I sit down with Leon van Zyl, who ran a web design company for 10 years and now teaches over 700 people how to build real applications with coding agents. We walk through his exact workflow for building professional, client-ready websites using Google Stitch for the design system and Claude Code for the build — no coding skills required. Leon shows the difference between a one-shot AI-generated site and what you get when you front-load the design system before touching code. By the end, you'll have a repeatable workflow for going from design concept to finished website — including custom AI images that match your brand.Links Mentioned:Google Stitch: https://stitch.withgoogle.comClaude Code: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-codeCursor: https://www.cursor.comNext.js: https://nextjs.orgStitch MCP Server Docs: https://stitch.withgoogle.com/docs/mcpStitch Skills: https://stitch.withgoogle.com/docs/skillsTimestamps00:00 – Intro00:06 – What you'll learn: design systems for client-ready websites02:04 – Jumping into the screen share02:25 – The problem: one-shot AI websites look terrible03:52 – The Stitch workflow result: side-by-side comparison07:32 – Starting from a vanilla Next.js project08:50 – What is Google Stitch and how to get started10:00 – Prompting Stitch with brand details, fonts, and colors13:00 – Why design systems matter for coding agents16:00 – Iterating on the homepage before building more pages17:44 – Sharing Stitch designs with clients for approval21:23 – Setting up the Stitch MCP server in Claude Code23:18 – What an MCP server actually is (simple explanation)25:56 – Pulling the design system into your project28:47 – Memory files: Claude.md vs Agents.md explained33:24 – Converting the Stitch design into a working website35:06 – Installing the Stitch React Components skill41:11 – When to use this workflow: client work vs personal projects44:27 – Viewing the finished website vs the Stitch mockup48:27 – Downloading and converting images to WebP for performance53:46 – Generating custom AI images with Nano Banana Pro58:14 – Final result with branded AI-generated hero image01:00:48 – Key takeaways and wrap-upFIND ME ON SOCIALX/Twitter: https://x.com/coreyganimInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/coreyganim/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/coreyganim/FIND LEON ON SOCIALYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@leonvanzyl

Ask this episode

“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

Transcript

Related