How I’ve adapted my product design workflow in the world of AI
AI isn’t replacing creativity; it’s giving me superpowers, and I love it.
As a product designer, I’ve been using AI in ways that speed up my workflow, help me problem-solve, and keep things organized. Here are some of the things I’m doing every day that have changed the way I work and approach challenges:
Brainstorming & content
I use ChatGPT to explore different directions, generate real content instead of lorem ipsum (way easier for clients to visualize sections of a website wireframe, for example), and keep project notes structured. Since it remembers context, it’s great for refining ideas over time and I can pick up right where I left last time.
Visuals & design
Sometimes, stock photos just don’t cut it. MidJourney has helped me create very specific images when nothing else existed; some of which actually made it to live projects!
Debugging & coding
As I was working on my recent portfolio website updates, ChatGPT’s o3 Mini High model conveniently came out (1/31/2025) and helped me figure out some javaScript issues I was having. Other models definitely weren’t nearly as helpful.
Meetings & organization
For client and internal meetings, Grain has been a lifesaver for summarizing meetings and pulling key takeaways. No more scrubbing through recordings trying to find the one thing the client said that was really important but I didn’t have time to write down!
Overall, AI has already saved me hundreds of hours and unlocked opportunities that simply didn’t exist before. I see a lot of people having a bitter attitude towards AI but guess what? AI is here to stay whether you like it or now. Embrace AI, adapt your workflow, and make these tools work for you — so you’re not left behind while you still have time.
AI beyond work — Bonus tips!
ChatGPT is a great language teacher
Outside of work, AI has been so incredibly helpful for my crazy idea of learning Japanese AND Thai at the same time! It’s been helping me with translations, grammar explanations, and even making it fun by giving me hints instead of direct answers and scoring my progress.
Try prompts similar to:
Please correct my Japanese sentences and provide a score out of 10. Explain the corrections sentence by sentence, highlighting grammar, word choice, and naturalness. After the corrections, give me a final version in Japanese and romaji. Also, provide a brief evaluation of my overall performance, noting strengths and areas for improvement.
Pro tip: the app HelloTalk is a lot of fun to connect with native speakers of the language you want to learn.
Personal assistant for everyday tasks
I’ve also been using ChatGPT as a kind of personal assistant, for everything from something super specific like figuring out how to fix a peeling screen frame on my back porch by just showing it a picture of it, to calculating my race strategy for my next 5K. And sometimes, just for fun, I’ll have philosophical conversations with it out of curiosity to see what it has to say and give it some tricky questions. Sometimes it amazes me and sometimes it scares me; like the one time I was speaking to it in English but switched to Spanish talking to myself for a second and it instantly knew I was Venezuelan!
What AI tools have actually made a difference for you? I’m specifically curious about AI for product design or design in general. Let’s share insights.
