The AI hype cycle has a lot of product designers twisting themselves into knots. Some are scrambling to prove they still matter. Others are dropping everything to reinvent themselves into whatever the internet says a “modern designer” should be this week.

Product design isn’t dead.

AI tools do matter.

And the fundamentals are more important than ever.

If anything, I’m more likely today to hire a designer who can identify complex customer problems, navigate organizational friction, and drive real outcomes than someone who’s shipped a hundred AI-generated side projects. Output without impact isn’t progress. Velocity without judgment isn’t leverage.

The designers who stand out aren’t chasing tools. They’re grounded in fundamentals.

• Sit with customers and earn trust

• Observe how things actually happen, not how they’re documented

• Find problems worth solving for the business

• Convince others those problems are worth solving

• Build as a cohesive unit instead of optimizing for individual output

• Ship fast, learn, and iterate

• Design experiments and understand the results

• Build solutions that work in the real world, under real constraints

• Develop the people skills required to drive behavior change

• Practice inclusion as a design constraint, not a slogan

• Put your name on the work

• Stay curious. Talk to other designers doing great work.

• Hone your taste by getting out into the world and noticing what feels thoughtful, humane, and well-crafted.

• Try things you haven’t done before.

• Allow space to be intentionally unproductive.

• Have fun doing the work.

AI is a tool. It can accelerate parts of this list, but it only covers a fraction of it. Know this tool deeply. There’s no excuse for burying your head in the sand.

But if you anchor yourself in the fundamentals, you’ll deliver more durable, tangible value than any self-branded “AI designer.” The tools will keep changing. The work won’t.