Behind the $185k design battle pitting AI against
no-code
35,000 people watched live as an experienced designer challenged a marketing dropout with AI tools to a 45-minute app-building contest.
Yesterday, two indie hackers faced off in a live design battle:
Brett Williams, a Webflow veteran pulling in $1M+ ARR through his web design studio Designjoy, and
Henrik Westerlund, a 19-year-old marketing dropout from Lovable, an AI product that lets you generate fully functional web apps through text-based prompts.
It wasn’t just a battle over pixels. It was a referendum on the future of building.
The tweet that started everything
On Feb 14th, Henrik retweeted Lovable's post about their latest AI design feature and threw in, “Webflow’s officially dead”, which got Brett to fire back:
“You’ve got a long way to go before saying ‘Webflow is dead’ with a straight face.”
By 5:14 AM, Brett stepped things up a level:
Henrik’s reply? Two words:
“I’m in.”
The indie hacker community exploded. Polymarket bets ballooned to 185K.
The stakes: experience vs AI hype
Brett’s resume:
10+ years designing websites
$145K/month web design studio revenue
5+ years using webflow
Henrik’s counter:
19 years old, marketing school dropout
Zero design experience
Four months of Lovable tinkering
The clash was absurd on paper: a seasoned pro vs a Gen Z rookie armed with prompts. Yet, pre-battle polls flipped wildly.
X polls favored Brett 65% to 35%, Polymarket had him at 90%, but by February 28th, Henrik led 63% to 37% in a web poll on Lovable.
The live showdown:
At 11am on February 28th, Brett declared: “Man versus machine. Clear your schedules. It’s game day.”
The rules
45 minutes to build a landing page from a surprise prompt.
Judged on design, usability, and “wow factor” by Tommy Geoco, Hunter Hammonds, and Tom Johnson.
With 35K live viewers at peak and thousands more betting on Polymarket and debating in X, the LIVE was pure fire energy! Or, as a few people put it — tech sausage party.
The results
Screenshots won't do either of the designers justice, but here's a look at both of their final pages.
Henrik's final design:
Brett's final design:
Both builders were deeply unsatisfied by their results. 45 minutes seemed too little to do enough.
But the judges were unanimous: Brett’s Webflow craftsmanship won.
The crowd agreed. An X poll after the battle showed 83% favored Brett’s design:
Brett got the most votes, but honestly, Henrik might be the real MVP here. This 19-year-old had zero web design experience but still went all in, grinding like a true indie hacker. People could barely believe he was that young. Just based on the overall energy, he totally stole the show. Check out his project here.
For indie hackers, the lesson should be clear: opt for speed over polish, and always turn your building process into a show.
Have a story, tip, or trend worth covering? Tell us at [email protected].
It's awesome to read
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The AI-powered methods developed by Henrik lost the design contest even though his quick approach and energetic work pace significantly influenced the overall competition. The fight proves that relentless effort along with original ideas matters more than absolute completion. Heritage Day had two major components because the creative energy generated by the submission process matched the importance of the executed designs.
This design battle between Brett Williams and Henrik Westerlund was a fascinating clash of experience versus AI-powered innovation. While Brett’s Webflow expertise secured the win, Henrik’s impressive performance with zero design experience showcased the potential of AI tools like Lovable. The event highlighted the importance of speed and turning the creative process into a spectacle. For indie hackers, it’s a reminder to embrace both polish and innovation. For essential services like Police Clearance
It seems to me, with a little that I know, that the reason for Brett’s win is based on simple design rules. Things like right side flush of the image and using the colors that he did, it obviously brings one’s attention to the page in this case orange versus dark blue. So I don’t think the win for Brett is that much in terms of the competition of AI vs humans, but rather the fact that Brett had design principles in his mind whereas Henry did not. I’d like to hear other people‘s opinions on this.
This Brett vs. Henrik showdown was epic—Brett’s Webflow win makes sense, but Henrik’s AI grit at 19? Insane! 35K viewers, Polymarket buzz… love the energy. Any tips for us indie hackers to pull off a viral battle like this?
That was nice battle
Great show! This clearly shows one does not have to pay designers anymore, unless your are Apple or some big brand. AI is good enough for 90% of businesses out there, especially indies.
This was such a fun showdown! Props to Brett for the win, but Henrik walking in with zero experience and still putting up a fight is wild. Just shows how far AI tools have come. Curious—do you think AI will ever fully replace tools like Webflow, or will it always be a hybrid game?
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