did we have a summer AI vibe shift?

Hello, design system friends! It is so nice to be back in your ears and inbox after a nice long summer break. I'm not gonna lie, after I dropped the final episode of Season One, I think I didn't look at LinkedIn for easily six weeks, and that was kind of glorious.

I'm gonna be dropping a handful of minisodes throughout the end of the year before we dive into a full fledged season two in 2026.

Earlier this year, the only things that I were hearing about AI in design systems was, it can generate components, and it can generate docs, and maybe it can generate storybook stories. But I always felt like these were very simplistic use cases, and probably not actually the most valuable use cases.

In this minisode, I break down why those simple use cases are not very valuable, plus some thoughts on the emerging and interesting use cases for how AI can actually integrate into our system, teams, process, and product teams.

🎧 LISTEN NOW: On Theme S1 Minisode 3: This summer's AI vibe shift and conference news! (19min)

I’m thrilled to be shortlisted for the Design System Awards Best Podcast. If you've been responsible for one of the 7,500 (!!) downloads of On Theme this year, please go give me a vote at https://awards.zeroheight.com/ 

There are SO many amazing folks and amazing work this year! Check out the full list in the comments and go get your votes in!

Disclosure: I am also a DS Awards judge, but obviously I will not be judging in this category!

Are you planning to be at any of this fall’s design system events?

Zeroheight’s Converge conference is October 30 (or should I say 30 October?) in Bristol, UK. I’ll be speaking alongside past podcast guests Natalya Shelburne and Guy Segal, Ben Callahan, plus John Voss, Andy Bell, and many more. Plus, I’ll be hosting a special invite-only breakfast with Gab and Nim from Dessn.ai, a tool I am so thrilled about.

Clarity is also back with the 10 year anniversary (!), with Camp Clarity, a multi-day retreat in Palm Springs, CA, with a desert field trip, presentations, and a day of community collab. I cannot wait to see what Jina has up her sleeve this year.

Let me know if you’re attending, because I’d love to see you soon — in person?

Elyse