A guide for Design + Friends

HELLO,
CLAUDE
CODE.

Not a chatbot, an agent

It does the work,
you steer.

You already know Claude as a chat window: you type a question, it types an answer. Useful, but it stops at words on a screen. You still do the doing.

Claude Code (and Claude Cowork) is the same Claude, but it can do the work, not just describe it. It still gets things wrong, but we have a great sense of what is good or not. That is our job.

The difference

  • A chatbot tells you how to do something. Claude Code does it, while you watch and steer.
  • Everything it makes is code, the one medium these models are good at. That is how it reaches almost anything on your Mac: your files, your apps, your browser. You never need to know how.
A chat window

It tells you how, then stops at words on a screen. You still do the doing.

Claude Code

An agent: it goes and does the job on your real, local files. You meet it as Claude Code, scoped to the folder you pick, or Cowork, which runs longer jobs on its own in the background. Plain English the whole way, no syntax to learn.

You direct, it produces

Claude has no taste. It produces, you direct. Looking at a draft and saying exactly what is wrong is the muscle you already have. The better a designer you are, the better the work you pull out of it.

You and Claude Code

Your first session.

01
Work in a folder

You open the Code tab and pick the folder for the job. Claude works inside that folder and only reaches elsewhere on your Mac if you allow it.

02
Type a request

You write what you want in plain English, the way you would brief a colleague. "Summarise this PDF." "Rename these files." Then hit Enter.

03
Check the result

Claude does the work and shows you exactly what it changed. You approve it, or ask for a tweak, and it has another go.

A quick walkthrough

The whole app,
one window.

Step through the window below at your own pace. Move with the arrows, the dots, or your keyboard. Each step lights up the part it is describing.

One tip before you start

Be specific. "Find the latest sales report in Drive and summarise the key numbers" works far better than "help me with sales."

You are not learning software. You are briefing a coworker who happens to be very fast.

Well beyond a chat window

What can
Claude Code do?

Generate images and video Generate voiceovers, music and sound effects Build 3D scenes and models High-end motion graphics and animation Drive Photoshop, Illustrator and After Effects Build and edit Figma files Build a working website or web app Design and restyle a whole deck Turn a spreadsheet into a chart or dashboard Automate your browser Batch-rename or sort hundreds of files Summarise a long PDF or transcript

The creative-heavy ones lean on tools the team has already wired up. If you are not sure where to start, ask Claude how, or drop a question in #claude-crew.

Next Now make Claude yours →