✦ Product Design · 2026
Work in progress · 90% done
Experience it live →

Designers Who Build

A discovery platform for AI-native creators — being designed and built solo, using AI from end to end.

0→1 Product AI-assisted development Mobile Web Mid July 2026 1 month time taken Tech Stack: Claude Code, ChatGPT, Supabase, Figma, Github
Context

The shift I couldn't ignore.

Designers are no longer just designing. With AI lowering the barrier to shipping, a new kind of creator has emerged.

Designers have been creating and shipping below products and much more.

macOS apps iOS apps Android apps Plugins for figma Mini games Fun interactions

But most of this innovation is scattered across LinkedIn feeds. Discovery depends entirely on:

Mutual connections Likes Reposts Algorithms

Which means many great products never reach the right audience.

The Problem

Two sides of the same gap.

As a designer, I felt both sides of this personally.

🔍
The discovery problem
I constantly struggled to keep track of:
  • what people were building
  • recent AI developments
  • useful experiments from the design community
📢
The distribution problem
  • Creators build something incredible — but reach is completely dependent on LinkedIn's algorithm
  • There's no dedicated platform for AI-native builders to be found
  • Great work stays invisible without the right followers or a lucky repost
Platform Audit

Existing platforms
weren't enough.

Each covered a slice. None served the whole person.

Behance & Dribbble
  • ✅ Great for visual work
  • ❌ Creators today ship real products, not just screens
  • ❌ No building or shipping context
Product Hunt
  • ✅ Great for startups & launches
  • ❌ Many creators are just experimenting, validating, building for fun
  • ❌ Launch-oriented, not community-driven
designerswhobuild
  • ✅ Built for experimentation & ongoing creation
  • ✅ Community-driven discovery
  • ✅ Visibility without an algorithm gate
The Idea

So I'm building it.

designerswhobuild.com

A platform where creators can showcase AI-built products, gain visibility, discover other builds, and validate ideas through community engagement.

🔍 Showcase builds 🌐 Gain visibility 💡 Discover others 🤝 Community validation

Initially focused on designers — expandable to all AI-native builders.

The Challenge

I'm a Senior Product Designer.
Not an engineer.

So the project became a larger experiment in itself.

"Can I build a social platform
using AI tools alone?"

This question has changed how I approach the entire product — not just as a design brief, but as a proof of concept for what designers can do independently in 2026.

The Thinking

Understanding the product
from every angle.

Before opening Figma, I broke the problem into eight parts: market, users, positioning, systems, execution, distribution, retention, and vision.

Market
  • Why now?
  • What problem exists?
  • Why does this need to exist?
  • What category am I creating?
Users
  • Who is this for?
  • Who is it not for?
  • What do they care about?
  • What motivates them to join?
Positioning
  • Why not LinkedIn?
  • Why not Behance?
  • What's the unique insight?
  • What should we be known for?
Systems
  • What are the core entities?
  • Products, people, or posts?
  • What is the primary user journey?
  • What should be manual vs automated?
Execution
  • What's the MVP?
  • What can wait?
  • What tools should I use?
  • How fast can I ship?
Distribution
  • Where are my users today?
  • How do I seed content?
  • How do I acquire creators?
  • Why would people share?
Retention
  • Why would users come back?
  • What creates engagement?
  • What builds reputation?
  • What forms network effects?
Vision
  • What does this become?
  • What identity does it create?
  • Why does this matter?
  • What's the long-term bet?
My Workflow

Idea → Interface → Working product.

A repeatable loop that lets me move faster than ever before.

01
Frame product logic in ChatGPT
Think through the problem, structure flows, and refine product rationale before any design work begins.
02
Design systems in Figma
Create reusable components and visual patterns. Give AI a clear system to work from.
03
Build using Claude Code
Translate design intent into production-ready code — with Figma MCP bridging the gap.
04
Test, refine, repeat
Ship, observe, adjust. The loop runs fast because there's no handoff — designer and builder are the same person.
From Designer to Builder

Bridging Figma
and production code.

Initially, I struggled translating design intent into production-ready UI. So I evolved the process.

🎨
Figma design system first
Created a minimal design system with reusable layouts and foundational components — giving AI a clear visual grammar to work from.
🔗
Figma MCP + Claude Code
Connected Figma via MCP to Claude Code, allowing AI to directly understand layouts, patterns, and structure. Development speed increased dramatically.
Product Principles

Key Decisions That Shaped the Product.

The choices that influenced what I built — and what I intentionally didn't.

🎯
Target Audience
Primary
  • — Designer-builders
  • — AI-native designers
Secondary
  • — Founders
  • — Recruiters
Ignored (for now)
  • — Developers
  • — General creators
Start niche. Expand later.
❌
Saying No to Features
Rejected
  • — Followers
  • — DMs
  • — Activity feed
  • — Notifications
Avoid becoming another social network.
🌱
Solving Cold Start
Problem

No content → No users → No creators

Solution

Manual onboarding + admin publishing. With permission from creators, reposting interesting LinkedIn builds and creating profiles manually.

Seed supply before demand.
🏗️
Profile Philosophy
Profiles should answer
  • — What are you building?
  • — What have you shipped?
  • — What are you known for?
Not
  • — Where do you work?
  • — How many followers?
📦
Content Philosophy
Posts disappear.
Products compound.
Decision

Build archive > Social feed

Products deserve permanence.
🔄
Retention Strategy
Reasons to return
  • — Discover products
  • — Follow journeys
  • — Find inspiration
  • — Build reputation
Return for builders, stay for products.
Foundations

Designing profiles around
builders, not resumes.

As AI blurs the line between designers and developers, I wanted profiles to showcase what people are capable of building—not just where they work. I introduced builder skills, AI workflows, and technical exposure to create a new kind of professional identity.

Celebrating Creation

I didn't want another post.
I wanted every build to have a story.

Most products disappear into feeds within days. I designed build pages to preserve the journey behind every product—the idea, constraints, decisions, tradeoffs, and learnings—so builders are remembered for how they think, not just what they launch.

Community Dynamics

I wanted every new builder
and every build to feel noticed.

Communities go stale when the same people dominate attention. Surfaces like Just Joined, Top 10, and Trending (24hrs · Week · Month) continuously spotlight new members, fresh builds, and active contributors.

The goal wasn't just discovery — it was recognition. When people feel seen, they return, contribute again, and become part of the ecosystem.

Discovery & Delight

Great products shouldn't depend
on algorithms to be seen.

Cards like Spotlight, What's Your Vibe, and Thoughtfully Built were designed to turn discovery into an experience, not a feed.

"Make discovery feel effortless — not algorithmic."

Instead of a basic feed, the homepage is structured around exploration — trending builds, contributor spotlights, community showcase, and category browsing. Every section designed to surface creativity, not just recency.

Experience it live →
Current Status

80% done.
1 month to launch.

Here's where the build stands today — and what's left before the platform goes live.

Overall progress 80%
StartedMid July 2026
Discovery feed & trending system
Trending builds, category browsing, community showcase, hot reactions.
FeedTrendingReactions
Done
Creator profiles & contributor leaderboard
Profile pages with build history, engagement stats, contribution ranking.
ProfilesStats
Done
Comments & reactions
Threaded comments, reply system, emoji reactions, anonymous read.
CommentsReplies
Done
Self-serve build publishing flow
Allowing creators to submit their own builds directly — not just via admin.
PublishingForms
Done
Notifications & engagement alerts
Notify creators when their build gets reactions, comments, or hits trending.
Notifications
Done
Community launch & creator seeding
Onboarding the first wave of creators and opening public access.
LaunchOutreach
~4 weeks
What I'm Learning

AI is changing the role
of designers.

The value is no longer just in creating screens. Because AI can build quickly — but it still needs clarity.

The designer's new edge is in:

🧠 Product thinking ⚙️ Systems thinking 🎯 Prioritization 🧭 Direction ✨ Taste
"AI can execute at speed. Designers who understand systems can now direct at scale."
What's Next

From building
to launching.

The goal is simple: get the platform in front of real creators and let the community take over.

The bigger ambition

AI has dramatically reduced the gap between "I have an idea" and "I built it." This project is proof. The plan is to keep going — open it up, let the community shape it, and see where it goes.

Priyanshu
Priyanshu Barnwal
Senior Product Designer · Zomato · 5 years experience
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designerwhobuild.com