Let’s talk about something that's been keeping me up at night lately. As someone who runs a web design agency, I've been watching the industry that I have been fortunate to be part of for almost 20 years transform before my eyes, and honestly? It's both exhilarating and terrifying in equal measure.
We've all seen the headlines. AI is coming for our jobs. Search is moving away from Google to ChatGPT. Nobody clicks on websites anymore. It's enough to make any web designer question whether they should pivot to pottery or perhaps take up beekeeping.
But here's the thing, whilst I'm watching these seismic shifts happening in real-time, I'm also seeing something quite different from what the doom-and-gloom merchants are predicting. Yes, our industry is changing. Dramatically. But are we really designing ourselves out of a job, or are we just evolving into something completely different?
Let me share what I'm seeing from the trenches.
So, what's actually happening right now with AI in web design?
The short answer: everything and nothing, depending on who you ask.
In our agency, AI has become the digital equivalent of a really talented intern who never sleeps and doesn't drink all the office coffee. We're using it for wireframing, generating initial UI concepts, creating content, and even knocking out icons faster than you can say "machine learning." It's genuinely transformed how we work.
The data backs this up too. Nearly 60% of designers are already using AI to generate media assets, and half are creating complete web page designs with AI assistance. According to Perplexity at least, I’m too lazy to click on the sources and check it. See what I mean!
Here’s the crucial bit! We're not replacing human creativity. We're amplifying it.
Think of it this way: AI handles the grunt work, the repetitive tasks, the "can you just make 47 variations of this button" requests. Meanwhile, we humans focus on the stuff that actually matters. Think strategy, storytelling, understanding what makes people tick, and creating experiences that genuinely connect with users on an emotional level.
But surely all this AI efficiency is just speeding us web designers towards obsolescence?
That's what I thought initially. Then I looked at what we’ve released this year, our pipeline, and what we have planned as a business with help of AI.
Here's something interesting. Whilst everyone's banging on about declining web traffic and the death of websites, our conversion rates haven't budged. In fact, they're slightly up. Our clients are still getting results. People are still buying, enquiring, and engaging.
But the way they're finding us? That's changing faster than a UK weather forecast.
What's this about zero-click browsing then?
Ah, now we're getting to the meat of it. Zero-click searches are exactly what they sound like. People search for something, get their answer directly on the search results page, and never actually visit a website. This might be in ChatGPT, Perplexity or in Google itself thanks to its AI Overview.
Zero-click searches have consistently remained above 50%, with projections suggesting they could reach 70% by 2025.
On the surface, this looks catastrophic for web designers. If people aren't visiting websites, why would anyone need one?
But here's where it gets interesting. This shift is forcing us to think differently about what websites are actually for.
So if people aren't clicking through, what's the point of websites?
This is where my thinking has really evolved over the past year.
Traditional websites, the ones with 47 different service pages and a "sectors" section that nobody reads, they're becoming less relevant. But websites as brand validation tools? As immersive storytelling platforms? As places where people go to really understand what a brand is about? Those are becoming more important than ever.
Think about it: when someone does decide to visit your website in 2026 and beyond, it's not going to be because they need your phone number (they got that from the AI overview). It's not going to be because they want to know your opening hours (Google's handling that too). They're coming because they want to be convinced, inspired, or emotionally connected to your brand.
This means we're moving even further away from websites as digital brochures and towards websites as digital experiences.
But what about all these new AI browsers everyone's talking about?
Now this is where things get properly interesting, and slightly terrifying for me at least.
Perplexity launched their AI browser called Comet in July 2025, and OpenAI is reportedly launching their own browser "in the coming weeks".These aren't just traditional browsers with AI bolted on. They're fundamentally different beasts entirely.
Comet, for instance, doesn't just browse the web, it can book your flights, buy products on your behalf, and complete entire workflows without you having to click through multiple pages.OpenAI's browser is expected to integrate their Operator AI agent, which can fill out forms, make reservations, and handle complex tasks across websites.
The implications are staggering. If AI agents can handle booking hotels, buying products, and researching services without users ever seeing your carefully crafted website, what's left for us designers?
Are we looking at a future where websites become completely irrelevant?
Here's where I think most people are getting it wrong.
Yes, transactional interactions like booking flights, comparing prices, finding basic information are increasingly being handled by AI agents. But humans aren't just transaction-processing machines. We're emotional beings who make decisions based on trust, aesthetics, brand alignment, and gut feeling.
When someone's choosing between two similar services, they're not just comparing features and prices. They're asking themselves: "Do I trust these people? Do their values align with mine? Do they understand my world?"
And that's where websites become more important, not less.
So what might websites look like in 2-3 years?
Based on what I'm seeing and the conversations I'm having with clients, I think we're heading towards a world where websites serve three primary functions:
Brand validation and trust-building
When AI tells someone about your company, and they decide to investigate further, your website becomes the place where they validate that you're legitimate, professional, and aligned with their values.
Immersive storytelling
Instead of listing every service you offer, websites will focus on telling compelling stories about what you stand for, how you work, and why you exist. Think less "here's our service menu" and more "here's our manifesto."
Emotional connection
The human elements that AI can't replicate like personality, empathy, and cultural understanding will become the primary currency of websites.
I'm already seeing this shift with our clients. The websites that perform best aren't the ones with the most comprehensive service listings. They're the ones that make people feel something.
What about all the technical predictions: AR, VR, voice interfaces?
The technology crowd loves to predict that we'll all be browsing in virtual reality by 2026, or that voice interfaces will replace visual design entirely. Ok, this might feel a bit 2022 but I’m still seeing it everywhere. Remember when Alexa was going to destroy websites, or how Oculus was going to make VR the future of web design? Nah, not buying it.
Don’t get me wrong. We're definitely seeing more voice interactions, and AR elements are becoming more common, particularly in retail and real estate. But here's what I've learned after 20 years in this industry: people adopt new technology much more slowly than technologists predict.
At Bigger Picture we're still designing primarily for screens in 2025, and I suspect we'll still be designing primarily for screens in 2028. The form factor might evolve, the interaction methods might expand, but the fundamental human need for visual, emotional communication isn't going anywhere.
A couple of years ago I was super excited about WebGL and hyper-interactive digital experience. Places like Awwwards were (maybe are) flooded with these sites. The truth? Most normal devices struggle to load them and you end up with a clunky experience. Super frustrating, not usable, and definitely not optimised for conversion. I’m much happier now sustainable web design is a thing – good for the planet, good for load times, and much better for conversions. Ok, rant over, back to the topic I’m supposed to be covering.
But surely AI will get so good that it can handle the creative, emotional stuff too?
This is the question that genuinely keeps me awake sometimes.
Will AI eventually be able to craft compelling brand stories? Will it understand cultural nuances and emotional triggers well enough to replace human creativity entirely?
Maybe. Probably, eventually.
But here's what I keep coming back to. Even if AI becomes brilliant at creating emotionally resonant content, someone still needs to understand what emotions to evoke in the first place. Someone still needs to define the strategy, understand the audience, and make the creative decisions about how a brand should be positioned.
And perhaps more importantly, people want to know there are humans behind the brands they engage with. Enter that Wimbledon Tennis influencer – fooled me! In a world increasingly dominated by AI, the human element becomes more valuable, not less. Humans crave human interaction after all.
What should web designers be doing right now to prepare?
Stop thinking like a traditional web designer and start thinking like a brand experience architect.
Learn how to use AI tools to handle the routine stuff, but spend your time developing skills that AI can't replicate. Strategic thinking, cultural understanding, emotional intelligence, and the ability to translate complex business requirements into compelling human experiences.
Focus on storytelling over service listings. Develop expertise in conversion psychology. Understand how people make decisions and what drives trust.
And most importantly, stay curious about the technology changes but don't panic about them. Every major shift in our industry from table-based layouts to responsive design to mobile-first has felt like the end of the world at the time. But designers who adapted and evolved have always found new opportunities.
Where do agencies like Bigger Picture fit into this future?
We're working to position ourselves as brand consultants in a digital-first world. We happen to use websites as one of our tools, rather than web designers who sometimes think about brand. Bigger Picture isn’t our name for the fun of it – we always knew one discipline wasn’t enough. The best devs are nothing without good design. Good design is nothing without good content. And good content, well, it’s harder than it seems. No matter how fancy your inputs or prompts are to ChatGPT, it’s never going to give you what experienced agencies like us can do through workshops and lots (I mean LOTS) of questions. Good designers will challenge you, and ensure you resonate with your audience, not with yourself (yes, we really do not care if your favourite colour is blue!).
Our clients aren't coming to us because they need a website, they're coming because they need to be understood, trusted, and chosen in an increasingly noisy digital world. The website is just the vehicle for achieving that.
We're spending more time on strategy sessions and less time debating button colours. We're focusing on understanding our clients' audiences deeply and crafting experiences that resonate on an emotional level.
Final thoughts: Are we designing our way out of a job?
No. But we are designing our way out of the job we used to do. And that’s exciting if you have as much passion as we do for the web design and digital industry as a whole.
The future isn't about websites versus AI agents, or traditional browsing versus AI-powered search. It's about understanding that human behaviour is complex, emotional, and beautifully irrational. There will always be a need for people who can translate that complexity into digital experiences that actually work.
The web designers who thrive in the next few years won't be the ones who can code the fastest or who have mastered the latest design trends. They'll be the ones who understand people, who can tell compelling stories, and who can create digital experiences that make people feel something.
Because at the end of the day, we're not in the website business. We're in the human connection business.
And last time I checked, AI still has a lot to learn about being human.
Want to explore how AI and the changing web landscape might affect your brand? Let's chat about it. After all, the best conversations still happen between humans, at least for now.