My Evolution Through UX Design: From Wireframes to AI Collaborators

If you stay in the UX design field long enough, your career becomes a timeline not just of the products you’ve built, but of the tools you used to build them. Looking back, my progression from basic wireframing software to artificial intelligence is a story about how we translate human intent into digital experiences.

The Foundation: Balsamiq & iRise

Before I officially called myself a “UX’er,” I relied on basic tools like Balsamiq. Back then, I was working for TSYS, Aflac, and the (then) Royal Bank of Scotland’s LynkSystems. Balsamiq was brilliant for these corporate environments because its intentional, sketchy aesthetic forced stakeholders to focus on structure and usability rather than getting derailed by pixel-perfect debates.

From there, I moved to iRise. The stakes were incredibly high during this era, as I was consulting with the Federal Government, specifically the DHS and DOS, on 9/11 Commission mandates to enhance our national security. iRise was a massive step up, offering a terrific workflow modeler and high-fidelity UI capabilities. It allowed us to build robust, complex experiences, though the enterprise price tag was exceptionally expensive.

The Sweet Spot: Axure

Later, I transitioned to consulting for private sector clients, including major brands like The Home Depot and IHG. I got on board with Axure, and it felt like a revelation. The primary benefit was how robust you could make the interactivity; conditional logic and data-driven variables made prototypes feel like living, breathing systems. It was affordable, powerful, and allowed me to test workflows in a way that felt entirely authentic.

When I eventually founded APG, Axure remained my personal tool of choice. As we grew, my staff designers eagerly adopted Figma, but I held my ground.

The Figma Resistance

Eventually, the entire industry seemingly shifted to Figma overnight. But I never got on board.

Sometimes software clicks with your mental model, and sometimes it doesn’t. Much like almost all Adobe products, Figma simply did not click with my brain. I resisted the FOMO, and looking back, I am incredibly happy I did. It freed me up for the next major paradigm shift in our industry.

The AI Era: Claude at APG

Today at APG, we are leveraging Claude to create some UI designs. I know the UX community has hesitations about this, particularly fears of the “generic AI look” and unoriginal layouts. However, I’ve found that prompt engineering designs in Claude is the exact same UX process I’ve always used; it’s just executed a different way.

It’s like having the highly-competent collaborator I always wanted. I have the same internal conversations with Claude that I used to have in my own head while staring at a blank canvas. By providing the right context, we can move much faster while being highly considerate of strict standards we must adhere to, like WCAG and 508 compliance. The output is exactly what I need: static screens for leadership presentations, interactive prototypes for stakeholders, or production-ready assets for our developers.

As great as this workflow is today, I can only imagine what is on the horizon months or years from now.