There was a time when every design started with a pen and paper. Sketching was messy, flexible, and freeing. Lines didn’t have to align perfectly, buttons weren’t pixel-perfect, and ideas flowed faster than grids could contain them. But somewhere along the way, as tools evolved, our freedom started to shrink inside the boxes we created for efficiency.

Today, most of us design within Figma’s auto layout or similar systems. And while auto layout brings incredible precision, scalability, and handoff readiness, it quietly changes how we think. It trains us to design within structure instead of exploring beyond it. Everything starts to look too balanced, too predictable - almost like the tool is deciding the rhythm, not the designer.

I’ve noticed this pattern across teams. New designers open Figma and start immediately within pre-made components. They align everything perfectly from the first frame. It feels efficient, but it also limits exploration. Auto layout makes it harder to imagine something unconventional, because breaking it means breaking the system. The result? Fewer surprises, less emotion, and designs that feel more mechanical than human.

This isn’t to say auto layout is bad - far from it. It’s one of the most useful inventions in modern interface design. It helps scale design systems, keeps dev handoff clean, and saves countless hours. But it shouldn’t come in at the very beginning of the creative process. Using it too early is like sculpting before you’ve drawn - it locks form before you’ve found flow.

When everything is bound by components and constraints, creativity starts to serve the system instead of the idea. And that’s where design loses its art. The first step of design should still feel chaotic - boxes overlapping, ideas scattered, shapes imperfect. It’s in that mess that new composition and rhythm are discovered. Once those visual relationships are found, then bring in the discipline of structure.

One simple habit that helps: start every new idea without auto layout. Let things move freely on the canvas. Drag, resize, and shift elements without worrying about perfect spacing or alignment. Once you’ve found a layout that feels right - not just looks right - bring in auto layout to make it systematic. Creativity first, consistency later.

It’s the same philosophy artists have followed forever: sketch loosely, refine intentionally. In product design, that principle still applies. Auto layout, components, and grids are the refinement tools - not the imagination tools. They’re there to polish what creativity builds, not to define it from the start.

As leaders and mentors, it’s worth reminding teams of this balance. Efficiency matters, but not at the cost of originality. Every great product starts as something imperfect - and those early imperfections often hold the seeds of innovation. So, before turning on auto layout, try turning it off for a while. Let the design breathe before locking it into a system. The craft deserves that space.