Surfist

Sunlight breaks the horizon as waves lap onto the beach. A figure stands on shore, board in hand, silent and still. With eyes fixed on a distant swell, the surfer communes with nature, sensing what others cannot: a secret language written in the rhythm of the sea. More than watching, they’re calculating; translating the ocean’s movements into a map of possibilities. The flexing of tides, the movement of air, and the twisting currents of energy swirling in perpetual motion beneath the surface—they read these signs with practiced ease.

In this moment of serene anticipation, they embody the harmony of preparation and intuition, poised to ride the changing waves of the ocean, and of life. This scene is a metaphor for the modern designer’s journey. We all face wave after wave of technological change, but how we enter this environment is a choice: do we swim to keep our head above water—a ceaseless and exhausting struggle—or do we learn to surf?

Digital design, particularly UX/UI, is undergoing major changes brought about by standardization, workflow automation, and the commoditization of design components—a trend made even more pronounced with the adoption of generative AI tools for all manner of design outputs. These advancements represent progress and efficiency, yet they’re disruptive and treacherous for those who insist on swimming against this current.

For decades, designers have enjoyed bobbing happily near the shore amidst waves of technological change. The waves were small, rarely threatening, and even the occasional big one was a welcome thrill (think Responsive, Atomic, or Material design). But times have changed.

With design workflow efficiency accelerating at a compounding rate, AI-powered insights driving decisions, and tools enabling hyper-productivity, the waves of change have taken on tidal proportions. Swimming in the technological ocean once meant casually dipping your toes in the sand; now many designers feel as if they’re swallowing sand with toes pointing skyward. The confidence and responsibility the swimmer once enjoyed as the operator of the tools of design artifact creation now seem about as safe and practical as water wings.

Today, the tools can operate themselves, generating design assets with remarkable efficiency and deceptively creative results. The output is near instantaneous—more practical and economical than ever before. Water wings won’t help the swimmer getting tumbled in these waves.

This turbulent new paradigm is confusing for career designers, myself included. Does it devalue ingenuity when things we’ve always marveled at—the products of human struggle to imagine new futures—are now synthesized algorithmically on command in endless varieties with infinite complexity? It seems as though we’re diminishing the human aspect of imagination and creation, as if beauty and originality are being cheapened by generative AI. Is that true? What will inspire us 10 years from now? More algorithms? Is this the death of wonder?

A surfist is one who looks upon these waves of change with both head and heart—like the surfer on shore at the beginning of our story. Surfing is a soulful art, a perfect metaphor for the designer’s journey in our rapidly changing technological environment. It demands both intellect and emotion, strategy and intuition. 

The surfist looks out at the ocean of technology with awe and wonder. Their curiosity is piqued by the dynamic potential of the waves, and they feel their own creative energy stirring in response. Unlike the swimmer who struggles against the ocean’s power, the surfist respects it and seeks to understand it deeply. This respect unlocks a profound curiosity about the mystery of these forces, enabling the creativity to harness them with intellect, skill, and confidence.

Where others see threatening chaos, a surfist’s curiosity enables them to see patterns of opportunity. They understand that the ocean of technological change isn’t meant to be fought against, but to be ridden in creative ways, with balance and grace. A designer who thinks like a surfist doesn’t regret the loss of familiar tools or swim harder against the increasing frequency and intensity of wave after wave of innovation. Instead, their confidence allows them to see these changes as a call to elevate their craft, to stand atop a wave and harness the very forces that would otherwise overwhelm them.

A surfer learns to read the way energy moves through the water, their curiosity driving them to predict where, how, and when to be in the best position to join with it. The metaphorical energy in digital product design is released through enabling technologies. For the surfist, this translates to a deep understanding of digital capabilities, user behaviors, and market trends. Mastering the art of riding a cresting wave or diving beneath one that’s crashing, balancing on the edge of control, the surfist epitomizes adaptability. In the thick of uncertainty, vulnerable to crushing complexity, they get upright with remarkable poise to shape simplicity and value out of chaos and confusion.

Surfists don’t fear the algorithmic generation of design outputs. Their curiosity drives them to embrace it as a tool that frees them from the mundane, allowing them to dive deeper into the nuances of user needs and business goals. They understand that while AI can create endless variations, it takes human insight and creativity to discern which solutions truly resonate with people and the messy ways they think and behave; and to align those solutions with the capabilities, intentions, and objectives of business—which are often quite messy, too.

So, the death of wonder? Far from it. The surfist’s curiosity and creativity see this new paradigm as an expansion of the creative canvas. With AI handling the heavy lifting of asset generation, designers can explore, iterate, and innovate at a pace and scale previously unimaginable. This isn’t the end of human creativity; it’s an amplification of it.

In this new reality, the surfist designer becomes a conductor of innovation, orchestrating the interplay between human insight and machine efficiency. The artifacts of design are now incidental to the strategies they craft, guiding the use of automated tools and workflows toward meaningful outcomes. Where they once followed trends, their curiosity and creativity now allow them to anticipate and shape them with confidence.

The surfist understands that in this rapidly changing environment, adaptability is key. They continuously hone their skills, not just in using new tools, but in understanding the underlying principles of human behavior, business strategy, and technological capabilities. Their confidence grows from this accumulated knowledge, allowing them to navigate increasingly complex challenges while continously reshaping how we experience digital products in creative new ways.

Aligned with the ebb and flow of technological change, the surfist embodies the perfect response to disruptive innovation. Like a surfer in the barrel of a beautiful and powerful wave, they ride it all the way out, emerging with new confidence, exhilarated by the experience, and curious about what the next wave will bring. 

The Surfist Manifesto takes this philosophy further, distilling it into ten actionable principles that define the surfist approach to digital product design. It’s both a tool for self-reflection and a roadmap for those ready to embrace innovation head-on. Read it. Keep it. Share it.