Y CombinatorThe New Full-Stack Designer
Y Combinator
AI workflow and editing 0:00
Marvin Schwaibold says the design process has stayed highly iterative, but the tools have shifted from Figma-heavy canvas work to AI-driven work in terminal and code tools like Codex and Claude Code. He still uses Figma as a scratch pad, then moves quickly to real demos he can test on a phone or computer. He says AI handles heavy lifting, while designers stay in control, break problems into subtasks, and edit the results carefully.
Shopify and studio work 3:30
At Shopify, his team is redesigning important surfaces, including Sidekick, the AI layer that manages the admin, the mobile app, and admin dashboards. He contrasts that with Molly, the Brooklyn studio he ran for two years with J Tal, where they worked with Collins, Apple, and Google and kept close weekly contact with only two or three clients at once. Their “primal” system used layered, progressive disclosure so users could explore without feeling overwhelmed.
Rapid prototyping 14:00
Designers rebuild interface pieces in Figma, then use AI to turn them into working prototypes fast. Those prototypes travel through the company better than long product documents, and they help win agreement sooner. At Shopify, that speed lets small teams show an idea, get attention, and move straight into building. The same approach makes it easier to test changes inside a live-looking admin playground without waiting on a full engineering handoff.
Figma as scratch pad 18:01
Figma is now a sketchbook for broad ideas, not just finished screens. One example is a small video gallery that was first described to Codex, then revised in Figma when the interaction felt too slow. Simple boxes, color changes, and swipe states were enough to teach the model the motion. The point is to break a problem into parts, expose structure, and use tools like DialKit to tweak variables and inspect what is really happening.
Tuning with AI 28:00
AI is described as an endlessly patient collaborator. You can ask for ninety-one tries at an animation and it will not get annoyed. The advice is to keep tinkering, keep explaining what feels wrong, and keep sending examples such as a site, a screenshot, or a color palette. Designers are told to copy what they like and learn by decompiling it on their own time.
Reviewing site layout 31:00
Nstack is praised for dropping you into the product, but it feels overloaded. Too many buttons, tabs, and messages compete for attention, so the main goal is hard to find. Skill Sync is clearer about what it does, yet it still buries too much under dense tabs and small type. The fix is to narrow the message, show the top three features, and use longer pages when needed.
Instaplay hierarchy 41:00
The page makes people look at game covers first, even though the main job is to create a game from a prompt. A short line near the input would help. The speaker says the buttons and links are confusing too: Create, My Games, For You, and Explore do not clearly match what a new visitor needs, and several of them push you to sign in before you have seen any value.
Clean but crowded 45:00
Mintlify gets praised for being clean, trustworthy, and well spaced. The headline, short copy, clear button, dashboard view, and logo wall all work together, though some card headlines are too small and the moving background repeats too much. The next page is more crowded. Too many font sizes, changing words in the headline, and a hard-to-click carousel make the message less clear, even though the videos themselves look well made.
Video first 54:00
The page should explain the product before it asks for attention. The videos and case studies are the real hook, so the logo banner and mixed headline should matter less than a clear line about what the platform does: upload a doc, blog post, or idea, then get a narrated animated video in minutes and edit it by chatting.
Lighter interaction 58:30
The same advice lands on the carousels and scroll handling. The full-screen video players, tiny tap targets, and scroll jacking make the site harder to use than it should be. For Instinct, the moon and launch, cruise, and land moments work well, but the hover states should appear faster and the carousel should swipe naturally.
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