: https://www.news.aakashg.com/p/ed-bayes-gui-seiz-podcast
Transcript: https://www.aakashg.com/bayes-seiz-podcast/
---
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:33 - Code vs canvas debate
6:00 - When to use which
10:06 - Live demo begins
13:01 - Figma MCP deep dive
16:43 - Ads
18:10 - Lossiness and fidelity limits
23:59 - Behind the scenes
27:52 - Designers in staging
30:53 - Ads
33:13 - Roadmap for traditional teams
39:15 - AI as your tutor
43:29 - Roles blurring not disappearing
45:39 - Total football explained
52:30 - Outro
---
🏆 Thanks to our sponsors:
1. Bolt: Ship AI-powered products 10x faster - https://bolt.new/solutions/product-manager?utm_source=Promoted&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=aakash-product-growth
2. Amplitude: The market-leader in product analytics - https://amplitude.com/session-replay?utm_campaign=session-replay-launch-2025&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=organic-social&utm_content=productgrowthpodcast
3. Pendo: The #1 software experience management platform - http://www.pendo.io/aakash
4. NayaOne: Airgapped cloud-agnostic sandbox - https://nayaone.com/aakash/
5. Product Faculty: Get $550 off their #1 AI PM Certification with my link - https://maven.com/product-faculty/ai-product-management-certification?promoCode=AAKASH550C7
---
Key Takeaways:
1. Code vs canvas is a false dichotomy - The best designers use both fluidly. Canvas for exploration, collaboration, and pixel-perfect craftsmanship. Code for interactions, responsive testing, and the last mile of polish. The question is what you are trying to learn, not which tool to commit to.
2. High fidelity is no longer expensive - The entire linear design process existed because building something interactive required engineering resources. That constraint is gone. A functional wireframe takes the same time as a paper sketch.
3. The Codex-Figma MCP makes handoff lossless - Import screens from a running React app into Figma with exact pixel values. Border radius, padding, shadows, all one to one. It is not a screenshot. It is a responsive, editable design artifact.
4. The reverse direction works seamlessly - Make changes in Figma, paste a component link into Codex, and it updates your code automatically. No redline spec, no handoff document.
5. Ed spends 70-80% of his time coding and still calls himself a designer - The medium changed but the mandate did not. Designers are still the voice of the user, still upholding craft. The tools expanded, the role stayed.
6. Figma designers are shipping PRs to production - Teams that six months ago were AI curious are now banging down the door. Monetization designers who never wrote code are building technically complex prototypes.
7. "Prototypes, not PRDs" is the emerging norm - PMs at OpenAI bring working prototypes to design reviews. They ship PRs to stress-test ideas before handing off to engineering.
8. You do not need permission to start - Someone from OpenAI's GTM team built an iOS app with zero experience. Download Codex and build something for yourself tonight.
9. Curiosity is the defining skill for this era - Not code proficiency, not design talent. The AI is an infinitely patient tutor. Ask questions. Build understanding alongside output.
10. Total football is the mental model - Every player can play every position. Roles still have natural spikes. But the tool constraints that enforced rigid boundaries are dissolving.
---
👨💻 Where to find Ed Bayes:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/edbayes/
OpenAI - https://openai.com
X - https://x.com/edbayes
👨💻 Where to find Gui Seiz:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/guiseiz/
Figma - https://figma.com
X - https://x.com/guiseiz
👨💻 Where to find Aakash:
Twitter: https://x.com/aakashgupta
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aagupta/
Newsletter: https://www.news.aakashg.com
#codex #figma
---
🧠 About Product Growth:
The world's largest podcast focused solely on product + growth, with over 200K+ listeners.
🔔 Subscribe and turn on notifications to get more videos like this.
Full Writeup: https://www.news.aakashg.com/p/ed-bayes-gui-seiz-podcast
Transcript: https://www.aakashg.com/bayes-seiz-podcast/
---
Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
1:33 - Code vs canvas debate
6:00 - When to use which
10:06 - Live demo begins
13:01 - Figma MCP deep dive
16:43 - Ads
18:10 - Lossiness and fidelity limits
23:59 - Behind the scenes
27:52 - Designers in staging
30:53 - Ads
33:13 - Roadmap for traditional teams
39:15 - AI as your tutor
43:29 - Roles blurring not disappearing
45:39 - Total football explained
52:30 - Outro
---
🏆 Thanks to our sponsors:
1. Bolt: Ship AI-powered products 10x faster - https://bolt.new/solutions/product-manager?utm_source=Promoted&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=aakash-product-growth
2. Amplitude: The market-leader in product analytics - https://amplitude.com/session-replay?utm_campaign=session-replay-launch-2025&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=organic-social&utm_content=productgrowthpodcast
3. Pendo: The #1 software experience management platform - http://www.pendo.io/aakash
4. NayaOne: Airgapped cloud-agnostic sandbox - https://nayaone.com/aakash/
5. Product Faculty: Get $550 off their #1 AI PM Certification with my link - https://maven.com/product-faculty/ai-product-management-certification?promoCode=AAKASH550C7
---
Key Takeaways:
1. Code vs canvas is a false dichotomy - The best designers use both fluidly. Canvas for exploration, collaboration, and pixel-perfect craftsmanship. Code for interactions, responsive testing, and the last mile of polish. The question is what you are trying to learn, not which tool to commit to.
2. High fidelity is no longer expensive - The entire linear design process existed because building something interactive required engineering resources. That constraint is gone. A functional wireframe takes the same time as a paper sketch.
3. The Codex-Figma MCP makes handoff lossless - Import screens from a running React app into Figma with exact pixel values. Border radius, padding, shadows, all one to one. It is not a screenshot. It is a responsive, editable design artifact.
4. The reverse direction works seamlessly - Make changes in Figma, paste a component link into Codex, and it updates your code automatically. No redline spec, no handoff document.
5. Ed spends 70-80% of his time coding and still calls himself a designer - The medium changed but the mandate did not. Designers are still the voice of the user, still upholding craft. The tools expanded, the role stayed.
6. Figma designers are shipping PRs to production - Teams that six months ago were AI curious are now banging down the door. Monetization designers who never wrote code are building technically complex prototypes.
7. "Prototypes, not PRDs" is the emerging norm - PMs at OpenAI bring working prototypes to design reviews. They ship PRs to stress-test ideas before handing off to engineering.
8. You do not need permission to start - Someone from OpenAI's GTM team built an iOS app with zero experience. Download Codex and build something for yourself tonight.
9. Curiosity is the defining skill for this era - Not code proficiency, not design talent. The AI is an infinitely patient tutor. Ask questions. Build understanding alongside output.
10. Total football is the mental model - Every player can play every position. Roles still have natural spikes. But the tool constraints that enforced rigid boundaries are dissolving.
---
👨💻 Where to find Ed Bayes:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/edbayes/
OpenAI - https://openai.com
X - https://x.com/edbayes
👨💻 Where to find Gui Seiz:
LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/guiseiz/
Figma - https://figma.com
X - https://x.com/guiseiz
👨💻 Where to find Aakash:
Twitter: https://x.com/aakashgupta
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aagupta/
Newsletter: https://www.news.aakashg.com
#codex #figma
---
🧠 About Product Growth:
The world's largest podcast focused solely on product + growth, with over 200K+ listeners.
🔔 Subscribe and turn on notifications to get more videos like this.