AI Champions — Brand & Retail Experience

Advancing the Brand
with AI

What we're building. What we're learning. What's next.
May 2026 ✦ Brand & Retail Experience

Claude Design just dropped — and it changes what's possible for our creative workflow. This edition is dedicated to what it is, what it can do, and how to start using it. Plus: new org-wide AI resources, a must-read on token usage, and the Claude literacy building blocks to keep the whole team sharp.


Introducing: Claude Design
New from Anthropic · Relevant to Our Creative Workflow
What It Is
Anthropic's new visual creation tool — built for brand and creative teams.
Claude Design generates visual outputs from text and brand inputs. It lives on claude.ai (not the desktop app) and works best when you feed it context upfront: brand guidelines, design system references, tone of voice. It is not a Figma replacement. Think of it as a fast, intelligent starting point for non-designers and a rapid ideation layer for the design team.
Watch · Anthropic
Claude Design: Official Introduction
Anthropic's launch overview — what it is, how it works, and where it fits in a creative workflow. Start here if you haven't seen it yet.
Watch on YouTube →
Read · Lenny's Newsletter · April 22, 2026
What Claude Design Is Actually Good For (And Why Figma Isn't Dead Yet)
A practical walkthrough covering design system imports, Claude Design's relationship to Figma, and the three strongest use cases. Directly relevant to our BE creative workflow.
Read the Article →

Must Read
Recommended by the AI Champions Team
15-Minute Read · Token Usage
Why You Keep Hitting Claude's Usage Limits — And How to Stop
If your team is encountering usage limits in Claude, this article explains why they happen faster than expected and how to avoid them. It covers how model choice acts as a cost multiplier, when to use Extended Thinking and when not to, and simple habits around file formats and conversation length that can cut token consumption significantly. As we continue rolling out Claude across the org, these are the habits that separate teams who get real value from those who hit walls and give up.
Limited Edition by Jonathon · Substack
Read the Article →

Navigating AI at Brilliant Earth
New Org-Wide Programs · Launching Now
Learning · Async
BE AI Training Hub
A centralized Confluence space for Loom videos and async training content — the inaugural curriculum covers Claude Cowork setup and prompting.
Learning · Live
Alex-Led Office Hours
Every Friday at 9:30 AM PT — a drop-in hour for the full organization to ask anything about AI. No agenda, just questions.
Learning · Live
AI Champions Office Hours
Bimonthly themed Q&A sessions with AI Champions as co-hosts, recorded and archived in the Training Hub for async access.
Org-Wide · Teams
BE AI News Channel
A curated Teams channel with verified AI news, tool tips, and industry resources available to all BE employees. Coming soon!

Resources
Tools & Team Knowledge
Guide · Anthropic
The Complete Guide to Building Skills for Claude
Anthropic's official guide to building Claude Skills — from structure and planning to testing and distribution.
External Training · AI Certification
We Completed the Vjal Institute 10-Week Course!
The Brand and Retail Experience AI Champions team finished Vjal's full 10-week applied AI certification program. A huge milestone for the cohort.
Team Knowledge · Creative & Design
In-House AI Workflow Deck
How the creative team uses AI across image production, post-production, and video today.
Team Knowledge · Design
Design Team: AI Tools Overview
An early-stage overview of AI tools the design team has explored — useful context for where we started.
Past Issue · March 2026
AI Champions Newsletter — March 2026
The first edition of the newsletter, covering foundational resources, agents, vocabulary, and Claude products.

Claude Products: What's What
Claude.ai · Claude Code · Claude Cowork · Claude Design
💬
Everyday Use
Claude.ai Chat
Web and mobile interface for writing, research, brainstorming, and drafting. Works in Projects for persistent context. Most of the team uses this daily.
💻
For Developers
Claude Code
Command-line tool that lets Claude write, edit, and run code in your codebase. Best for engineering teams building automations and apps.
🖥️
Now Rolling Out
Claude Cowork
Desktop tool for non-developers. Automates file and task management — connect to Outlook, Asana, Figma, and more. See the Training Hub for tutorials on prompting Cowork specifically.
🎨
New · Creative Workflow
Claude Design
Generates visual outputs from text and brand inputs. Lives on claude.ai (not the desktop app) and works best when fed brand guidelines and design system context upfront. Not a Figma replacement — a smart tool for producing and iterating on visual assets.

Vocab: AI Terms To Know
Glossary · Claude Edition · New This Month
Claude Design
Anthropic's newest capability for generating visual outputs from text and brand inputs. Lives on claude.ai and works best when fed context like brand guidelines upfront.
Context Window
The total amount of text Claude can hold in mind within one conversation. When a chat runs long, older content can drop out — a key reason to use Projects for ongoing work.
System Prompt
Background instructions that shape how Claude behaves before a conversation starts. This is how BE agents like Brand QA and IMC are configured to stay on-brand and on-task.
Temperature
A setting that controls how predictable or creative Claude's responses are. Lower is reliable and consistent; higher introduces more variety, useful for brainstorming.
Model
The specific version of Claude you're talking to: Haiku, Sonnet, or Opus. Each has different capability levels and token costs — choosing the right one extends your monthly usage.

💡
Pro Tip: Match Your Model to Your Task
Not every task needs the most powerful model. When starting a new Claude chat, you can choose between Haiku, Sonnet, and Opus — and the choice directly affects how quickly you hit your monthly usage limit. Use Haiku for simple drafts, summaries, and quick questions. Use Sonnet for most day-to-day work. Reserve Opus for complex, high-stakes tasks that genuinely require deeper reasoning. The habit of defaulting to Sonnet instead of Opus alone can extend your monthly allocation significantly.

💬
AI Tips & Tricks
Teams Channel · Real-time cross-sharing for the team · Now live to all BE employees
Join the Channel →