Dive Club
Posts
🤿 pincer movement

🤿 pincer movement

why S-curves are the best time to be a designer

Ridd
June 27, 2025

You probably know Intercom… but did you know they recently incubated a new startup called Fin that has already surpassed the core business?

They’ve pulled off a massive transition to an AI-native product and design org so today we’re going behind-the-scenes with their VP of Design Emmet Connolly.

I kid you not I took more notes from this episode than any other Dive Club conversation 🤯 it’s so good so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Some highlights:

Why Emmett believes designers will own the frontend
The opportunity for design systems in an AI-first world
What Emmett looks for when hiring designers in the AI era
Why liquid glass represents the wrong direction for design
How Intercom’s AI product Fin overtook their core business
Why the start of an S-curve is the best time to be a designer
How AI is flipping the traditional product development process
+ a lot more

Listen on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts 👇

🤝 WITH LOVABLE

Remember Meng To? He had one of the most popular episodes on building with AI. Well he recently tweeted that “Lovable is insane” and called it a “Designer’s dream”

And he’s right…

I’ve tried every tool out there and Lovable is by far my favorite. There is simply no easier way to bring your designs to life in code.

Just describe your idea in your own words and watch it transform into a fully functional app. And then iteration is easy because they have a visual edit feature so you can make really granular changes and get the finer details right

If you haven’t used Lovable yet I promise it’s going to blow your mind

Click the link to start building today 👇

🎓 KEY TAKEAWAYS

My takeaways from Emmet

1 — Riding the S-Curve

We’re somewhere in the steep middle of the AI S-curve right now. Every time I open up Twitter, there’s a new breakthrough or totally different way of building software.

This is not normal 😅

Think about how early iPhones had mind-blowing improvements but now they’re more or less the same

Nobody knows exactly when an S-curve is going to flatten out. So for now we’re in this rare window where everything is in flux. The tools are new, the rules aren’t written yet, and the possibility space is wide open.

“The start of an S-curve of innovation is a great time to be a designer… because the possibility space is wide open”

Emmet Connolly

The designers that thrive when the tangency is steepest are the ones who are:

Self-led — they don’t wait to be pushed. Curiosity + agency is a deadly combination)
Generalists — They’re willing to explore outside of their lane
Technical — They can experiment without being reliant on others

2 — The frontend is up for grabs

Every designer at Intercom has a goal of shipping to production this quarter 😮

He refers to it as design performing a “pincer movement” on the frontend.

On one side, designers are prototyping directly in code with tools like Lovable. On the other, they’re shipping polish PRs and taking accountability for the little details the together make for a high quality end experience.

Over time, Emmet believes design will own nearly the entire front of the frontend as AI continues to lower the barrier.

And perhaps this is actually a much more natural collaboration point with engineers (I agree).

“I think the frontend / backend distinction would be a way better interface point between designers and engineers…as opposed to “handoff” at the design/frontend level where you’re asking someone with less of a visual eye to implement”

Emmet Connolly

Again… nobody knows exactly how this is all going to play out.

But one thing is abundantly clear: the lines between frontend and design are dissolving.

And it’s not just happening on our end 👇

3 — Forward-deployed engineer(?)

Speaking of blurred lines… let’s look at the “forward deployed engineer” role at OpenAI. Here are some actual bullet points from the job description:

Embed closely with customer teams, understand their needs, and guide adoption of what you build
Scope work, sequence delivery, and remove blockers early
Make trade-offs between scope, speed, and quality; adjust plans to protect delivery

If you’re not picking up what I’m throwing down I’ll leave the reaction to Emmet 👇

“I'm looking at that going, holy shit, this a designer, like you're describing the role of a designer, right?”

Emmet Connolly

We’re entering an era where it’s pointless to draw a line between solving design problems in vector tools vs. code tools. The medium is changing and there’s a massive opportunity for people who are early to that shift.

Emmet compares it to the shift from print design to native web design (only he thinks AI is even more significant).

Some of the most talented designers in the world got left behind because they couldn’t (or wouldn’t) make the jump toward a more native expression of design.