AI Creative Tools
PictureStudio
Senior Product Designer · UX/UI · Design Direction
PictureStudio is an AI-powered creative studio for designers and artists, bringing image generation, editing, custom models, and presets together in one place. Rather than treating AI as a one-shot image generator, it gives people tools to explore ideas, build on previous work, and create more repeatable ways of working.
I helped build the product from the ground up, designing core UX, interaction patterns, contextual tools, iconography, and the overall editor experience. I worked closely with developers throughout implementation and collaborated across the design team as the product evolved.
PRODUCT DESIGN
Shaping the product
PictureStudio was built around the idea that working with AI shouldn’t mean learning a bunch of technical controls or following one rigid workflow. You might start with a prompt, try another model, follow an unexpected result, edit part of an image, or head in a completely different direction.
I worked across the product to figure out how those pieces could work together without feeling overwhelming—organizing tools, shaping workflows, and deciding when controls should appear.
Learning by doing
The Guidebook gave new users a way to learn the product by actually using it, rather than stepping through a required tutorial.
People could jump into an activity, try something in the editor, and leave whenever they wanted. Completing activities earned additional credits, adding a small incentive to explore without making onboarding feel like a prerequisite.
Building around models and presets
Models and presets helped make generative work more dependable. Instead of treating every prompt like a new roll of the dice, people could train models on their own subjects, objects, or styles and reuse them to get more consistent, intentional results.
I worked on how those building blocks surfaced throughout the product—making them easy to find, understand, combine, and reuse across different workflows.
INTERACTION DESIGN
Making AI tools feel familiar
The editor needed to support many of the same expectations people bring to traditional creative software—selection, layers, contextual controls, direct manipulation, and non-destructive editing—while also introducing entirely new generative behaviors.
We designed around non-destructive workflows, so people could revisit earlier steps, branch from an iteration, or capture a point in the process without losing what came before. Contextual tools surfaced actions where they were relevant, making it easier to move between traditional editing and generative workflows without constantly changing modes.
visual system
Building an evolving product
PictureStudio was evolving alongside the technology itself, so the interface needed to accommodate new models, tools, and workflows without feeling pieced together. I helped establish flexible visual and interaction patterns that could be extended and recombined as the product grew.
Visual language
The visual system balances the density of a professional creative tool with an interface that feels approachable and leaves space for the work itself.
Motion & interaction
Generating an image means waiting, so we treated loading as part of the experience. Motion helped communicate progress and changes in state without pulling attention away from the work.
System components
Reusable controls, icons, menus, and interaction patterns made new functionality easier to introduce.
outcome
Launched and still evolving
PictureStudio is still evolving, but the foundation is there.
The biggest opportunity is making AI feel less like a one-off roll of the dice, and more like a creative system people can shape, reuse, and rely on.
timeline
2023–Ongoing
platforms
Web
Role
Design
focus
Product Design
UX/UI
Design Direction
Asset Credit
Video captures by Kelly Mao
Collaborators
Kelli Anderson, Brand Design
Alice Zhang, Design
Kelly Mao, Product Design
Robert Blackwood, Development
Ryan Hinkel, Development
Jonas Jongejan, CTO
Raul Gutierrez, Founder & CEO