A hands-on experiment in coding and design that sparked bigger questions about technology’s pace and our ability to keep up.
One morning, I sat down with the task of creating print and digital ads for a magazine. In Canva, I found myself manually adjusting positions and sizing—calculating dimensions and x-y coordinates for every artifact I dropped onto the page. It struck me: there had to be a better way than eyeballing objects and dragging them around with the mouse.
So I approached it programmatically. I began instantiating objects, adjusting their size and position with intent. As a programmer, I wanted my hands on the keyboard, not just the mouse, so I reached for JavaScript. A quick console session turned into a lightweight HTML interface to visualize the information more clearly.
At first, I told myself I wouldn’t use AI. But then autocomplete nudged me with suggestions—interesting, almost irresistible. Soon enough, I was coding with my assistant at my side. The session became a split: vibe-coding and AI-assisted programming. I took control of the initial setup, declaring baseline variables and inspecting the results. But once I hit the HTML portion, I fully vibed. (Guess which one took longer?)
I captured several videos of the experience, which I’ll edit to trim the dead space and highlight the value. The first one is already live on Substack.
The most interesting takeaway wasn’t just about coding—it was about how fast technology evolves. Using AI today is like working with a new co-worker every couple of days: new perspectives, new tools, new quirks, but no time to build familiarity or trust. The human brain thrives on patterns and determinism—we connect dots because we know what to expect. But when the baseline shifts daily, and AI connects the dots faster (sometimes in the right direction, sometimes not, always with confidence), how do we adjust?
That’s the question I’m left with—and maybe the bigger story of vibe coding in the age of AI.
(The full prompt that generated this post below)
The Substack Video
https://leonardorodriguesnet.substack.com/p/vscode-copilot-vibecoding
