From the AIGA UX Roundtables: How AI and User Feedback Are Reshaping Design Teams

This week, I had the opportunity to join the UX Design Roundtables hosted by AIGA DFW, and I walked away inspired, challenged, and deeply motivated to keep learning, building, and connecting.

As a Senior Director of Product Design at MarketScale, I attend events like the AIGA Roundtables not only to grow personally, but to continuously inform the systems and creative frameworks we implement for clients and internal teams.

More Than Design: A Room Full of Perspectives

What stood out immediately was the diversity of thought and background in the room. It wasn’t just a gathering of designers. We had researchers, strategists, product managers, and entrepreneurs. Each brought a unique lens to the topic of user experience, creating a rich, honest space for discussion.

Each roundtable focused on a specific UX theme: topics ranged from career growth and branding to AI integration and ethics. I joined conversations about UX research and business alignment, and was struck by how openly attendees shared their processes, challenges, and even company dynamics.

AI in UX: From Curiosity to 5X Scale

A major theme that kept surfacing was AI in the design process. What amazed me most was seeing the wide spectrum of adoption. Some participants are just starting to explore AI tools, while others have already scaled their workflows by 2x, 3x, even 5x. The maturity and confidence in AI integration have skyrocketed compared to similar events I’ve attended in the past. That momentum is not just exciting. It’s redefining how we approach design.

And honestly, even “5X” might be conservative. At MarketScale, we’ve seen AI transform workflows across leadership, quality control, content, and development teams. Our video editors use ChatGPT to double-check for spelling errors, repeated content, or even misattributions in title cards. We leverage AI to support client communication: reading transcripts, interpreting client direction, and turning that into blog posts, social copy, and knowledge base content. Every transcript becomes a launchpad for a full content strategy.

Our development team uses Cursor and Codex to write cleaner, faster code and streamline problem solving. I personally use these tools to review their work and provide guidance that enhances clarity, consistency, and performance.

As a result, we’ve improved our editing QA process and cut internal revision rounds using these tools.

One attendee said, “We’ve completely rethought onboarding thanks to AI testing.” That sentiment echoed what we’re doing internally.

UX Research: A Role That’s Missing, But Not Forgotten

Another standout moment was the realization that many teams still lack a dedicated UX Researcher. Not due to a lack of belief in its value, but often because of budget constraints, organizational structure, or simple oversight.

At MarketScale, we don’t have a full-time UX Researcher either. But we’ve built a highly responsive feedback ecosystem. Tools like Hotjar, Mixpanel, Jam AI, Cursor, Segment, and Intercom let us collect behavioral insights, monitor feature usage, and identify friction in real time. Our support chat conversations become data points. Event tracking helps us map flows, discover drop-off points, and understand what’s resonating.

The takeaway: listening to users isn’t optional. If you want meaningful engagement, you have to build systems that actively seek out, capture, and learn from real feedback.

Community, Feedback, and Future Involvement

What made this event truly memorable wasn’t just the topics. It was the human interaction. Every conversation added something to my toolkit: direct feedback on my own processes, insights into how others are tackling similar challenges, and a powerful reminder that we’re all learning in real time.

Since the event, I’ve already begun reevaluating how we gather feedback and surface insights in our projects. These shared conversations are influencing how I think about leadership, team structure, and the future of design work.

I’m genuinely looking forward to engaging more actively with @AIGADFW and the wider design community. Events like this remind me that growth doesn’t just happen behind a screen. It happens when we talk, listen, and build together.

As UX, AI, and content creation continue to converge in U.S. tech and media sectors, the ability to build responsive, insight-driven workflows is increasingly vital. This matters not just for design teams, but for innovation at scale. The recent collaboration between Jony Ive and OpenAI is a signal of what’s coming next: a new era where industrial design and artificial intelligence co-author the user experience. That evolution is something we must all be ready to shape.

If you’re navigating UX, design leadership, or simply curious about how other professionals are solving real problems, I highly recommend attending a roundtable like this. We grow faster when we learn together.

Let’s keep the conversation going. If you were at the event, I’d love to hear your takeaways. #UXDesign #AIinDesign #UserResearch #DesignLeadership #AIGADFW