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I've been testing a new app design workflow this weekend, and it feels fundamentally different from how I've worked for the past 20 years.
Normally my process looks something like:
Idea → Sketch → Figma → Prototype → Handoff → Build
This time I skipped most of it.
I wanted to see how far I could come without Figma using Codex. My first prompt was simply:
"Create a meal-planning app using the Build-iOS-App plugin."
It built a full app for me, but the first version was very generic, so I gave it a few design references and some visual guidelines and asked it to generate 3 different design mockups. Codex generated new design directions, I picked one and it applied the directly to the working prototype.
Mindblown. But then I asked it to create a logo inspired by another food app.
It did and even implemented it into the app directly together with an app icon.
No Figma involved.
As if this wasn't enough I was also testing a setup that exposes the iOS Simulator directly inside Codex using serve-sim.
That meant I could review the running app, click on areas I didn't like, leave comments such as "too much space here", and have Codex update the implementation directly.
No alt-tabbing between Xcode, simulator and Codex just to explain a simple detail.
Within about an hour I had a working prototype, visual design direction, branding, app icon, and multiple design iterations.
The quality wasn't perfect, but that's not what stood out to me.
What stood out was how little time I spent creating design artifacts.
Most of my time was spent reviewing, directing, and refining.
For early-stage product exploration, this felt less like designing screens and more like art directing a system.
I'm not convinced tools like Figma are going anywhere, but I do think workflows are changing much faster than most of us realize.
Has anyone else been experimenting with similar design-to-code workflows?
good job!
Valuable experimentation and exploration.
Good work
Thank you :)
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I built a working prototype for a sports fashion app using design.md. It was a great starting point for setting up the basics like typography, spacing, colours, and layout, which made it much easier to stay consistent throughout the design.
Prototype Preview →
The prototype covers the full journey from Sign-in to Sign-out, including:
• SignUp/In
• Onboarding
• Home Page
• Search
• Filtering
• Side Navigation
• Product Discovery & Listing
• Product Detail Page
• Cart Experience
• Checkout Flow
• Order Confirmation
• Profile
• Account Settings
• Order History
I've played around with Stitch before and made a few rough drafts, but this version feels like a big step forward. What I really enjoyed was the balance between AI-generated screens and manually connecting, refining, and shaping the experience myself.
By the end, it didn't feel like something AI made for me; it felt like something I built. Stitch handled a lot of the heavy lifting, but there was still enough control to make the product feel handcrafted and intentional.
Really impressed by how quickly it helped establish the foundation while still leaving plenty of room for creativity and refinement.
Project Title: Flow – Creative Productivity Workspace
Short Description:
Flow is a premium dark-mode productivity app designed for tech professionals — UI/UX designers, software engineers, DevOps engineers, product managers, and other technical creatives. It helps users enter deep flow states, maintain focus, and end sessions with meaningful reflection.
How I Used Stitch:
I began with an existing Christian reflection app screenshot as visual reference. Using Google Stitch, I defined a strict DESIGN.md design system and iteratively transformed the serene aesthetic into a dynamic, alive productivity tool. I heavily leveraged reference images, vibe-based prompting, streaming generations, and motion design features to create breathing animations, glowing particle effects, and smooth transitions.
Key Screens:
Home Dashboard (reactive intention prompt + streak)
Sessions (role-tailored flow cards)
Session Detail (immersive deep dive with pulsing start button)
Learn (growth insights & reflections)
Profile (stats and personalization)
The final prototype feels calm yet energizing, with excellent micro-interactions that make the interface truly come alive.
This project showcases how Stitch can dramatically accelerate high-quality product design workflows. Extremely impressed with the new features!
Link to Prototype: https://stitch.withgoogle.com/projects/85771277364847697
Feedback is very welcome!
Wow, Kennedy, this dark-mode interface looks absolutely premium! I love that you anchored the aesthetic with a strict DESIGN.md file to keep it disciplined while layering in breathing animations and glowing particle effects. The balance you struck between a calm, deep-work...
Meet Your AI Agent, my entry for the #GoogleStitchChallenge
It's an app for designing what your AI agent or bot looks like. The theme was "build interfaces that feel alive," so I made something where anyone can pick a body, face, head, and aura, name it, give it a personality, and watch their bot come to life. All with zero code.
How I built it with Stitch:
I started from one prompt describing the idea, then built it up conversationally. I added native motion (the bot floats, blinks, and powers up), an animated shader nebula background, and hover states. Whenever something was off, I didn't touch any code. I just pointed at the element on screen and edited it directly, or described the change in plain words.
What I loved: when it's done, Stitch lets you publish in lots of places like Google AI Studio, Figma, MCP, Bolt, Lovable, or Netlify. I chose Netlify because it's so easy to deploy on the web. One click and you get a live link to share.
Stitch features showcased: native motion, animation and shaders, in-place AI edits, and publishing to Netlify.
As someone who can't really code, Stitch never made me feel stuck. It turned an idea in my head into a real, interactive product in a single sitting.
Try it and design your own agent: https://meetmyaiagent.netlify.app/
Walkthrough video:👇
Built with @stitchbygoogle https://stitch.withgoogle.com/projects/6351891533339790820
Fun idea. Giving people control over the personality and appearance of their AI agent makes it feel much more personal than a typical chatbot experience. Curious which customization option people seem to spend the most time on?
I explored a different direction for the challenge:
https://on.contra.com/pnfJBQ
on.contra.com
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