Claude Projects That Run a Design Studio + Cannes Lions Notes

Blaze here for Week 7,

Life has been crazy so this is a delayed email, but I have so much to report today!

AI Claude Projects run half of my business

From closing a project to completing one, these are the projects I use in Claude to speed up my workflows:

• The Architect — Writes a complete, structured system prompt for any new Claude project you want to build.
• The Closer — Turns a sales call into a client-ready proposal and contract using your own templates.
• The Planner — Breaks a Shopify build into small, verifiable steps, each with its own LLM prompt and success check.
• The Systems Guy — Reads, audits, and restructures design token JSON into a clean, ready-to-use design system.
• The Trainer — Converts Loom recordings of any process into a step-by-step SOP your team can follow without guessing.
• UX Brain — Builds data-backed sitemaps and wireframes for ecommerce sites, citing research behind every structural decision.

Follow my 10 min setup guide here

Boots on the ground at Cannes Lions

I didn’t realize how fortunate I was to get invited to this event in the south of France. Big thanks to Darkroom for hosting us!

If you didn't know, this started out as creative awards for all types of agencies. Today it has turned into an influencer fest where highly followed individuals speak on behalf of an agency or brand. It’s less about the awards (which are paid for anyways) and more about brand association.

It's much more digestible to hear about a case study from someone you’re familiar with vs. an unmarketable CEO.

Would I go again?

Absolutely. I was lucky to be at the Darkroom villa, which gave me connections to huge creators, a high-functioning agency, and private events. What happens around the main event was more important to me.

Just being around these people:
Oren

Ashwinn

JT

Tatum

Vår

Dara

Clayton
Sammi

answered any questions I had about being a creator. It also got me into their algorithm, which boosted my visibility to higher-profile leads and sponsor opportunities.

The value gain on posting content outweighs everything I do BY FAR. I get more projects, I get sponsors, and I get access to rooms I couldn't imagine.

For reference, I got here in about ~2 years of consistently posting. I'm easily on track to get $10,000+ for a single reel in the next year or two if I lean more into AI and business ops content.

Vår is bigger than me now and has only been posting for 3 months + got invited to the villa!

On top of that, the more followers I gain, the more credibility I gain, which means higher project values. Last year my bank account hit the negative, but this year I’m consistently selling $30,000 to $50,000 projects I can fulfill in 2 months

Anyways, these are my key takeaways that you can use for yourself:

• Business operations and AI content on short form can position me to higher-paying sponsors. Some creators are getting $30k - $50k PER REEL for contracts in this niche.
• As a web design content creator. It can be valuable to refer leads to another studio or agency as a primary source of income. This will save me time or stress from production on client projects, but I’m also hesitant because having a foot in the game gives me strong credibility. Referring leads that are too big for Shovel is what I’m going to pursue.
• Website breakdown TAM is burnt out. I've only gained ~15k followers this year. I think the website Fashion TAM is also maxed. I’m going to lean more into different industries.
• Content design as a recurring service. I’ve found it hard to close retainers as a web design studio. I have the team to product quality digital-based content, why not offer it as a service under Shovel?
• Offer the new service to existing clients for cheap. This is how I can get started on that service ^
• Green screen is dead. People are tired of seeing this, and it’s more interesting to use an aesthetically pleasing environment around you. This also feels more branded to you. I’m already finding tons of success by shifting.
• Learn the conviction of a thesis in sales. This is the most important component of selling something. I’ve unknowingly applied this to sell my biggest projects.
• Carousels on IG are being pushed much more. Double down on this.
• Be bullish on live social content. Sammi announced she’s starting a live podcast that is heavily influenced by the sale of TBPN to OpenAI.
• Being a creator-for-creators is the #1 best niche to be in, but you need to have years of content creation experience to be positioned here

Cool people I met through content this month

To be honest I’ll just go through the Darkroom villa roster, but there have been so many people, sry if I missed you:

Oren - This guy is the one person I’m highly engaged with online. To get direct insights & questions answered was highly valuable. 100% a genuine, nice, relatable dude. It’s surreal how I ended up in the same squad as him that week.

Ashwinn - Same situation as Oren ^ He's a really funny dude too. His insights on CPG & operations are next level. Being a good copywriter gets you far in life.

Vår - She’s so relatable despite growing up in a completely different circumstance from me. Her content journey just started and inspires me.

Tatum - The sports marketing legend. Again, so relatable. I’d trust her to be my emergency contact

Clayton - He brings a chill vibe to the rooms he walks into. Also his journey from growing up in America to moving into Amsterdam with 2 kids calms me down a little more. You can really design your own life

Dara - To hear from a creator who's killing it on long-form and short-form was valuable. The real keys to a content team are offshore talent that get the American culture

JT - He's the creator-for-creators who’s been in the game for 10-years. Be bullish on creator-based events

Take care

Feel free to reply to this email with any recommendations you may find valuable here.

Talk next week! - Blaze