Design-to-Code: Reimagine Handoff Workflow with AI

For a long time, our UI/UX workflow followed a familiar pattern: designers created screens in Figma, then developers translated those designs into code. Design and implementation happened in separate tools, with a handoff workflow in between.

That process worked well when we had time to design and build each experience carefully. On the latest revamp of PubHub (a DevNet internal publication tool), we didn’t. We needed to move quickly, so we tried a different approach: asking AI to build the interface directly from our user stories and backend APIs.

What followed was a series of experiments that changed not only our tools, but how designers and engineers worked together. This blog covers what we tried, what didn’t work, and the workflow we landed on, so other teams can adapt it.

A working product, with the wrong feel

The AI-generated version worked end to end. Users could move through the main flows, and the interface was connected to the backend. But “working” didn’t…