I’m an AI designer, life coach, and yoga teacher
I’m Michael Restiano: a content designer, life coach, and yogi
I use many labels to describe what I do: AI designer, content designer, people leader, yoga teacher, and life coach. But the theme unifying all these activities is that I use the power of language to build, shape, and influence.
I use language to shape the behavior of AI models and the interfaces around them. I use it to design non-AI software, too.
But I also use language to get my yoga students into the right pose as concisely and safely as possible. I use it to facilitate transformative conversations with my coaching clients and direct reports. And I use it to express my ideas about design, life, and spirituality here on the web.
I believe that fundamental, abstract skillsets will be where human beings add value in the future because AI is rapidly democratizing specialized execution and output. When output becomes cheap and available, critical thinking, taste, vision, and impeccable communication become invaluable.
I don't overly identify with any one professional label, and I also don't think many labels indicate a lack of expertise. My same foundational core skills power the system of me, and new technology has just expanded the scope of what that system can create.
It all belongs
Nobody gets to be wrong
Be here now
It’s short; enjoy it
Two years ago, I called this section "content design." And if you look at my resume, you'll see that title used frequently in both IC and people manager roles. But I've started calling myself an AI designer because I believe that title best describes the work I now do.
I still write concise, on-brand, and accurate UI copy. But these days, most of the writing at Webflow is generated by the rigorous AI content harness I built across the company. I designed the context, workflows, and ontologies that govern that system, and I spend a decent amount of my time each day improving it. I also design full-stack prototypes (interaction, visual, and content design) for new features we're building at Webflow, write the system prompts for our agentic interfaces, and write the eval frameworks and annotations that allow us to actually measure improvements and catch regressions.
In my opinion, that's an entirely different job—but it's one the market doesn't have the right title for just yet. So, if you landed here to consider me as a candidate for a design, AI, content, or context role, I ask that you look beyond the titles and just pay attention to the work instead. That has been, and always will be, the best indication of what I can actually do at your company.
I deeply understand and define the context that runs your business. That includes information about your users, your tech stack, and your business goals.
I identify any gaps in that context and then work to fill them. That often involves working hand-in-hand with the right cross-functional subject matter experts.
Once the context is there, I make it into an iterative harness and use it to create designs, generate UX writing, and influence model behavior.
As I said above, I think this is an emerging title in the industry, so it's not clearly defined just yet. In my opinion, an AI designer has two major areas of responsibility. The first is that they design agent experiences through various tools—system prompts, eval frameworks, training data, and the like. And the second is that they do traditional product design work, but use AI to get the work rapidly into code so they can decide what works for the user and what doesn't alongside their cross-functional team. Doing the latter still requires being an expert in user experience, which is why many former content and product designers (like me) have started using this new title instead.
AI can generate designs—but this doesn't mean that it can actually DO design. Design is a human-centered process that requires user immersion, taste, judgement, critical thinking, and impeccable communication. Just because things can be rapidly built now doesn't always mean they should be. The AI designer's role is to determine what should even be built in the first place and why. Then, they use an LLM to make their ideas come to life.
I can't predict the future, but if I were a betting man, I'd bet not. And that's primarily because of the way LLMs actually work. When you ask an LLM to produce a design, or to write something, what it produces is essentially the median of what "good" looks like because that's how it was trained. The problem with the median of good is that it tends to be bland, tasteless, and sort of...wrong. You'll know this if you ever try to one-shot generate an interface or a blog post. The LLM can give you a good start, but its first pass (in my experience) is never, ever something I immediately ship. And that's often even with a strong context harness of skills and rules in the background. I believe that's because good writing and good design are specifically NOT a mathematical median. They are intentionally imperfect, opinionated, and transgressive in certain areas, in the way that only a human can be. So I think design will exist until LLMs start developing something like human consciousness. And that, my friends, is a whole other conversation.
I totally understand that titles and org design are sticky even with the industry reshaping around us. I consider myself a product designer at companies that already have some form of a design system. With a context system already in place, my output resembles what you'd expect from a traditional product designer. If you don't have a design system yet, and are looking to build one from scratch, I'm much more effective as a content designer who can own the language portions of your system and contribute content strategy and UX writing. I'm able to shape context and model behavior (sometimes called "model design") at any size company, regardless of the state of your design harness.
"Mike and I worked together as design leaders for the shopper-facing product teams at Instacart. Mike and I regularly evaluated methods to improve collaboration between Product Design and Content Design and up-level quality across our respective functions. Mike always provided clear and thoughtful feedback to his team, protected their capacity, and quickly addressed issues as they came up. I deeply appreciated Mike’s partnership and his passion for Content Design. Any organization would be thrilled to have him on their team."
Catriona Shedd
Director of Product Design, Instacart
"Mike embodies the absolute best in management skills. He’s brilliant, and he applies that brilliance to developing his own skills as a manager, colleague, speaker, teacher, coach, and friend. Endlessly curious and endlessly giving, Mike is the kind of manager who can bring joy to quiet moments, instill trust and self-confidence in his employees, and provide guidance through complicated situations. Alongside his management skills, Mike maintains his ability to write fluidly, developing strong narratives that entice, enlighten, and encourage. His unshakeable demeanor and deep love for people make him a priceless manager—the best I’ve had the pleasure to work with."
Kristin Wood-Page
Principal Content Designer, Cash App
I originally sought out yoga as an exercise practice I could do at home during the pandemic. I quickly discovered that the practice went far beyond just doing challenging stretches sequenced to breath and was actually a poignant, nuanced spiritual system that has deep implications for how we live our lives today.
I became an instructor in 2021 and have since been teaching at some of the biggest-name studios in New York City. Since then, I've completed over 500 hours of RYT (registered yoga teacher) training and have taken on private and small-group clients, too.
If you're looking to explore yoga from any (or just 1) of its 8 "limbs" of practice and want a teacher to guide you, please reach out.
I start by understanding your goals for yoga. Which parts of the practice speak to you, and which (if any) would you like to avoid?
Once we're aligned on goals, I'll create a plan to get there. This may include a personalized asana (posture) sequence, breathing techniques, and more.
We'll schedule 30-minute or 1-hour sessions on Zoom or in person to practice together. I'll offer adjustments or modifications as needed.
“Whenever I go to Mike's class, I can always count on having an exceptional instructor who provides clear guidance, an effective workout, and a mental refresh. I'm always impressed when he can communicate exactly how to fix my alignment.”
Mary Miller-Bush
Yoga student
Definitely not. What you typically experience in a yoga class is the "asana" (posture) practice, which constitutes just 1 of 8 (!) limbs of practice. Other pieces of a yoga practice include guidelines for personal conduct, conduct towards others, meditation, breath work, and concentration training. Even in an asana practice, the focus of yoga is to link breath to movement precisely, which goes far beyond the scope of just stretching.
If you want to become more flexible (physically and mentally), more in tune with your body, more focused, more concentrated, and more at ease with the twists and turns of life, yoga contains a lot of wisdom and guidance to get you there. If any (or all) of these are goals for you, consider reaching out to explore what your own personal yoga practice might look like.
I am indeed! I've been teaching in packed studios for nearly 4 years and am an executive myself during the 9-5. I can scale a practice and adjust my demeanor to whatever the environment needs.
Definitely. One of the most economical ways to make private teaching work is to take a class with 2 or 3 other friends to reduce the per-person cost. If this option sounds like something you're interested in, let's chat.
I'm a life coach trained on the Co-active coaching model and fast approaching ACC (Associate Credentialed Coach) certification with the ICF (International Coaching Federation). I became a coach because the work is the perfect marriage of my background as a people leader at major, successful companies and as a mind- and body-based somatic practitioner and yoga instructor.
Click the button to get full details on my coaching offering and book a free 30-minute discovery call.
Most people can benefit from coaching since we all tend to hold limiting beliefs and can frequently end up in lives and careers that are incongruous with our values. Folks that are particularly good fits for coaching may feel stuck, stagnant, or disillusioned with their lives but are unsure as to why. If that sounds like you, reach out to get a free discovery call scheduled.
Yes. Coaching is really a single, scalable modality that can be applied to any of the areas of our lives. The same principles one would use to coach a career also apply to how one would coach a relationship or a life as a whole. I always start by understanding which particular area of life my clients would like to focus on, and then we hone in from there. I tend to work with tech leaders who want more balance in their work and professional lives, but that's not all I see. If you're interested in working together, I recommend booking a discovery.
Yes! Coaching is not therapy, but it is synergistic with therapy. Coaching explores your inner values, perspectives, unprocessed emotions, thought patterns, goals, and more, but it does not pathologize anything as a mental illness and does not deal with the resolution of existing mental illness. While the two may blend together, I'll always refer a client to a qualified therapist if I suspect they're actually contending with a genuine mental health disorder.
The short answer is because I blend the proper training, executive experience, and somatic expertise in a way that few coaches can do because they lack those varied skillsets. My time as an executive, a yoga teacher, and a trained coaching professional allows me to deliver a unique process that reaches a client's mind, body, and soul. Check out my dedicated coaching page for more details.
Use this form to reach out if you're interested in working together on an AI design project, a private or semi-private yoga session, or to explore life coaching.
If I think it's a good fit, I'll reach out to schedule a totally free 30-minute discovery call to learn more about you and your needs.
Michael Restiano
Michael Restiano is not a licensed medical or mental health professional. All information on this site should not be interpreted as medical or professional mental health advice. Michael takes no responsibility for any results you may or may not achieve instituting practices outlined here. By reading this website, you agree to not hold Michael accountable for any adverse events you may experience. Use your discretion and judgement when instituting new practices. Michael offers no guarantees about the results of any of his offerings.
