Chris Pollara in Perspective
Connecting Content and Design
Notes from Sanity's Everything NYC, where the theme was clear. AI is only as useful as the context it works within.
Coming out of Sanity's Everything NYC event, what stood out to us wasn't simply how much Sanity is doing with AI. It was how deliberately Sanity is innovating around a fundamental idea: AI is only as useful as the context and systems within which it can operate.
The next generation of digital systems won't just manage content. They will structure the context.
Sanity is building that context layer for content operations. Handoff is building it for design and experience systems.
The opportunity we believe is to connect them.
A page isn't just content. It is content expressed through a design system, assembled from reusable components, and governed by the standards that define an experience.
As AI becomes a contributor, it needs more than content. It will need robust design intent context: the tokens, components, guidelines, voice, brand, validation, all as structured data and carefully curated tools.
Sanity knows what an organization is trying to say.
Handoff knows how an organization builds experiences.
Together, we see an opportunity to give people and AI a shared understanding from which to create, modify, and ship digital experiences.
Thanks to the entire Sanity team for being so welcoming and for hosting us at Everything NYC. We're excited to see where this goes, Anne Prins, Ethan Lewis, Steven Torres, and Daniel Favand.