Lewis Dingley spent years at Renault, Sky, and Dyson building his CV with big names. Then he realized: he was one designer among 50. No ownership. No real impact. So he jumped into startups — and now he's designing AI-powered video tools at VEED.io that you literally cannot prototype in Figma.

What this episode is about

This is Love At First Try — a podcast about building SaaS products people actually love.

I sat down with Lewis Dingley, Senior Product Designer at VEED.io — the AI-powered video editor that's making video creation accessible to everyone.

Lewis has a wild background. Design school in France. Vehicle dashboards at Renault. TV products at Sky. Physical products at Dyson. And now — AI video tools at VEED.

What made me want to talk to him: VEED is building generative AI features you simply cannot design in Figma. Text-to-video. AI avatars. Image-to-video editing. Real AI models doing real things.

So how do you design for that? Lewis vibe codes. He prototypes with real APIs. He rebuilt an entire product in a day using Google AI Studio.

If you're designing AI-powered products (or thinking about it), this one's for you.

🧠 What you'll learn in this episode:

0:00 - Lewis's journey from French design school to Renault, Sky, Dyson, and VEED
5:22 - Why he left big corporations for startups and what changed
10:45 - Why product designers need to be closer to leadership
15:26 - Vibe coding: how Lewis rebuilt VEED's text-to-video product in one day
18:13 - Google AI Studio vs Lovable — which is actually useful for prototyping
21:04 - Why you should always present prototypes, never static screens
26:44 - The trick to making AI tools understand your design system
29:15 - How VEED's AI Playground integrates 30+ image and video models
34:00 - Why Kling's new model made months of their work obsolete overnight
36:29 - The biggest barrier for users is starting from scratch
44:01 - VEED's AI agent that nobody used and what it taught them
50:18 - Why education can't keep up with AI and what that means for designers
55:07 - Short-form video addiction and why Lewis uses Do Not Disturb mode
1:00:10 - Why some industries will never adopt new tech and that's okay
1:08:27 - How Lewis defines taste as a designer
1:12:25 - How he develops his taste with Mobbin, competitors, and adding his own ingredients
1:14:12 - His least favorite SaaS (Slack) and why he pitched them a podcast feature

💡 Actionable takeaways from Lewis

→ Prototype, don't design static screens. Present interactive prototypes to leadership instead of static Figma screens. Lewis says it's the difference between getting a "maybe" and getting a "wow, yes." Seeing is believing — especially when you're trying to get buy-in for new ideas.

→ Start with functionality, then UI when vibe coding. When using AI tools like Google AI Studio to prototype, build the working functionality first. Don't try to make it look pretty from the start — the AI gets confused and loses the functionality. Get it working, then refine the visuals.

→ Describe your design system in words, not just screenshots. AI tools are bad at replicating your UI from a screenshot alone. Instead, describe your design system: "minimalist design, these kinds of buttons, this iconography style." Once the AI understands the theme, it can generate consistent UI without constant screenshots.

→ Give users presets, not blank canvases. The biggest barrier for users is starting from scratch. Instead of asking them to write prompts or create from nothing, give them templates, presets, and examples they can tweak. Lewis saw this work at VEED — users don't want to type "sunrise lighting," they want to click a visual example.

→ Use Do Not Disturb mode aggressively. Lewis realized he was addicted to his phone — checking it every 10 seconds for notifications he didn't need. Now he uses Do Not Disturb so he only checks his phone when he has time, not when it demands attention.

→ Look at competitors and make it better. Lewis's approach to developing taste: research direct and indirect competitors, see what they're doing, then add your own ingredients. Don't start from scratch — start from inspiration and build on it.

___

Introduction

Jim Zarkadas (00:00)
Hey, I’m Jim, and this is the Love at First Try podcast — a podcast for SaaS CEOs and developers who want to learn more about design without it feeling overly complex.

In every episode, we explore how to design products that become sticky and unforgettable — covering taste, UX, growth, and practical frameworks you can apply.

Let’s dive in.

Guest Intro: From Industrial Design to AI Products

Jim Zarkadas (00:27)
We always start with a quick intro — your story, how you got into design, and what you're working on today.

Lewis (00:57)

I’m Lewis, a product designer originally from the UK, but I grew up mostly in France.

I studied at L’École de Design Nantes Atlantique, where the program exposed us to many disciplines — industrial design, vehicle design, transport design, and digital design.

That was valuable because it gave me a broad design foundation before specializing.

Later I completed two master’s degrees:

• Human–Computer Interaction

• UX Design

During that time I worked on projects with the French Ministry of Defense and Citroën.

I eventually chose digital design because I’ve always loved computers, games, and apps. When platforms like Instagram and Facebook started exploding, I realized digital products were the future.

Career Path: Corporations vs Startups

Lewis

My career started in automotive.

I worked at Renault, designing future vehicle dashboards. The challenge there is that car interfaces must be designed five years ahead of release, so you have to predict what technology will look like in the future.

After that I moved to:

• Sky — working on NowTV and streaming products

• Dyson — designing experiences for physical consumer products

Early in my career, I intentionally worked at well-known companies to build a strong CV.

But eventually I realized something.

In large companies, you’re often one designer among 40 or 50, and it’s harder to have impact.

So I moved into startups.

I joined Thrasher, a fast-growing startup that had just raised a large funding round. That environment was completely different — decisions move faster and designers have much more ownership.

Now I work at Veed, focusing on AI-powered video tools.

Prototyping: Why Designers Should Build

Jim Zarkadas

One topic I’m curious about is AI and design workflows.

You mentioned rebuilding a product prototype with AI tools. How did that work?

Lewis

Recently I rebuilt one of our internal tools in a single day using AI coding tools.

Instead of traditional development, I used tools like Cursor and AI playground environments where you can connect APIs such as:

• language models

• image generation models

• video generation models

You basically describe what you want and the system generates the functionality.

It’s crazy how fast you can build now.

AI Tools Changing Product Prototyping

Lewis

One tool that impressed me recently is Google AI Studio.

What’s powerful about it is that you can combine multiple models:

• Gemini for language

• NanoBanana for image generation

• VO3 for video generation

This lets you prototype fully functional AI products, not just UI mockups.

However, it’s still tricky when it comes to UI precision.

If you want the interface to look exactly right, you still have to describe your design system carefully.

Why Prototypes Beat Static Design

Lewis

One thing I strongly believe in is prototyping instead of static screens.

When you present static designs:

• leadership struggles to visualize the experience

• interactions get lost

• feedback becomes vague

But when you show a prototype, people immediately understand.

And if it looks polished, it creates a “wow” moment that helps you get approval.

That’s why I rarely use wireframes anymore.

Building AI Products at Veed

Lewis

At Veed we’re integrating a lot of AI capabilities into video creation.

One example is our AI Playground.

Users can generate:

• images

• videos

• scenes

using multiple AI models.

But one challenge is that writing prompts is hard for most users.

So instead of asking users to type prompts, we often provide visual templates.

For example:

Instead of typing
“Create sunrise lighting”

Users simply choose a lighting preset.

This removes friction.

The Biggest Challenge: AI Moves Too Fast

One of the hardest parts of building AI products right now is how quickly the technology changes.

For example:

We spent time building a system for editing images inside videos.

Then a new model called Kling Omni launched that could edit entire videos instantly.

So product teams constantly have to adapt to new capabilities.

The Blank Canvas Problem

A big UX insight Lewis shared:

Users struggle most when they start with nothing.

This happens in many creative tools.

Whether it's:

• video editing

• design

• writing

• content creation

Starting from scratch is intimidating.

That’s why templates, presets, and examples are so powerful.

They give users a starting point.

When AI Chat Interfaces Don’t Work

Veed experimented with an AI agent for video editing.

Users could type instructions like:

• “Make this video TikTok-ready”

• “Add subtitles”

• “Change subtitle color”

But adoption was low.

Why?

Because their users preferred visual editing instead of typing commands.

This was an important lesson.

Not every product workflow should become a chat interface.

The Future of Software

Lewis believes AI might eventually change how software works entirely.

Instead of subscribing to SaaS tools, people may simply generate the tool they need.

For example:

Instead of paying for a video editor, you might say:

“Create a tool that edits my podcast clips and adds captions.”

AI would generate it instantly.

Use it once.
Then discard it.

The Dark Side of AI Content

Lewis also mentioned how AI is already changing social media.

Examples include:

• AI influencers

• AI-generated viral videos

• fake personalities running accounts

Some accounts now publish multiple AI videos per day to grow followers.

This raises questions about trust and authenticity online.

Taste in Product Design

Jim Zarkadas

How do you define taste as a designer?

Lewis

Taste is very personal.

Recently in our team we debated whether UI panels should be:

• floating

• static

Some designers preferred one, others preferred the other.

At the end of the day, we chose floating panels because both the CEO and I liked them.

Taste plays a role.

But as designers, we shouldn’t design for ourselves.

We should think about what our users will find familiar and trustworthy.

That’s why many companies follow Apple’s design style — because users already trust it.

How Designers Develop Taste

Lewis develops his design taste through observation.

His main sources of inspiration are:

• Mobbin

• competitor products

• real production interfaces

His process usually looks like this:

1. Find inspiration

2. Study what works

3. Adapt it and add his own ideas

He admits he hates starting from scratch.

Favorite Products

Jim Zarkadas

What’s a product you love?

Lewis

A tool that made a big difference for me is Revolut.

Compared to traditional banks, the experience feels:

• cleaner

• faster

• easier to manage finances

They’ve built a strong ecosystem where you can handle everything in one place.

Least Favorite Product

Lewis jokingly mentioned his least favorite tool: Slack.

The main issue is information overload.

Large companies create:

• too many channels

• too many conversations

He likes Slack’s new AI summaries, but he suggested a better idea.

Instead of reading summaries, Slack should generate audio briefings.

So during your commute, you could listen to everything you missed at work.

Closing

Jim Zarkadas

This was a great conversation — thanks for joining.

Lewis

Thanks for having me. Time flew by.