EN | JP
Contact Us
Members at an AI Design LA meetup gathered around a table in a Los Angeles cafe, with the community's kickoff event page open on a tablet.

AI Design LA

Community Platform & Website Design

A home for designers shaping what’s next

AI is changing how products are imagined, designed, and built. But much of the conversation is happening online, disconnected from the people doing the work.

AI Design LA was created to bring those people together. Co-founded by Raft founder Lance Shields and fellow Los Angeles design leaders, the community connects designers, engineers, creative technologists, and startup founders exploring what AI means for their work.

Raft designed and built the community’s website, creating a digital home for discovering events, exchanging ideas, sharing practical knowledge, and connecting with others navigating the same changes.

→ Explore AI Design LA

OUR ROLE

Community Experience Strategy, Website Design, UX & UI, Web Development

PROJECT TYPE

Community Initiative & Founding Partnership

The challenge: turn a meetup into a connected community

AI Design LA began with a simple idea: create a place where designers could meet, share experiments, challenge assumptions, and learn from one another.

As the community grew beyond its first gathering, it needed a recognizable identity and a central destination that could bring together events, articles, tools, and opportunities to participate.

The challenge was to create something welcoming and useful without the complexity of a traditional membership platform.

The solution: a digital home built for participation

Raft created the complete visual identity for AI Design LA, including its logo, iconography, typography, and color palette, then applied it to a responsive website connecting events, resources, and community members.

The site was designed and built using Claude Code, then converted into WordPress with AI-assisted development, making it easy for the community to manage content and grow the platform over time.

The AI Design LA homepage on a desktop browser, with the headline "Designing the future of AI in Los Angeles" over a photo of designers working around a table. Long-scroll view of the AI Design LA homepage, showing the hero, an introduction to the community, the topics it explores, and a row of recent events. Three AI Design LA pages side by side: Events with a list of upcoming gatherings, Tools We Use with a curated toolkit, and Ideas with a grid of featured essays. The AI Design LA Community page, with a row of member avatars above the headline and a band of community statistics. Four AI Design LA mobile screens: the homepage introduction, the community page, the latest events list, and the navigation menu. AI Design LA logo system, with a gradient blob mark in badge, outlined, and stacked versions on dark, light, and gradient backgrounds. A set of sixteen gradient line icons used throughout the AI Design LA site, on a dark background.

More than a website

AI Design LA reflects a belief shared by Raft: the future of design won’t be shaped by tools alone. It will be shaped by the people willing to experiment, question assumptions, share what they learn, and build together.

By helping establish the community and creating its online home, Raft is contributing to that future beyond its commercial client work.

‹ PREVIOUS NEXT ›