Kenna AI

Context

Overview

Fashion teams move a design from sketch to sample through round after round of manual iteration, and every round costs days. Kenna’s bet was that generative AI built for fashion could turn a sketch or a sentence into a production-ready visual in seconds. I was asked to design that experience for fashion designers. It was one of the most rewarding projects I’ve worked on, because I saw it through from the first idea to launch.

My role

Research
AI product UI
Brand
Design system
Marketing site front end
Email program

The challenge

The designers Kenna was built for are experts in fashion, not in AI. The generative tools of the time were made for everyone: a blank prompt box, results that changed with every try, and little say over fabric, fit or detail. The challenge was to make Kenna feel as simple as typing a sentence or uploading a sketch, while keeping the controls designers need to steer the AI, from positive and negative prompts to guidance sliders and variations. If it was too simple, results felt random. With too many controls, it felt like a tool for engineers.

DesignResearch

I ran a competitive analysis of Kenna against Adobe Express, the AI design tool designers already knew, and two fashion-focused AI tools, Raspberry AI and Resleeve. The findings shaped Kenna’s positioning and core feature set.

Company	Adobe Express
Findings
What stood out	Prompt-first home: “What do you want to make?” Results sit next to the controls that made them	Strong fashion focus and fast concept iteration Strongest early, during concept generation and exploration	Campaign-ready visuals and virtual photoshoots Less depth for product development	Built for fashion designers, from a sketch or a sentence
What I took into Kenna	A single prompt as the front door Prompt, settings and results on one screen	Carry the idea past the concept stage, through to a realistic product visual	Go deep on product development: pattern and garment visualization	One decision from each tool, in one workflow
Features
Fashion-specific workflow	No	Yes	No	Yes
Product visualization	No	Yes	Yes	Yes
Marketing content creation	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Team / brand tools	Yes	No	Yes	Yes
Generative AI	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes

Adobe ExpressWhat stood out
- Prompt-first home: “What do you want to make?”
- Results sit next to the controls that made them
What I took into Kenna
- A single prompt as the front door
- Prompt, settings and results on one screen
Features
- NoFashion-specific workflow
- NoProduct visualization
- YesMarketing content creation
- YesTeam / brand tools
- YesGenerative AI
What stood out
- Strong fashion focus and fast concept iteration
- Strongest early, during concept generation and exploration
What I took into Kenna
- Carry the idea past the concept stage, through to a realistic product visual
Features
- YesFashion-specific workflow
- YesProduct visualization
- YesMarketing content creation
- NoTeam / brand tools
- YesGenerative AI
What stood out
- Campaign-ready visuals and virtual photoshoots
- Less depth for product development
What I took into Kenna
- Go deep on product development: pattern and garment visualization
Features
- NoFashion-specific workflow
- YesProduct visualization
- YesMarketing content creation
- YesTeam / brand tools
- YesGenerative AI
What stood out
- Built for fashion designers, from a sketch or a sentence
What I took into Kenna
- One decision from each tool, in one workflow
Features
- YesFashion-specific workflow
- YesProduct visualization
- YesMarketing content creation
- YesTeam / brand tools
- YesGenerative AI

DesignBrand

I explored three logo directions. The first two concepts were too busy at small sizes, so each iteration reduced detail until we landed on a clean wordmark.

01 ConceptA hanger folded into a K: fashion first, but busy at small sizes.

02 ConceptA standalone K with a fold of depth. Still too busy, so we kept simplifying.

03 FinalThe one we chose: a clean wordmark with the tagline, endless inspiration.

DesignDesign system

I built the design system to keep every Kenna screen consistent: color, type and spacing foundations, plus buttons and badges in Kenna red.

01 Overview

Kenna AI Design System

The visual language for Kenna AI: one brand red for actions and AI results, on a gray scale.

TypefaceSystem UIThe device's native sans: Bold 700 headlines, Medium 500 UI

Brand red#B22234Every primary action and highlight

Corner radius6 to 16pxButtons, tiles, cards and pricing

Logo

02 Colors

Color Palette

One brand red against a gray scale. Red marks the next action and the AI's results; everything else is gray.

Brand

#B22234Kenna RedPrimary actions, highlightsrgb(178, 34, 52)

#961C2CRed HoverPressed and hoverrgb(150, 28, 44)

#F7E9EBRed TintIcon tiles (red at 10%)rgb(247, 233, 235)

#FCE7F3BlushPromo badgesrgb(252, 231, 243)

Text

#111827Gray 900Headlinesrgb(17, 24, 39)

#1F2937Gray 800Card titlesrgb(31, 41, 55)

#374151Gray 700Nav, secondary buttonsrgb(55, 65, 81)

#4B5563Gray 600Body copyrgb(75, 85, 99)

#6B7280Gray 500Muted, idle tabsrgb(107, 114, 128)

Surfaces

#FFFFFFWhiteCards, pagergb(255, 255, 255)

#F9FAFBGray 50Stat cards, sectionsrgb(249, 250, 251)

#F3F4F6Gray 100Comparison cardsrgb(243, 244, 246)

#E5E7EBGray 200Dividers, bordersrgb(229, 231, 235)

#D1D5DBGray 300Input and outline bordersrgb(209, 213, 219)

03 Typography

Type Scale

A single system sans keeps the product fast and familiar. Hierarchy comes from weight and size, from Bold 700 headlines to Medium 500 labels.

Display700 · 60px

Bring Your Designs to Life

Heading 2700 · 36px

Your Complete AI Fashion Toolkit

Heading 3700 · 24px

Sketch to Image

Stat700 · 36px

1M+

Lead400 · 20px

Transform sketches into stunning designs in seconds.

Body400 · 16px

Describe your fashion concepts in words and our AI will generate unique, high-quality images.

Label500 · 14px

Generate Image · Sketch to Image · Create Variations

04 Spacing

Spacing Scale

Built on Tailwind's 4px scale. Cards breathe at p-8 (32px) and sections at py-20 (80px), so dense AI results never feel crowded. Hover a step to highlight it.

14px

28px

312px

416px

520px

624px

832px

1248px

1664px

2080px

05 Buttons

Button System

Solid red for the primary action, an outline for everything else. 6px corners, Medium 500 labels.

Variants

Start FreeWatch Demo LoginStart Generating

Sizes

SmallMediumLarge

States

DefaultHoverFocusedDisabledGenerating

06 Badges

Badges & Tags

Live on the site: pill badges for pricing. Suggested extensions below are labeled as such: the generation states an AI product needs, built from the same tokens.

Live on site

Save $100/year2 months freeFully rounded · 12px Semibold

Suggested: AI generation states

GeneratingReadyNeeds reviewLive: Generating

Suggested: tool tags

Sketch to ImageText to ImageVariationsBackground RemovalUpscale

LaunchFinal designs

What will you design today?

I designed the home screen around a single prompt field: describe a design or upload a sketch, with community prompts to solve the blank-canvas problem.

The workspace.

The workspace pairs generated results with the controls that shape them: positive and negative prompts, model choice and guidance, so designers can see which setting changed the result.

Endless variations.

Create Variations generates multiple options from one design, keeping the silhouette while exploring color, material and detail.

Kenna app home: What will you design today?

What will you design today? I designed the home screen around a single prompt field: describe a design or upload a sketch, with community prompts to solve the blank-canvas problem.
The workspace. The workspace pairs generated results with the controls that shape them: positive and negative prompts, model choice and guidance, so designers can see which setting changed the result.
Endless variations. Create Variations generates multiple options from one design, keeping the silhouette while exploring color, material and detail.

LaunchEmail

I designed the email program to drive onboarding and feature adoption. Each campaign introduced an AI feature, and every image was generated in Kenna.

Revolutionize Your Designs with Kenna AI’s New Blend Tool! email

Scroll the email

Takeaways

Made for designers, and easy to use.

User testing after launch showed that our designers loved the platform for two reasons. It was made for them: everything was built around fashion, which most AI tools aren’t. And it was easy to use, with quick prompting that got them from an idea to a design fast.

Ship what matters most.

Kenna taught me how to work side by side with developers, a product manager and a project manager on a startup budget. There was a real learning curve: with tight budgets, we couldn’t build everything I designed, so we prioritized together and shipped only the most important features. It taught me to design with the build in mind.

What I’d do next

A year after launch, I audited the product and the competition, and these stood out.

01An AI prompt assistant
A bot that rewrites a designer's prompt with the detail the model needs, so better results don't depend on prompt skill.
02Demos on hover
Show what a tool does the moment someone hovers it, instead of a text-heavy Learn page.
03One tool, mastered
Onboard designers on a single key tool first, then broaden, to fix low retention.