Podcast Episode

First of Kind › Ryo Lu: The Way

First of Kind

2 clips•Feb 18, 2026•34 min

About

What is the future of design in a post-AI world? Ryo Lu pioneered new patterns for collaboration as founding designer at Notion. He now leads design at Cursor, shaping how software gets built through a fusion of design and engineering. In this conversation with Soleio, he explains Cursor's approach to design and how the product will evolve to empower designers who build. 00:00 – Intro: The future of design 01:49 – What is design at Cursor? 02:50 – How the team actually works 04:46 – Generalists, Self-Starters, Ex-Founders 07:34 – Building Cursor inside Cursor 10:45 – The next level: Agents & Abstraction 13:48 – Pattern language 18:24 – A lingua franca for builders 20:34 – Baby Cursor 23:45 – The new shape of designer 26:10 – Does AI distribute or concentrate power? 29:43 – Why Cursor is the tool you should learn 30:54 – A new design philosophy 32:36 – Where the path leads S2:E2 Ryo Lu: The Way Hosted by Soleio and produced by Room 3 (www.room3nyc.com) @room3nyc Filmed at Accel HQ First of Kind is powered by our sponsors: Framer: framer.com Cursor: cursor.com Vercel: vercel.com Profound: tryprofound.com Website: www.firstofkind.com Threads: threads.com/firstofkind_ Instagram: instagram.com/firstofkind_ X: x.com/firstofkind_ Hashtag: #FirstofKind

AI Summary

Ryo Lu, head of design at Cursor, explores how AI is fundamentally reshaping the role of designers by enabling them to build directly in code rather than creating static mockups. The episode delves into Cursor's unconventional team structure where designers, engineers, and product leaders blur traditional boundaries, and examines how AI agents and abstraction patterns are creating new possibilities for software creation. Lu discusses the philosophical shift from design as aesthetics to design as systems thinking, and argues that mastering tools like Cursor is essential for the next generation of builders navigating a post-AI world.

Clips

29:12

“Hands-on creation alone forges true AI problem-solving instincts.”▲ Hide transcript

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I noticed some vibe coders actually do the agent stuff better than some of the more manual coders who haven't caught up yet. Yeah. Because they've built so much with it, they've formed some intuition on, ah, this is how I should break down my prompts and this is the size of problem this model is good at. Because you have to build, have to use it to learn that.

Captured: Mar 1, 2026⏱ 29s

29:44

“Other tools are maybe a little too opinionated, too siloed in their layer.”▲ Hide transcript

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Designers often ask me, what tools should I be learning in this new AI paradigm? And we know all the current tools and the new ones that are emerging. But maybe the answer is cursor. Why is the answer cursor from your perspective? I think a lot of the other tools are maybe a little too opinionated, too siloed in their layer. Oh, interesting. Say more about that. So like Figma, you're like stuck in the pixels. maybe the V0 lovables, they're also kind of boxing you up in the safe area. Whereas like, if you do stuff within that area, it gives you, say, maybe slightly better output. Yeah. But once you go beyond that, you can't. But cursor, how I want to kind of shape it towards, I don't want to force you to do things in a certain way. If you have found your way, you can keep doing it. yeah if you haven't you can find your way it's like I don't want the tool to be stuck as a code editor because it's no longer

Captured: Mar 1, 2026⏱ 70s

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