Intro to Vibe Coding: A Co&Create Community Initiative
The Vessel Designs community is built on collaboration, shared knowledge, and supporting the people doing meaningful work around us. Through Co&Create, we love spotlighting individuals in our community who are making innovative tools and practices more accessible to others.
Co-founders of Northbound, Annika and Matthew bring a hands-on approach to AI that focuses less on hype and more on practical ways these tools can support everyday life. Matthew has been part of The Vessel Designs community since 2025, through Mt. Unpleasant. He generously offered to lead an Intro to Vibe Coding Workshop, creating a low-pressure space for people to explore AI, ask questions, experiment with ideas, and build confidence using these tools in their own work and creative practices.
As part of the upcoming Co&Create initiative, the Intro to Vibe Coding Workshop, we connected with Annika to talk about how she uses AI in her day-to-day life:
What excites you most about working in AI right now?
“AI can now be powerful in an equally game-changing way for the masses, not just for engineers. A year ago, as a non-technical person, most of my use of AI involved asking it questions or having it help draft something. Now I use it to build actual systems around my work and life: keeping track of conversations, helping me follow through on things, organizing what I know, and turning messy ideas into something usable.
That shift from talking to AI to embedding it in how you operate is what excites me most, and we are still in the early days. It is also why I care about getting people hands-on with these tools, so they can experience it firsthand for themselves and feel equipped to navigate our rapidly changing world.”
What are some of your favourite ways to personally use AI in your day-to-day life or work?
“A lot of my favourite uses are deeply unglamorous. For example, I have a weekly workflow that helps me review my meetings, capture what I learned, and remember what I actually shipped or promised to follow up on. It is not some futuristic robot assistant; it is just a much better way of making sure a busy week does not disappear into twelve browser tabs, meeting notes, and a vague sense that I forgot something.
At Northbound, Matt and I use AI constantly while planning events, researching, writing, and building tools for ourselves and clients. The things I return to most are not flashy. They are the simple, reliable workflows that reduce the amount of context I have to carry in my head.”
What’s something you hope people feel after interacting with Northbound or the tools you build?
“I hope people feel more capable and less intimidated. AI can be made to feel very abstract, technical, and overwhelming. Our goal is to make it practical and accessible. Sometimes that means helping someone build with AI themselves; sometimes it means shipping a useful tool into their workflow. Either way, I want people to leave feeling that this is something they can actually use, not just something happening around them.”
What advice would you give to someone who feels intimidated by AI but wants to start exploring it?
“Start with one small, bite-sized task in your own life or work. Maybe you have notes you never organize, research you need summarized, or an idea you've wanted to turn into something concrete. Ask it questions, tell it when the first answer is bad, and keep refining. You don't need to be technical to get value from these tools; I am proof of that. Curiosity and a willingness to experiment matter much more than expertise.”
What made you want to host this workshop as a Co&Create community initiative?
“AI is much less intimidating when you can explore it in a room with other people trying it too. A lot of people are curious, but they are not necessarily going to sit at home alone and decide this is the night they get started. A workshop gives people permission to try something, ask basic questions, and see what they can make with real-time support around them.
That is what I like about the Co&Create community setting: it makes the experience social, practical, and low-pressure. You do not need to arrive knowing exactly what you are doing. You just need to be willing to try.”