How I AI

A designer’s guide to AI: Why this designer switched to Cursor | Joel Unger

Joel Unger, design director at Atlassian, shares how AI is transforming the way he designs Trello and other products. He walks through real-world workflows using tools like Midjourney and Cursor to prototype complex interactions, re-create brand assets, and explore creative directions faster than ever. You’ll hear how AI is helping designers focus on higher-level thinking, communicate better with developers, and push creative boundaries—all without replacing the human touch. *What you’ll learn:* 1. How to prototype complex UI interactions using AI 2. A workflow for re-creating animated brand assets without motion design tools 3. How to leverage image generation tools like Midjourney to explore design directions and create mood boards 4. How to use Cursor to re-create animated SVG assets 5. Why AI frees designers to operate at a higher level of creativity 6. How AI improves designer-developer collaboration by showcasing interactive intent 7. Why embracing AI is key to staying ahead in the evolving design landscape 8. The limitations of current AI tools and where they still fall short *Brought to you by:* Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want: https://useparagon.com/HowIAI WorkOS—Make your app enterprise-ready today: https://workos.com?utm_source=lennys_howiai&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=q22025 *Where to find Joel Unger:* Website: https://joelunger.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joelunger/ *Where to find Claire Vo:* ChatPRD: https://www.chatprd.ai/ Website: https://clairevo.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairevo/ X: https://x.com/clairevo *In this episode, we cover:* (00:00) Intro and Joel's background (02:46) Trello's new productivity features (04:24) Traditional design process limitations in Figma (05:22) Using Cursor to prototype interactive panel systems (07:39) From prototype to production: collaborating with developers (08:52) How Joel used AI to prepare for the podcast (10:50) How AI saves designer time for deeper thinking (11:23) Last-minute logo animation using Cursor (13:50) Using Midjourney for character design exploration (14:54) Creating a mood board for Taco: the Trello husky mascot (16:49) How AI is changing design thinking and workflows (18:18) Lightning round and closing thoughts *Tools referenced:* • Confluence: https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence • Bitbucket: https://bitbucket.org/product/ • Trello: https://trello.com/home • Figma: https://www.figma.com • Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/ • ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/ • Midjourney: https://www.midjourney.com/ *Other reference:* • Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/ _Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email jordan@penname.co._

CVClaire VohostJUJoel Ungerguest

May 12, 2025·20m·Watch on YouTube ↗

📖 CHAPTERS

1. 1

   Designing with AI: anxiety, limits, and why thinking matters most

   Joel frames AI as an accelerator rather than a replacement for designers, emphasizing that prompts and product thinking drive outcomes. He argues that design tools like Figma are a small portion of the job compared to problem-solving, and AI helps teams get to the “gnarly” parts faster.

2. 2

   What Trello is building now: inbox capture + Planner + multi-surface productivity

   Joel explains Trello’s shift from classic Kanban boards toward a personal productivity system. New surfaces like Inbox capture and Planner must work together in a tactile, drag-and-drop way, creating new layout and interaction challenges.

3. 3

   Why Figma hit a wall: responsive panel systems and real resize behavior

   Joel describes iterating in Figma with many layout variations, but finding it insufficient for modeling real-world resizing and responsiveness. Beta feedback revealed users wanted precise control over panel sizes across diverse screen setups.

4. 4

   Switching to Cursor: image-to-prototype for a 3-panel interactive layout

   Joel shows how he moved from a Figma concept into Cursor to generate a working interactive prototype. By pasting an image and describing the desired behavior, he could rapidly get a functional panel system with toggles and resizing.

5. 5

   Discovering UX edge cases through real interaction, not static mocks

   With a working prototype, Joel can explore nuanced responsive behaviors that are hard to anticipate in Figma. Testing drag-to-extremes and unusual layouts surfaces constraints and breakpoints that need explicit design decisions.

6. 6

   From prototype to production: how designers and engineers collaborate with AI artifacts

   Joel clarifies that the Cursor-generated code isn’t production-ready, but it becomes a powerful communication tool. He uses Loom videos and the prototype to align on behaviors, while engineers implement with tests and enterprise-grade quality.

7. 7

   AI for podcast prep: voice-mode rehearsal and its limitations

   Joel shares a lightweight, practical use of AI: rehearsing the run-of-show using ChatGPT voice mode. He notes shortcomings like missing lightning-round prompts and limited context windows, reinforcing that AI is helpful but imperfect.

8. 8

   Time saved for higher-value design work: focusing on thinking over execution

   Joel returns to the theme that AI buys back time for the most valuable part of design—problem framing and decision-making. AI reduces time spent on repetitive production steps, enabling deeper exploration of complex interactions.

9. 9

   Last-minute brand animation rescue: rebuilding an animated logo with Cursor + SVG

   Facing a time-critical logo update and discovering the existing animation was an old GIF, Joel uses Cursor to generate an animated SVG alternative. He supplies vector art, asks for clipping and bar motion, and fine-tunes timing and pixel alignment.

10. 10

    Midjourney for exploration: image masks, logo variations, and style experimentation

    Joel explains how he uses Midjourney as an ideation engine, especially with black-and-white masks to generate variations. It’s positioned as a creative exploration tool rather than a final-asset generator.

11. 11

    Building a ‘Taco’ mood board: character consistency, style guides, and team alignment

    Joel applies Midjourney to explore Trello’s husky mascot Taco, aiming to test how consistent the model can be and to generate a reference set. The output becomes a mood board to help the team decide on canonical character details and a consistent style guide.

12. 12

    How AI is changing design identity: more leverage, not less value

    Joel reflects on how AI changes his perception of design work: it amplifies creative and strategic value rather than diminishing it. The tools accelerate output, but the designer’s judgment, taste, and intent remain central.

13. 13

    Lightning round: top tool, where AI struggles, and how to unstick Cursor

    In quick Q&A, Joel recommends Cursor as the must-know tool for product designers, with the caveat of a learning curve and the benefit of partnering with a developer to set up. He notes AI still struggles with simple responsive debugging without browser visibility and jokes about his (slightly adversarial) prompting style when models get stuck.