Good vibes! I love Lovable and Replit!!
Speaking as a digital product designer that started their career designing for 640x480 DESKTOP monitors in PHOTOSHOP, I am falling in love with vibe coding. Being able to start design conversations by creating a working concept together in minutes is fantastic. It takes the busy work out of projects so we can think big, collaborate more efficiently, and get to market faster.
What platform to use?
There are a lot of platforms out there, so I picked Lovable to start because I like their name better. To explore the platform, I gave myself two tasks:
1 Recreate a product you’ve already produced
2 Create a new product you always felt was missing
The first was a video streaming platform, and the second was a summer camp app. In each case, I was able to create high-fidelity, working prototypes in a handful of prompts. And with a paid subscription, a full-featured prototype could be created in a day (depending on scope).
After making a couple of updates for task two in Lovable, I updated my prompt and ran it through Replit. I started with the design instead of asking it to build out the full app from the jump (a seemingly unique feature), and it was fun to see (and compare) the results.
A tale of two [next generation platforms]
My take is not a hot one. Overall, the Lovable vibe is more creative-oriented while Replit feels a bit more technical. For example, Lovable’s product UI and the GUIs it produce feel more polished, while Replit’s UI and overall output (including GUI) was more precise. It’s kind of like the Mac versus PC approach. I’ve used both. I love both. And I’m happy to use either (or both). It’s hard to go wrong with either.
As a designer, the ability to spin up contrasting options is compelling, but what astounds me is we can now collaborate in a way that feels like the “magic” we’ve always been asked to deliver. Except now, we can do it in a low-stakes manner that doesn’t over-invest the design team early on.
A shared sandbox
Instead of asking designers to spend tens (or hundreds) of hours creating a prototype in hopes of positive feedback, the design and business teams can now create and react to a neutral concept together. No energy wasted. No feelings hurt.
It also centers the conversation around prompts, which gets us back to the original intent of discovery meetings: to define the project so that critical details are outlined and agreed upon.
Focus on the ‘what,’ not the ‘how’
Maybe that's the bigger take away? The experience is also teaching me that good prompts — especially first prompts — are like my favorite project definition documents (PDDs). They should include details about your objective, audience, content scope, design preferences, and functional requirements. I would also offer that they can be long or short, so long as they are clear, concise, and consistent about the desired outcome.
1 Clear structure
2 Concise descriptions
3 Consistent language
Closing thoughts
I hard to believe how fast the innovation flywheel is spinning, and vibe coding is just the start. From a business perspective, AI will trim the fat on billable production hours, which kind of sucks. On the other hand, it frees designers to spend more time on complex, creative challenges.
Innovation is disruptive, and change is uncomfortable. My best advice is to embrace the now, stay open to new ideas, and start playing. The pace of changes is faster than it's ever been, and I don't expect it to slow down. Lean in and enjoy the ride!