I’ve been using Claude for over a month, and it’s the first time I’ve felt like I can actually keep up with the industry’s changes. I made the switch from ChatGPT to Claude when they announced Cowork, and it’s made a real difference in how I show up to work.

Claude drew me in with its ability to work on tasks on my behalf, but that wasn’t the only selling point. Unlike ChatGPT, it pushed back on my ideas. It felt like I had a coworker on my desktop instead of a friend who agreed with everything I said (Side eye to GPT). But my favorite part of the switch was the confidence I found to build things using Claude Code!

It can feel overwhelming to hear everyone talk about how they’re using AI, especially when there isn’t a clear use case for actual client work. This is something I’m still navigating, but I’m excited to share some of the ways I’m using Claude’s features for both client work and exploration.

Each week I meet with a design subscription client at Wizardly where we go over open tasks, updates or new work. This was all managed in a Google Doc because it’s easy for the client to view everything instead of learning Monday.com. The challenge I faced was transferring each ticket’s information between the Google Doc and Monday before and after every meeting. It’s a tedious process that I couldn’t wait to fix when I got my hands on Cowork.

Before I could streamline anything, I had some setup to do:

Now when I’m ready to use it, I link the Google Doc agenda and ask Claude to pull from the meeting transcript. It knows I want a summary and action items listed so I can review and approve before it updates Monday with the status and notes.

The one limitation? Getting Claude to also update the Google Doc was too much for it to follow reliably. So now I’m building a custom tool with Claude Code that I can use during these weekly calls. This tool connects directly to Monday via the MCP and cuts out a huge chunk of the workflow.

For client projects, I audit three competitor websites across branding, copy and the websites UX. Previously, I'd review each site, write up my findings, and manually enter everything into a Figma template. It wasn't hard, but it took a lot of mental capacity.

My first attempt

I had Claude review the sites directly and fill in the template for me. But it wasn't pulling the kind of insights I would have, especially on the branding side. And honestly? That made me appreciate how valuable my own experience is as a designer who focuses on UX for marketing sites.

What actually works

I do a voice walkthrough using Granola. I pull up each competitor's site and talk through my analysis out loud across three sections:

Then I hand that transcript to Claude. I've built a custom skill so it uses my analysis as the base, then does its own review to catch things I might have missed. I also activate a skill called UI UX Pro Max, which gives it additional design intelligence around style patterns, accessibility, and UX best practices. Claude takes both layers and writes up polished copy for each section. I still review everything and place it into my Figma template manually, but the process is so much faster.

This one is more exploratory, but it's the use case that gets me the most excited about where things are headed. I connected Claude to Figma using an open-source tool called Figma Console MCP, built by TJ Pitre. It essentially turns your design system into an API that Claude can read and write to.

I’m still exploring the ways that this could streamline my process. The obvious one is updating design systems. This works great, especially when you have a system in place and want Claude to come in and do the tedious work. I’m also exploring ways it can handle client revisions on simple requests. I’ll report back if I have concrete examples!

Joey banks recorded a youtube video showing how to set up the MCP connection, and shared how to prompt a design system into existence.

Another designer on youtube called branDStructure recorded a tutorial on how he used the MCP to build out Figma Slides.

Some business news reads like a lullaby.

Morning Brew is the opposite.

A free daily newsletter that breaks down what’s happening in business and culture — clearly, quickly, and with enough personality to keep things interesting.

Each morning brings a sharp, easy-to-read rundown of what matters, why it matters, and what it means to you. Plus, there’s daily brain games everyone’s playing.

Business news, minus the snooze. Read by over 4 million people every morning.

Try Morning Brew for Free