Figma's VP Design and VP Product on the future of designers (Noah Levin & Paige Costello)
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What is AI actually doing to the job of designers? And what does Figma see coming next?
To answer these questions, we spent one week at Config 2026, Figma's yearly gathering in San Francisco (full documentary here)
On top of the documentary we already released, we sat down for two full interviews with the two people best placed to answer these questions.
David interviewed Noah Levin, VP of Design at Figma.
Noah has been at Figma for almost 9 years and is a key voice on what it means to build tools for millions of designers today.
I interviewed Paige Costello, VP of Product at Figma.
Paige gave one of the sharpest takes we've heard on where the designer's job is going.
Both interviews happened right after Figma's Code Layers keynote, one of the biggest product launches of the event.
If you're a designer, PM, tech founder or design leader, this episode is for you.
A few things we cover:
What AI is really changing in the designer's job in 2026
Why Figma's differentiator is collaboration, not AI itself
What Figma announced with Code Layers, and why it matters
What makes a great designer today
Why AI-native companies keep hiring designers and PMs
Enjoy.
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[00:00] Introduction
[00:29] David interviews Noah Levin, VP Design at Figma
[02:25] Config 2026's two themes: new materials, tools for building tools
[04:36] Figma's true differentiator: collaboration
[08:24] The before and after AI at Figma
[09:57] Why European tech founders should invest in design
[11:29] What makes a great designer today
[13:54] Tim interviews Paige Costello, VP Product at Figma
[15:09] Code Layers explained
[17:12] Figma's positioning: not just for designers
[19:35] The future of the designer's job
[21:20] Advice to a 22-year-old who wants to be a designer
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