© Abigael Donahue 2026

AI-driven design


Leading UX designers to embrace AI in enterprise software design

Problem: My team of designers were new to AI and needed guidance on how it to use it to speed up their design process and help them create innovative customer solutions.


Solution: I led my design team's adoption of AI by setting quarterly goals so they could gradually increase their AI usage across several tools, starting with LLMs (Gemini, NotebookLM) and then moving into AI-generated prototyping with Cursor and Figma Make.


Outcome: Under my leadership, my team of designers adopted AI-driven design practices, reaching the following metrics:


  • - 100% of my direct reports completed every AI quarterly goal.
  • - 100% of my direct reports use Gemini and NotebookLM on a daily basis. 
  • - 100% of all designs created by my direct reports are generated by Cursor or Figma Make.

Clarity:

Gradual goals

I gave my designers a specific, documented AI goal to work towards every quarter: 


- Goal 1, LLM automation: Use an LLM to automate at least 1 task.  

- Goal 2, AI-driven operations: Use AI in everyday work, at least once a week. 

- Goal 3, AI-enabled rapid prototyping: Generate at least 1 prototype with AI.

- Goal 4, AI-first design: Generate all initial prototypes with Cursor or Figma Make.

Collaboration:

Team culture

  • I positioned designers who developed a strong grasp on AI as mentors to help others upskill. 

  • I identified opportunities for designers to present their AI work to the wider UX Design department, gaining visibility for their accomplishments across 130+ UX researchers, designers, and developers. 

Leadership:

AI usage

I adopted Gemini and NotebookLM into my everyday work to automate tasks.


I adopted Cursor into my everyday workflow to optimize stakeholder connection plans and agile design practices. This included creating Cursor skills and setting up various MCPs.


I used Cursor to generate a prototype based on Red Hat’s PatternFly design system.