Zenning is an AI-powered workspace that connects everyday tools, anticipates what needs attention and helps work move forward without waiting for a prompt.
As the Founding AI Product Designer, I’ve been responsible for shaping the majority of the product’s experience, translating complex AI capabilities into intuitive, approachable interfaces.
Zenning is built for business owners and small companies: people who could benefit from AI but don’t have the time or experience to learn how to prompt it.
Most AI tools start with an empty text box. If you don’t know what to ask, there’s nowhere to begin.
Zenning removes the prompt. Users connect the tools they already use, and Zenning comes to them with suggestions: something they might have missed, or something they could optimise.
When a product can anticipate needs and suggest actions independently, users need to understand what is happening, why it matters and what they can do next.
The challenge is balancing intelligent functionality with simplicity, ensuring the experience feels helpful without becoming overwhelming.
In my time at Zenning, the product has changed direction three times. I’ve designed every version, and everything I’ve designed has shipped.
Each change meant designing the product again for a new context and a new way of using it.
Zenning began as an all-in-one AI workspace.
An AI assistant that lived inside Slack and Microsoft Teams.
A home screen of suggestions drawn from the tools a business already uses.
The home experience plays a central role in communicating Zenning’s proactive approach.
Rather than waiting for a user to ask a question, the interface brings forward relevant suggestions, actions and information from connected tools.
A key focus of my design work has been ensuring these suggestions are easy to scan, understand and act upon.
Proactive suggestions can contain several layers of information, including titles, descriptions, suggested actions and time-sensitive details.
Presenting everything at once risks creating unnecessary visual noise.
Through interface exploration and refinement, I focused on establishing clearer hierarchy, reducing competing elements and creating more predictable interactions.
[What you changed between A and B, and why it works better for business owners who are new to AI.]
[Show how a suggestion explains why it appeared, and what users can do if it isn’t right: dismiss it, edit it or ask for something else.]
When introducing an unfamiliar product concept, the first experience matters.
Zenning’s onboarding needed to communicate the idea of proactive AI without overwhelming users with explanations or unnecessary complexity.
My design exploration focused on progressive disclosure, motion and visual storytelling, introducing functionality through a sequence of approachable interactions.
Rather than treating motion as decoration, the intention was to use it to communicate relationships between elements and guide attention through each stage.
Alongside the core experience, I’ve designed the areas around it: integrations, the library, the product’s visual language and its marketing.
Creating a consistent visual language across applications and connected experiences.
My redesign focused on reducing visual friction, improving information hierarchy and making the workspace feel more structured and accessible.
The aim is to make the experience feel familiar and predictable, even as new functionality is introduced.
From exploring website experiences to creating marketing and promotional materials, this work has involved translating a complex AI concept into clear and engaging communication.
As Zenning’s Founding AI Product Designer and sole designer, I’ve taken ownership of the majority of the platform’s UX and UI design.
My role spans the wider product experience, from exploring new concepts and establishing interaction patterns to refining existing journeys, developing visual consistency and working closely with the team to bring designs into the product.
Working closely with Zenning’s founders and developers, I’ve been involved in reviewing interactions, identifying usability issues and refining the details that shape the overall experience.
Shaping core journeys and defining how users interact with proactive AI.
Exploring user flows, interface behaviours, states and transitions.
Designing product interfaces and establishing consistency across the platform.
Refining designs through exploration, feedback and implementation reviews.
Working alongside founders and developers to translate ideas into functional experiences.
From initial exploration to implementation, refining both usability and visual detail.
Across core journeys, onboarding, integrations and workspace features, my focus has remained consistent: making complex functionality feel clear, connected and easy to use.
Working as a founding designer on an AI product has taught me to think beyond individual screens and consider how every decision contributes to a wider experience.
Good product design isn’t about making complex technology look impressive. It’s about making it feel effortless to use.