AI only replaces you if you let it
How a designer uses AI daily: prompts, Claude projects, SOPs
AI is a tool that lets one person do a lot more, and it's a big part of how I made my entire last year's revenue in just this quarter. I pick a program and stick with it until one is clearly 4x better, and I use a Claude project that builds other Claude projects, like an SOP master that turns Loom transcripts into actionable processes in Notion. I export meeting notes into my 'Web Design Business' project and get a final proposal in 20 minutes, and I've closed $50k+ projects doing this.
Blaze here for week 3
I’m a Gen Z designer and content creator. I made my entire revenue last year just this quarter ($90k). Not that money is everything, but I’m trying to give some credibility here!
AI is a big contributor to that money. Here’s how I use it daily
The mindset
AI is a tool that optimizes workflows under a specific role. It allows 1 person to do a lot more compared to a few years ago. While it’s not always the best solution for a workflow, it simply helps you focus your brain energy on things you like to do more of.
The tools are subject to change every week. You don’t always need to be on the best tool in the moment. You just need to learn a program and stick to it until there’s one that's clearly 4x better. There’s no better time to be a master of the core principles of your skill. You can literally ask an LLM anything you want to learn.
Content-wise, AI is great at photos & video, but should be used cautiously with products. I prefer to use it for placeholder assets or expanding the boundaries of an image.
UX/UI wise, Claude just dropped their design tool. It’s great for development. You still need to have branding in place beforehand; also, this doesn’t give you a Figma export at the moment. It will evolve to be the design system tool of choice over time.
Yes, I’m starting to rethink/rework my design system in Figma considering this. The output you see below is based off of a handmade design from me. Claude didn’t think this extensively by any means.
How to prompt
Open Residency put me onto a much more efficient AI-prompting method this week. This is the format for the best LLM output:
| Part | What it includes |
|---|---|
| Role: | one sentence, no longer |
| Context: | all constraints, background knowledge, and the mandatory writing rules below |
| Command: | the trigger, what inputs it accepts, and exactly what it produces |
| Format: | a named, repeatable output structure with every part labeled |
I have a Claude project that makes other Claude projects for me based on this method.
Now you can literally make an expert at any subject matter you want
This week I created an SOP master that takes Loom transcripts and makes them actionable processes in Notion. Example here. My intern Madani followed this process flawlessly
BTW, Notion’s AI is great at formatting these. It also nails meeting notes/transcripts. I can easily export those into my ‘Web Design Business’ project (created by SOP Master) and get a final proposal output in 20 minutes. I’ve closed $50k+ projects doing this. This takes in my proposal templates I shared last week!
Questions I’m getting asked
Life update
I turned 26, the urgency to hit my goals in my 20s increases as time goes on, but the life I have today is what I dreamed of 3 years ago. If my dumbass can do these things, there’s proof that anything you can imagine is real
Darkroom has invited me to their creator house at Cannes Lions. I’m officially an influencer lol. This is a crazy network opportunity, and I’m happy to go. I will be posting around this in June. It’s easy to get imposter syndrome when other creators like Oren, Ashwinn, and Tatum are going. These are the greats I look up to and who inspired me to start posting content.
Solutions hooked me up with their Paul Nicholson collection. I can’t lie; I’ve been on a rare/special item kick lately. I think I got my fix with this lol. Gleb the founder is a nice guy.
I ran my first half-marathon with my younger brother Ryder. Physically, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. It took a few months of training to run a 2:20. It’s also worth mentioning that I hate running, so that’s why I did this.
Madani has been interning for me the last few months. I really believe he’ll be bigger than me one day. He’s young with a lot of motivation and ambition. I’m not even sure if I can afford to have an intern, but building relationships like this is really meaningful to me.
Cool people I met through IG this week
William is the founder of Portal. Really nice guy and also lived in Milwaukee for some time. They bring good vibes & design to the sauna/cold plunge movement. I’m a huge advocate for investing into physical health, this would be an awesome project if it works out.
Take care
Feel free to reply to this email with any recommendations you may find valuable here. Thanks again for the support. My DMs and email are always open
Talk next week! - Blaze
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