AI as a Design Partner: How to Get the Most Out of AI Tools to Scale Your Process
Summary
I am a Senior Product Designer at a large tech company, leading the Video Gen AI and Growth programs. This talk is a case study about leveraging AI tools to scale and systematize your design process. Some examples include creating better and more thorough user journey lists that capture all types of users, reducing the risk of excluding some users. I will also talk about how to have a Systems Design mindset about UX programs, including how to scale your work across teams and organizations for broader impact.
Key Insights
-
•
Generative AI can help product creators scale inclusive design by systematically generating user journeys based on diverse and intersecting dimensions of identity.
-
•
Product inclusion means centering marginalized voices and can be applied at every phase of product creation for broader belonging.
-
•
Systematic design relies on three pillars: documentation of critical user flows, collaborative ideation (like design sprints), and synthesis/prioritization of insights.
-
•
Designing for 'average users' overlooks large populations with diverse abilities, including 1 in 7 people with disabilities and an aging population with hearing loss.
-
•
Prompt design for generative AI requires detailed task steps, persona definitions, output format examples, constraints, and iterative refinement for best results.
-
•
Dimensions of identity include visible and hidden traits whose intersections create complex user identities to be intentionally incorporated into user flows.
-
•
AI can accelerate affinity clustering and abstraction laddering in design sprints, compressing hours of team work into minutes.
-
•
AI should augment, not automate, the design process due to inherent biases in training data, such as racial or gender bias.
-
•
Refining AI-generated outputs through iteration and human oversight is critical to ensure meaningful and inclusive design outcomes.
-
•
Using AI-generated inclusive user journeys can inform more diverse recruitment strategies in user research, backing a more inclusive design validation process.
Notable Quotes
"If you do not intentionally, deliberately, and proactively include, you will unintentionally exclude."
"The majority of consumers say that it’s important that the companies they buy from actively promote diversity and inclusion."
"Sometimes we have ideas of average users, but there are many different abilities to account for that are large parts of the population."
"You want to outline the tasks or steps in detail, define personas, give examples, set constraints, and refine iteratively when prompting AI."
"These AI models are not one hundred percent perfect, so you must stress test the output and watch out for bias."
"Previously, creating user journeys for millions took hours, now generative AI can do it in minutes."
"You can use AI for affinity clustering to find common themes from large idea sets in minutes rather than hours."
"Design ops could take responsibility for managing prompt libraries but it’s not a lot of maintenance once set up."
"Using AI-generated user journeys can help recruit a more inclusive set of participants for user research."
"You want to augment your design process with AI, not entirely automate it, because the models still have biases and imperfections."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Critical making requires critique, theory, activity, reflection, leading back to theory, but it doesn't have to start with theory. It can start anywhere."
Nathan Shedroff Hugh Dubberly Thomas J. McLeishHow Will Design be Taught When the Schools Shut Down?
May 8, 2026
"Being design-driven is a means to an end. We aim to be 1% better every day with data-driven obsession."
John Paul de Guzman10k Screens Later: How We Became a Data-Driven Design Organization
September 24, 2024
"Survey data should be treated as zero-party data that fuels personalized communications and lifecycle marketing."
Aleksandra Korczynska Caroline Jarrett Justyna ParmeeSurvey Tools
March 12, 2026
"Motivation and focus are especially challenging when working from afar."
Kristin SkinnerTheme 2: Introduction and Provocation
January 8, 2024
"Attendee cohorts meet daily in small groups with facilitators to share learning goals and deepen engagement."
Rachael Dietkus, LCSW Victor Udoewa Jennifer StricklandEverything You Need to Know about the Civic Design 2022 Call for Presentations
May 17, 2022
"Influence is the real goal as a designer—over people, processes, and culture."
Uday GajendarThe Rise of Meta-Design: A Starter Playbook
May 19, 2022
"We approached feedback loops like a system equal parts structure and skill. They have to reinforce one another."
Vanessa VarinFeedback: The Other F-Word
September 10, 2025
"The average car today has 60 to 100 sensors generating a terrifying amount of data that will increasingly make its way to the cloud."
Hugh DubberlyProblems with Problems: Reconsidering the Frame of Designing as Problem-Solving
June 19, 2019
"When done well, convergence means research isn’t a department, it’s a shared system of knowledge or a collective understanding that aligns teams."
Sean McKayCoexisting with non-researchers: Practical strategies for a democratized research future
March 11, 2025
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
In what ways can AI tools accelerate value delivery in design operations, and what pitfalls should be avoided?
How can improving information flows transform maternal health systems, especially in rural settings?
How can measuring team behaviors instead of just results improve trust and performance in design ops?