Vibe-Coded Websites vs. Strategy-Led Design: Just Because You Can Build It, Does That Mean It Works?

Not so long ago, building a website required at least some understanding of design, development or the platforms used to bring it all together. Today, artificial intelligence is changing that almost overnight. With the rise of AI-powered website builders and what has become known as vibe coding, it’s increasingly possible to describe what you want in everyday language and watch a functional website take shape in front of you.

And I have to admit, some of the results are impressive.

The speed at which these tools can generate layouts, write code and create interactive experiences is remarkable. For entrepreneurs and small business owners who previously found website development inaccessible, this technology opens up some exciting possibilities. What once required weeks of development and a considerable financial investment can, in some circumstances, now be achieved in a fraction of the time.

But as a web designer and developer, there’s something about this shift that I think deserves a little more consideration. We’ve made building websites easier and more accessible than ever before, but I’m not entirely convinced we’ve made building effective websites any easier.

Because being able to create a website and knowing how to create one that genuinely works for a business are two very different things.

A website is more than a collection of pages

One of the biggest misconceptions about web design is that the process begins with deciding what a website should look like. In reality, that’s rarely where I start. Before thinking about typography, colours, imagery or layouts, I want to understand the business behind the website.

Who are we trying to reach? What problem does the business solve? What makes it different from its competitors? What do visitors need to know before they’re comfortable making an enquiry or purchasing a product? And perhaps most importantly, what do we actually need this website to achieve?

These aren’t questions we ask simply to fill out a creative brief. The answers influence almost every decision that follows, from how information is structured to the language we use, the functionality we prioritise and the journey we want visitors to take.

A website designed to generate enquiries for a professional services business requires a very different approach from an eCommerce store, a hospitality website or a platform intended to establish thought leadership. Even two businesses operating in the same industry might need entirely different websites depending on their audience, positioning and commercial objectives.

This is why I believe the discovery and planning stages of web design are so important. They’re not simply administrative steps before the exciting design work begins. They’re where we establish the foundation for everything that follows, making sure the finished website is built around the needs of the business rather than simply following a visual trend.

When a website is generated primarily from a prompt describing how it should look, there’s a risk that these considerations are overlooked. The result might be visually impressive, but without a clear understanding of the business, it’s difficult to know whether the design is actually solving the right problems.

You might get exactly the website you asked for, but was it the website your business actually needed?

The difference between looking good and working well

We’ve all come across websites that look incredible at first glance. Beautiful typography, sophisticated animations, striking imagery and perfectly arranged sections. They’re visually impressive, and sometimes that’s enough to capture our attention.

But then we try to use them.

Perhaps it’s difficult to understand what the business actually offers. The navigation is confusing, important information is buried beneath elaborate visual elements, or we’re unsure what to do next. Sometimes the website is so focused on creating an experience that it forgets the visitor came there for a reason.

This isn’t a problem exclusive to AI-generated websites. Human designers can make exactly the same mistakes, particularly when aesthetics are prioritised over functionality. A beautiful design isn’t automatically a good design, regardless of who or what created it.

The difference lies in the thinking behind the decisions being made.

A strategy-led design process considers how visitors are likely to interact with a website, what information they need at different stages and how the overall experience can support the business’s objectives. It looks beyond the individual elements on a page and considers how everything works together.

Sometimes that means simplifying a navigation structure, changing the order in which information appears or removing a visually impressive element because it distracts from the primary objective. Other times, it means challenging a client’s initial ideas because there’s a more effective way to communicate what they’re trying to say.

And I think that’s an important distinction. Good design isn’t simply about executing an idea. It’s about understanding whether that idea is the right one in the first place.

Some of the most valuable decisions we make as designers are the things we choose not to include. Those decisions might not be immediately obvious when someone looks at the finished website, but they can make an enormous difference to how effectively it communicates and functions.

When technology starts making the decisions

One of the more interesting aspects of vibe coding is how it changes the relationship between the person building the website and the technology doing the work.

Traditionally, a developer takes a set of requirements and translates them into a functional website. With AI-assisted development, much of that translation can now happen automatically. You describe what you want, the technology generates a solution, and you continue refining it through conversation.

In many ways, that’s incredibly exciting. It removes technical barriers and allows people to experiment with ideas that might previously have been beyond their capabilities.

But someone still needs to understand what they’re asking for.

Someone needs to define the requirements, consider how visitors will interact with the website and evaluate whether the result is appropriate for the business. Without that understanding, it’s easy to fall into a cycle of generating, adjusting and regenerating until something looks right, without necessarily questioning whether it works.

An AI tool might generate an attractive homepage, but it doesn’t automatically know which services are most profitable for your business, which questions your customers regularly ask before purchasing or why a particular customer journey might be more effective than another. It can make suggestions based on the information it’s given, but that information needs to come from somewhere.

And if you don’t know what questions to ask, or how to evaluate the answers, you’re effectively allowing the technology to make decisions that should be informed by your business strategy.

I think this is where the real risk lies. Not in using AI to build a website, but in assuming that because the technology can produce something convincing, the decisions behind it must also be sound.

The things you don’t see are just as important

Something I often explain to clients is that a significant portion of web development happens behind the scenes. The finished website is what visitors experience, but there’s an entire technical foundation supporting it, and that foundation has a direct impact on how well the website performs.

Search engine optimisation, responsive behaviour, accessibility, image optimisation, performance, analytics, integrations, security and ongoing maintenance all contribute to the overall experience. For an eCommerce business, there are additional considerations around payment processing, product management, customer information, shipping and the purchasing journey. For a service-based business, the focus might be on enquiry forms, lead tracking, content structure and helping potential clients find the information they need.

These elements aren’t particularly glamorous, and they don’t always translate into an impressive screenshot. But they’re often the difference between a website that simply exists and one that actively supports a business.

A beautiful website that loads slowly, is difficult to navigate on a mobile device or prevents search engines from accessing important content can create problems that aren’t immediately obvious to the person who built it.

AI can absolutely assist with many of these technical requirements, and in capable hands it can make development considerably faster and more efficient. But generating code is only part of the process. Understanding what has been generated, testing it properly and knowing how to maintain it are equally important.

There’s also the question of what happens after the website launches.

Businesses evolve. Services change, product ranges expand, new systems are introduced and the way customers interact with a business develops over time. A website should ideally be built with enough flexibility to accommodate that growth, rather than becoming an obstacle every time something needs to change.

Depending on how an AI-generated website has been created, making those changes may require technical knowledge that the original user doesn’t have. There may also be limitations around integrations, hosting, ownership or the ability to move the website to another platform.

These aren’t necessarily reasons to avoid vibe coding, but they are things worth considering before committing to a particular approach. The quickest way to launch a website isn’t always the most practical or cost-effective solution in the long run.

So, where does AI fit into the future of web design?

I don’t think the answer is to dismiss AI-assisted development. Quite the opposite, actually.

I think these tools have enormous potential, particularly for prototyping, testing ideas, creating internal tools and speeding up parts of the development process. For someone launching a simple personal project or experimenting with a new business idea, they can be an incredibly accessible starting point.

And for experienced designers and developers, AI presents opportunities to work more efficiently, solve problems faster and explore possibilities that might previously have required considerably more time.

I also don’t believe that every business needs a fully custom-designed website or an extensive development process. There are plenty of situations where a simpler solution is entirely appropriate, and part of being a good designer is recognising when that’s the case.

But I do think we need to be careful about confusing accessibility with expertise.

The fact that more people can now create websites doesn’t mean the knowledge required to create an effective one has become irrelevant. If anything, as the internet becomes increasingly saturated with quickly generated websites, the ability to create something genuinely considered, distinctive and purposeful may become even more valuable.

A professional web designer’s role has never been limited to knowing how to write code or arrange elements on a page. It’s about understanding how design, technology, content and business objectives come together to create an experience that works.

That might involve questioning an idea, identifying an opportunity the business owner hasn’t considered or recognising a potential problem before it becomes an expensive mistake.

AI can be an incredibly useful tool within that process, but it doesn’t remove the need for someone to guide it.

Strategy first. Technology second.

Ultimately, I don’t believe the question business owners should be asking is whether they can build a website using AI. Of course they can, and the technology will only become more capable.

The more important question is whether the website they’re building will support the business they’re trying to grow.

Does it communicate their value clearly? Does it speak to the right audience? Is it easy to navigate? Does it create confidence? Can it grow alongside the business? And does it give visitors a clear reason to take action?

These are the questions that should shape a website long before anyone starts thinking about which platform, design tool or AI model to use.

Because while the way we build websites will continue to evolve, the fundamental purpose of a business website remains much the same. It’s there to connect a business with the people it wants to reach, communicate its value and help turn interest into meaningful action.

And achieving that takes more than a good-looking layout.

AI might change how we build websites. But it doesn’t change why we build them.

That’s why, regardless of the technology involved, I’ll always believe in starting with strategy.