Location
USA
Duration
10 weeks (April 30 – July 9, 2025)
Date
Jan 12, 2026
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Notion
Location
USA
Duration
10 weeks (April 30 – July 9, 2025)
Date
Jan 12, 2026
Tools
Figma, FigJam, Notion
The Client
Barista is an AI-powered platform built for public relations agencies. Its goal is to free PR teams from the daily grind of writing, reporting, and chasing data so they can focus on what humans do best: telling powerful stories. Barista acts like an editorial assistant trained on your client’s voice, helping professionals create content, monitor media, and generate pitch ideas instantly. The team came to us with strong early work, including wireframes, user flows, and early feedback. What they needed was a design partner to turn that foundation into a cohesive, high-fidelity experience that felt thoughtful, intuitive, and unmistakably PR-friendly.
The Client
Barista is an AI-powered platform built for public relations agencies. Its goal is to free PR teams from the daily grind of writing, reporting, and chasing data so they can focus on what humans do best: telling powerful stories. Barista acts like an editorial assistant trained on your client’s voice, helping professionals create content, monitor media, and generate pitch ideas instantly. The team came to us with strong early work, including wireframes, user flows, and early feedback. What they needed was a design partner to turn that foundation into a cohesive, high-fidelity experience that felt thoughtful, intuitive, and unmistakably PR-friendly.
The Challenge
Barista was never meant to be just another AI app. It needed to feel like a colleague built for PR teams, not a complex dashboard. While the underlying AI engine was powerful, the early UI felt unfinished. The client needed a clearer, more intuitive interface that balanced structure with warmth without overwhelming users with editorial noise. Our role was to design the core product flows, build a flexible design system, and establish a visual language that made AI feel supportive, approachable, and genuinely useful for everyday PR work.
The Challenge
Barista was never meant to be just another AI app. It needed to feel like a colleague built for PR teams, not a complex dashboard. While the underlying AI engine was powerful, the early UI felt unfinished. The client needed a clearer, more intuitive interface that balanced structure with warmth without overwhelming users with editorial noise. Our role was to design the core product flows, build a flexible design system, and establish a visual language that made AI feel supportive, approachable, and genuinely useful for everyday PR work.
Our Approach
We treated Barista as a long-term product, not a feature-led AI tool. The focus was on understanding how PR teams work day to day, where friction shows up, and how different roles interact with the platform.
We used research and mid-fidelity wireframes as alignment tools, collaborating closely with the team to test assumptions, validate flows, and make decisions early. Visual design came only after the structure felt right, ensuring every interface choice had a clear purpose.
Our Approach
We treated Barista as a long-term product, not a feature-led AI tool. The focus was on understanding how PR teams work day to day, where friction shows up, and how different roles interact with the platform.
We used research and mid-fidelity wireframes as alignment tools, collaborating closely with the team to test assumptions, validate flows, and make decisions early. Visual design came only after the structure felt right, ensuring every interface choice had a clear purpose.
What We Did
We redesigned Barista’s core workflows to make everyday PR tasks faster and easier. Onboarding, content creation, client setup, and credit management were streamlined to feel natural and efficient. A role-based system gave Super Admins, Admins, and Members clear access without overwhelming them.
Visually, we introduced a modular design system that matched Barista’s professional and editorial tone. Clear typography, flexible components, and subtle guidance brought writing tools, content previews, and billing into one cohesive interface that feels like a polished assistant, not traditional software.
What We Did
We redesigned Barista’s core workflows to make everyday PR tasks faster and easier. Onboarding, content creation, client setup, and credit management were streamlined to feel natural and efficient. A role-based system gave Super Admins, Admins, and Members clear access without overwhelming them.
Visually, we introduced a modular design system that matched Barista’s professional and editorial tone. Clear typography, flexible components, and subtle guidance brought writing tools, content previews, and billing into one cohesive interface that feels like a polished assistant, not traditional software.
Design System
We built a flexible, future-ready design system that balances structure with personality, helping Barista feel both intelligent and human. Every component was designed for clarity and speed, with typography, spacing, and layout grounded in usability best practices.
The type system draws from modern, editorial-inspired fonts that feel natural in PR and media environments. Colors were chosen for subtle contrast and restraint, giving the interface confidence without visual noise. Reusable components such as buttons, form fields, tags, and navigation were designed to scale seamlessly across user roles, devices, and future product features.
Design System
We built a flexible, future-ready design system that balances structure with personality, helping Barista feel both intelligent and human. Every component was designed for clarity and speed, with typography, spacing, and layout grounded in usability best practices.
The type system draws from modern, editorial-inspired fonts that feel natural in PR and media environments. Colors were chosen for subtle contrast and restraint, giving the interface confidence without visual noise. Reusable components such as buttons, form fields, tags, and navigation were designed to scale seamlessly across user roles, devices, and future product features.
Your AI Co-Writer + Team Collaborator
At the heart of Barista is the Content Editor, a space designed for clarity and creative control. Each prompt is displayed alongside the AI-generated output, with tools to revise, re-prompt, or save multiple drafts.
We also added a built-in commenting feature, allowing team members to leave feedback, ask questions, or suggest edits directly in the editor. It turns a solo workflow into a collaborative one, giving PR teams a real-time space to think, write, and refine together.
Your AI Co-Writer + Team Collaborator
At the heart of Barista is the Content Editor, a space designed for clarity and creative control. Each prompt is displayed alongside the AI-generated output, with tools to revise, re-prompt, or save multiple drafts.
We also added a built-in commenting feature, allowing team members to leave feedback, ask questions, or suggest edits directly in the editor. It turns a solo workflow into a collaborative one, giving PR teams a real-time space to think, write, and refine together.
Design Process & Visuals
We wanted Barista to feel less like software and more like a teammate. The experience stays clear and focused, from role-based dashboards that give Admins visibility without clutter, to simple starting points that begin with a choice between idea exploration and writing.
Each client workspace is tuned to its own voice, helping teams stay consistent as content takes shape. Commenting and versioning are woven in quietly, so collaboration feels natural and never breaks the flow of work.
Design Process & Visuals
We wanted Barista to feel less like software and more like a teammate. The experience stays clear and focused, from role-based dashboards that give Admins visibility without clutter, to simple starting points that begin with a choice between idea exploration and writing.
Each client workspace is tuned to its own voice, helping teams stay consistent as content takes shape. Commenting and versioning are woven in quietly, so collaboration feels natural and never breaks the flow of work.
Testing & Iteration
After sharing the prototypes, we gathered feedback from the Barista team and their early users. Several adjustments were made: softening some of the visual elements, increasing whitespace for readability, and tuning the interaction model to feel more "editorial studio" than "tech SaaS."
Testing & Iteration
After sharing the prototypes, we gathered feedback from the Barista team and their early users. Several adjustments were made: softening some of the visual elements, increasing whitespace for readability, and tuning the interaction model to feel more "editorial studio" than "tech SaaS."
The Results
The Barista team now has a complete product experience that reflects their original vision. It brings together advanced AI with a distinctly human approach to PR work. The platform is modular, role-aware, and designed to grow as new features are added. Early responses from clients have been positive, and the product is ready for pilot testing and broader team adoption.
The Results
The Barista team now has a complete product experience that reflects their original vision. It brings together advanced AI with a distinctly human approach to PR work. The platform is modular, role-aware, and designed to grow as new features are added. Early responses from clients have been positive, and the product is ready for pilot testing and broader team adoption.
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