# Raft Design

> Raft Design is an AI-native brand and product design studio based in Los Angeles, working in English and Japanese. It was founded by Lance Shields, a designer with 25+ years of experience who previously led design at Adobe and Walmart. Raft helps startups and established companies turn new technology into brands and products people trust. The core offer is the Design Foundation Sprint, a four-week fixed-price engagement for funded startups that delivers a brand system, core product screens, and a documented design system.

Last updated: 2026-10-18

For a single-file summary of the whole site, read [ai.md](https://raftdesign.studio/ai.md) (Japanese: [ja/ai.md](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/ai.md)).

## Studio
- [Home (English)](https://raftdesign.studio/): Positioning, approach, featured work, the two main offerings, journal, the Design Intelligence Engine site scanner, and FAQ.
- [Home (Japanese)](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/): Japanese version of the home page.
- [About](https://raftdesign.studio/about/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/about/): The studio, founder Lance Shields' background (Adobe, Walmart, a decade leading a Tokyo design team, an SF design studio), awards, and how Raft builds with AI.
- [Services](https://raftdesign.studio/services/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/services/): Five service areas: branding, digital products, websites, AI interfaces and agents, and globalization.
- [Labs](https://raftdesign.studio/labs/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/labs/): Six self-initiated experiments in AI product design, prototyping, and emerging tools.
- [Contact](https://raftdesign.studio/contact/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/contact/): Contact form, email, phone, office address, and consultation booking.

## Offerings
- [Design Foundation Sprint](https://raftdesign.studio/design-foundation/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/design-foundation/): A four-week fixed-price engagement for funded startups. Brand first, then the product screens that express it, delivered as a tokenized, documented design system. Core is $28,000, Full System is $34,000, and Land & Expand fractional design leadership is $10,000 per month.
- [AI-Ready Design Systems](https://raftdesign.studio/design-system/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/design-system/): Design systems that give a team and its AI tools the same source of truth: brand rules, voice, tokens, components, templates, and DESIGN.md. Links to a real example, the [Raft Design & Brand System deck](https://raftdesign.studio/design-system-deck/) (English only; the Japanese page links to the English deck).

## Work
- [Work index (English)](https://raftdesign.studio/work/)
- [Work index (Japanese)](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/work/)

## Raft projects
- [LegalOn: Global AI Brand Platform](https://raftdesign.studio/work/legalon/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/work/legalon/): Brand and product platform for seven AI products built on the "ON" concept, with teams in Tokyo and the U.S.
- [AI Design LA: Community Platform and Brand Identity](https://raftdesign.studio/work/ai-design-la/): Visual identity and website for a Los Angeles AI design community co-founded by our founder. English page only.
- [Keel (pre-release)](https://designwithkeel.com/): A product we are building that turns a company's website into a brand guide and design foundations for people and AI tools. In private beta.
- [Design Intelligence Engine](https://design-intelligence-engine.lovable.app/?lang=en): A site scanner we built that scores how well a site is designed and built, including how readable it is to LLMs and search.
- [Raft Design & Brand System](https://raftdesign.studio/design-system-deck/): Our own design and brand system: tokens, components, voice, motion, templates, and DESIGN.md. English only.

## Experience behind the studio
Raft is founder-led. The work below was led by our founder before Raft, at Walmart, Adobe, and previous studios.

- [Walmart: AI-First Shopping Experience](https://raftdesign.studio/work/walmart/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/work/walmart/): AI shopping features layered onto search, led by our founder as Design Director at Walmart.
- [Adobe Express Photos: 0-to-1 AI Product Design](https://raftdesign.studio/work/adobe-express-photos/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/work/adobe-express-photos/): AI-powered desktop image editor, led by our founder at Adobe.
- [Adobe Express Enterprise: Embed SDK and Plugin Ecosystem](https://raftdesign.studio/work/adobe-express-enterprise/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/work/adobe-express-enterprise/): Embeddable editors, SDK, and plugin marketplace, led by our founder at Adobe.
- [Modular Suite for XD: Design Collaboration Tools](https://raftdesign.studio/work/modular-suite-xd/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/work/modular-suite-xd/): Three collaboration plugins for Adobe XD, from our founder's time at Adobe.
- [Fitbit: Interactive Retail Experience](https://raftdesign.studio/work/fitbit/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/work/fitbit/): Guided in-store product experience in 1,000+ Best Buy and Target stores, led by our founder at a previous studio.
- [California Walnuts: Brand and Digital Experience](https://raftdesign.studio/work/california-walnuts/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/work/california-walnuts/): Creative direction and UX/UI design for walnuts.org, led by our founder at a previous studio.
- [That's Not Cool: Webby Award-Winning Non-Profit Site](https://raftdesign.studio/work/thats-not-cool/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/work/thats-not-cool/): Redesign of a teen digital-relationships site for Futures Without Violence, led by our founder at a previous studio.
- [Modere: Japanese Market Platform Redesign](https://raftdesign.studio/work/modere/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/work/modere/): Modere.co.jp rebuilt into a community-powered wellness platform, led by our founder at a previous studio.
- Earlier clients named on the [Design Foundation page](https://raftdesign.studio/design-foundation/): Cloud Cruiser (acquired by HPE, 2017), Health Catalyst (Nasdaq IPO, 2019), OrderDynamics (acquired by Tecsys, 2018), Leadspace (still operating), Rally Health, and Besure.

## AI Tools
- [AI Tools (English)](https://raftdesign.studio/tools/): A reviewed, regularly updated list of the AI tools Raft uses for reasoning, design, and build, including tools dropped and why.
- [AI Tools (Japanese)](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/tools/): Japanese version of the AI Tools page.

## Machine-readable versions
- [AI version of the home page (English)](https://raftdesign.studio/ai/): Terminal-style summary of the home page.
- [AI version of the home page (Japanese)](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/ai/): Japanese version of the same page.
- [ai.md (English)](https://raftdesign.studio/ai.md): Plain-markdown summary of the whole site: fit, offerings, work, approach, FAQ, and contact. Also served at /llms-full.txt.
- [ai.md (Japanese)](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/ai.md): Japanese version. Also served at /ja/llms-full.txt.

## Contact
- Email: hello@raftdesign.studio
- [Contact page](https://raftdesign.studio/contact/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/contact/)
- [Book a 30-minute call](https://calendly.com/raftdesignstudio/30min)
- [Raft Design overview (PDF)](https://raftdesign.studio/assets/raft-design-overview.pdf) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/assets/raft-design-overview-ja.pdf)

## Optional
- [Journal index (English)](https://raftdesign.studio/journal/)
- [Journal index (Japanese)](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/journal/)
- [5 Best Brand and AI Product Design Studios for Startups in Los Angeles (2026)](https://raftdesign.studio/journal/best-ai-product-design-studios-los-angeles/): English only.
- [Introducing the Design Foundation Sprint](https://raftdesign.studio/journal/introducing-the-design-foundation/): English only.
- [Stop Adding AI to the Design Process. Re-engineer It.](https://raftdesign.studio/journal/stop-adding-ai-to-the-design-process/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/journal/stop-adding-ai-to-the-design-process/): 「AIをデザインプロセスに追加するのはやめよう。再設計しよう。」
- [Why I Built a Raft, Not a Ship](https://raftdesign.studio/journal/why-i-built-a-raft-not-a-ship/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/journal/why-i-built-a-raft-not-a-ship/): 「船ではなく、いかだをつくった理由」
- [The AI-Native Designer Was Only Phase One](https://raftdesign.studio/journal/ai-native-designer-phase-one/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/journal/ai-native-designer-phase-one/): 「AIネイティブ・デザイナーは、フェーズ1にすぎなかった」
- [How I Use AI](https://raftdesign.studio/journal/how-i-use-ai/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/journal/how-i-use-ai/): 「私のAIの使い方」
- [Designing for Awareness: How Multimodal AI Is Reshaping the Future of Interaction](https://raftdesign.studio/journal/designing-for-awareness-how-multimodal/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/journal/designing-for-awareness-how-multimodal/): 「状況認識のためのデザイン：マルチモーダルAIがインタラクションの未来を変える」
- [Stop Treating AI Like Cheating on Your Homework: A Playbook for AI-Native Design Teams](https://raftdesign.studio/journal/stop-treating-ai-like-cheating-on-your-homework/) / [日本語](https://raftdesign.studio/ja/journal/stop-treating-ai-like-cheating-on-your-homework/): 「AIを宿題のカンニングのように扱うのはやめよう：AIネイティブなデザインチームのためのプレイブック」