07-06-26

I almost skipped Config

I wasn't going to go to Config this year.

Summer is precious time around here with the fam. We plan it, protect it, and fill it with family stuff. The years are going by so fast and I want to maximize every one of them.

Then Tommy Geoco texted me a month out.

He was working with Figma on hosting a panel about building in 2026, the role of AI in design, and how everything is shaping up.

I took a day to think about it and talked it over with my wife.

The timing wasn't great and I'd have to squeeze it in.

I texted Tommy back.

I'm in.

Fig. 1

text message to Tommy that says "I'm in"

I skipped Config last year for similar reasons. But connecting with this community in real life felt important, and I've been intentionally neglecting that for the past year or so while focusing on other things.

Life is seasonal.

Getting there early

I got into San Francisco early enough to spend time with my brother, which doesn't happen often enough.

Monday night we had a private showing at SFMOMA. Art from the 60s. I especially loved this black painting by Ellsworth Kelly.

Fig. 2

Black square painting by Ellsworth Kelly on a white wall at SFMOMA

Tuesday morning, Tommy, Catt, Rasmus, and I did our pre-stage walkthrough. Then we toured the Figma office and hung out with some cool people.

Fig. 3

Two photos from the pre-stage walkthrough: a selfie with Tommy on the keynote stage, and Catt Small and Rasmus Andersson seated in the panel chairs

Fig. 4

Selfie with Catt Small and Tommy Geoco at the Figma office

I even made time to run and work out while traveling. It's tricky on the road, but keeping the routine keeps me sane.

Fig. 5

Mirror selfie in the hotel gym with dumbbells on the floor

The announcements

I met up with Jesse Showalter the next morning and we experienced all the new updates together.

Fig. 6

Two photos: a selfie with Jesse Showalter in the keynote audience, and the giant keynote screen showing a canvas of connected design frames

I already knew most of what would be announced from the Vector Network presentations (a group of us get early access to Figma features), but seeing it all land publicly hits different.

I could make a long list of every new Figma feature, but you've probably already seen them.

I'll just say this. I'm most excited about Figma Motion and the AI-buildable plugins... and the new shader stuff is super fun.

The stage

Our panel closed out the first day. So Tommy, Rasmus, Catt, and I got prepped with hair and makeup and walked out for the closing keynote session.

Fig. 7

Two photos backstage: panelists getting hair and makeup, and a dim selfie wearing a stage mic

Fig. 8

Wide shot of the Config closing keynote: four panelists on stage under a screen that reads What it feels like to build in 2026

Ioana, aka UX Goodies, took a bunch of excellent photos during our panel. I'm super grateful to have these. I wouldn't have a single frame of it otherwise. Here's a small clip on IG if you haven't seen it.

I also got to hold Tommy's baby. My youngest is 12 now, so that was a treat. =)

Fig. 9

Tommy pushing his baby's stroller backstage after the panel while friends cheer

The people

This is the real reason I went.

I caught up with a handful of Shift Nudge folks. Mariano completed the training and went on to land a killer role as Head of Design at a Mexican fintech, where he's managing tons of designers and putting real processes in place.

I met up with Helena Zhang, who gave some great advice on our Shift Nudge portfolio workshop panel earlier this year. Caught up with Wesley Noble and Blake Shae Kos, both Shift Nudge grads doing great work.

Fig. 10

Two photos: with Mariano at the conference, and with Helena Zhang outside the Figma entrance at Moscone

Ran into Miggi and Greg Huntoon from Figma's advocate crew in the halls.

Fig. 11

Selfie with Miggi and Greg Huntoon in the conference hallway

The next day I visited Vercel HQ for a meetup. Got to hang with James McDonald, Derek Briggs, and folks from Vercel and Shopify.

I also consumed more cheese that night than in the previous year of my life combined. Worth it.

Fig. 12

Two burgers sitting in a skillet of melted cheese

Fig. 13

Long candlelit dinner table full of designer friends

Had breakfast with the Pucketts (not actually brothers). You might know Josh from Interface Craft and Dial Kit, and Kris from NEUMA and his work at Stripe. Two very fine gentlemen I'm proud to call friends.

Fig. 14

Street selfie with Kris and Josh Puckett

Hung out with Jesse Showalter, Kyle Zantos, Kim Alban, Michael Riddering, and Tommy on the last day.

Fig. 15

Group selfie with five designer friends outside the convention center

The Detach after-party was a fantastic time. I talked with a ton of people and was so exhausted I never took a single picture.

Except this one, taken by Frank Bach, aka Zen Daddy. Former designer at Headspace and Instagram, now at Anthropic.

Fig. 16

Selfie with Frank Bach at the Detach after-party

Some of these people I've known for years. A decade, even. And I'd never met them in real life until now.

Seeing people in person makes such a big difference. The online version of someone is maybe 40% of them.

What I actually took away

The whole vibe of the industry has shifted.

Two years ago the conversation was "Is AI going to take all of our jobs?"

This year it was "There's actually way more work to do now..."

The amount of productivity available to a single designer is greater than it's ever been. The amount of impact too. AI is absolutely changing how we work and what we're capable of, and it's creating more work in front of us, because more things are worth building.

It's a good time to be a designer.

Figma's role is changing too. I don't see it as good or bad. We're all moving closer to working on codebases and directly with the code material, and the tools are following us there.

Which is exactly why I'm in the final phases of the new Claude Code curriculum. It'll be ready suuuuuuper soon, along with a bunch of updates to the website.

Fun times ahead.

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