A designer's take on Claude Design.

Just spent my $200 plan limit in one session arguing with Claude about an arrow button.

It couldn't pick it up from my design system properly. I tried commenting. Drawing. Editing. Uploading code. Uploading the SVG somehow worked in the end, but it still didn't get the sizes right.

Things I liked:

• The way it lets you comment on elements. Same as my art direction flow in Figma
• The side-by-side alternatives for early exploration
• Sketching looks promising, but I didn’t get there because of my limit

Things that broke the flow:

• My core workflow is duplicating multiple options and working on them in parallel. Claude Design doesn't support this well.
• The current experience reminds me of Webflow. Your imagination and speed get limited because you spend more time tweaking settings than actually moving the damn button.
• The design system recognition is still patchy. It sees some things, misses others, and then confidently builds on top of the missed ones.

What would make it work for me:

A Readymag-like canvas where I can move things around freely during exploration. Then (after I'm done playing) Claude analyzes what I built and rebuilds it respecting the new structure.

That's basically what I try to do with Figma + Claude today. Figma is still precious to me, because it's an artboard trying to become a system. Not a system pretending to be an artboard. I need more space.

Who I think it's actually for:

Non-designers validating ideas fast. If your budget is limited and you need something live to test with users, this is a (potentially) cheap, fast way in. I have a business too. I know what "limited budget" means. I'm not going to judge a small company whose first try looks a little Claude-branded.

Who I don't think it's for (yet):

Founders and teams whose product is already live and competing. If you have a vision and don't want to settle for less, Claude Design might eat your time without giving you what you actually wanted.

But don't take my word for it. Try it yourself. I'm going to wait a week ¯\(ツ)/¯, come back with more use cases, and try again.

Maybe it worked better for you? What did you use it for, and did it hold up? ♡