Helen Zhou, co-founder and lead designer at Galileo, shares her journey as a design founder and discusses the unique aspects of user research for AI tooling. She discusses how AI will change the day-to-day role of designers and addresses concerns about LLMs and creativity. The potential breakthrough use case for UI generation is also explored.
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Quick takeaways
The AI-powered design tool developed by Galileo has been highly successful in helping designers with fast ideation, generating initial designs quickly, and saving time.
User research and real-life experiences are crucial in shaping the strategy of AI products, as they provide valuable insights and help eliminate skepticism.
Deep dives
The Launch of Galileo: A New AI-Driven Design Tool
Helen Zoo, co-founder of Galileo, discusses the recent launch of their AI-powered design tool. The goal of the launch was to make the product public and demonstrate its scalability and stability. The response surpassed expectations, with over 750,000 impressions on Twitter. Designers have found value in the tool for fast ideation, generating initial designs quickly, and saving time. Startup founders also benefit from using the tool to communicate their ideas and generate designs for customer testing. Additionally, software developers have started using Galileo to create prototypes for their projects.
User Research Process and Product Strategy
Helen Zoo shares insights into Galileo's user research process and its impact on product strategy. Initially, there was some skepticism about the product, but once it was demonstrated to users, they immediately understood its value. Helen emphasizes the importance of shipping the product and letting people use it to gather real reactions. She highlights that AI products, similar to consumer products, require users to experience them firsthand for a fair evaluation. This hands-on approach resulted in valuable learnings, shaping Galileo's strategy.
Challenges and Skills for Design Founders
As a first-time design founder, Helen Zoo shares the skills she had to learn on the fly. She emphasizes the need to juggle multiple priorities and make trade-offs due to limited time and resources. Designers turned founders must balance their instinct for perfectionism with focusing on the most important aspects of their company's growth. Helen highlights the importance of understanding users, business objectives, and the overall context in which design work fits. These skills complement traditional design expertise and help drive success in a startup environment.
Galileo recently broke design twitter with the launch of their new generative AI tool for builders. So in this episode we talk with their co-founder and lead designer, Helen Zhou about:
- Her journey as a design founder
- Why user research for AI tooling is unique
- How AI will change the day-to-day role of a designer
- Her response to concerns about LLMs and creativity
- The potential breakthrough use case for UI generation