You're using AI wrong. It's not your fault.
Every designer we know has tried ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude in a chat window. They ask it questions, get walls of text back, and think: "This doesn't fit how I work."
They're right. Chat windows are the wrong interface for design work. You don't need another search engine. You need a collaborator that can read your files, create real deliverables, and work alongside you in the tools you already use.
That's what Claude Cowork is. And most designers don't know it exists yet.
"Cowork isn't a chatbot. It's an AI that works with your actual files on your actual machine. It creates presentations, writes documents, synthesizes research. It's the difference between asking for directions and having a copilot."
Four things you'll leave with. All built during the session.
Claude Cowork running on your machine
We start from zero. You'll install Claude Desktop, activate Cowork mode, select your working folder, and have your first real working conversation. No dev environment. No terminal. Just you and a tool that finally works the way designers think.
A competitive analysis workflow
You'll use Claude's web browsing to research competitors, generate structured analysis documents, and build a reusable template. At the end, you'll have a polished, shareable report — and a shortcut to reproduce it anytime.
A stakeholder deck built from notes
Bring your messy notes, bullet points, or scratch docs. You'll turn them into a structured presentation narrative and generate a full slide deck through conversation. Iterate, refine, apply your brand. Done in minutes, not days.
A UX research synthesis pipeline
Feed interview transcripts, survey data, or research notes into Claude. It extracts themes, identifies patterns, and produces a readout with supporting evidence. Then you'll build a shortcut that repeats this on any dataset.
It's not another chatbot. It's fundamentally different.
It works with your actual files. Cowork reads and writes directly to folders on your machine. Upload a research folder, get a synthesized insight deck back. It's not generating text in a chat window — it's producing real files in your file system.
No code required. Seriously. Claude Cowork is purpose-built for non-engineers. Everything happens through natural language. If you can describe what you want, you can use Cowork.
It connects to your design stack. Through MCP integrations, Cowork pulls data from Figma, Notion, Google Workspace, and more. Your tools talk to each other through Claude.
It produces production-ready deliverables. Presentations, documents, competitive analyses, research reports — real files, not chat responses. The output is polished and shareable.
It's repeatable. Build a workflow once, save it as a shortcut, run it forever. Complex multi-step processes become a single command.
What we'll cover
A full day of hands-on work. Every module ends with something built — not a quiz, not a discussion, something you can use tomorrow.
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Setup & First Conversation
Install Claude Desktop, activate Cowork, select your folder, have your first real working conversation. Understand how this differs from every chat tool you've tried.
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Competitive Analysis Workflow
Use browsing to research competitors, generate structured documents, build a reusable template, export a polished report.
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Stakeholder Decks in Minutes
Turn notes into narratives, generate slide decks from conversation, apply brand guidelines, iterate through back-and-forth.
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UX Research Synthesis
Feed transcripts and survey data in. Extract themes, patterns, insights. Generate readouts with evidence. Build a shortcut to repeat it.
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MCP Integrations & Your Stack
Connect Claude to Figma, Notion, Google Workspace. Read and reference existing files. Pull from multiple tools into one workflow.
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Custom Shortcuts & Ongoing Workflows
Build your own shortcuts for recurring tasks. Set up scheduled automations. Leave with a playbook you can extend on your own.
If you design for a living, this is for you.
Design leaders
Directors, VPs, and Heads of Design who are drowning in strategy decks, stakeholder updates, and reporting. You need to move faster. Cowork lets you.
Senior designers
ICs taking on more strategic work who want to automate the tedious parts — research synthesis, competitive analysis, documentation — and focus on what actually matters.
DesignOps leads
People who manage research repositories, processes, and tooling. You already know the value of automation. Cowork is the biggest unlock you'll find this year.
Ryan Rumsey
Ryan Rumsey
Former Apple design executive. Author of Business Thinking for Designers. Has spent the last decade teaching designers to think strategically. Now bringing that same practical, no-fluff approach to AI — helping designers use Cowork to do their best work faster.