AI and Design: Let's not worry.

I recently came across a quote from Mychael Owen, writer at 50odd.co.uk:

"To not use AI for anything is as daft as using AI for everything."

That pretty much sums up my view on AI.

I like AI, and I use AI.

As a designer, it would be easy to see AI as a threat. But honestly, I'm not scared of it. AI is a tool. Like Photoshop, Illustrator, Canva, or any other piece of software we've adopted over the years, it's there to help us work smarter. It can enhance skills, speed up processes, and help generate ideas, but it doesn't replace experience, creativity, or good judgement.

The thing many people forget is that AI is only as good as the person using it. The quality of what comes out depends on what goes in. A vague prompt usually produces a vague result. A thoughtful prompt, backed by design knowledge and creative direction, produces something much more useful.

Sure, anyone can now generate a logo in ChatGPT or create a poster for their local cricket club's summer fayre. And sometimes the results are decent. But you can usually tell.

Good design isn't just about making something look nice. It's about understanding the audience, solving a problem, communicating a message, and creating something that feels right. That's where human intuition comes in.

AI has been trained on work created by people. It learns from human creativity, but it doesn't truly understand it. It can't sit in a client meeting and read between the lines. It can't understand company culture, pick up on subtle feedback, or challenge an idea because it knows there's a better solution. Those are human skills.

In many ways, AI reminds me of the conversation around Canva when it first became popular. Canva has been around for years, and overall, it’s made design more accessible. That's not a bad thing. It allows small businesses, charities, and people to create things they might never have been able to afford before.

But Canva hasn’t replaced designers.

And neither has AI.

Anyone can drag elements onto a template. Anyone can generate an image. Anyone can create a logo. But design is more than the final output. The value comes from the thinking behind it. It's the result of years spent learning typography, layout, branding, colour theory, user behaviour, and visual communication.

And more importantly, it’s the natural skill of the designer themselves. Like Messi in football. Some designers just have the gift.

I use AI as part of my work. I’ve used it to tighten this blog. I’m not ashamed of that, I may even leave an em dash in every now and again. ;)

AI helps me explore ideas, speed up research, organise thoughts, and occasionally get past creative blocks. What it doesn't do is replace my design process. It’s simply another tool to work with.

The designers who embrace AI will likely benefit from it and the designers who don’t want to use it will still flourish. But the designers who rely on it completely - they’ll struggle. 

Technology will keep evolving, just as it always has. New tools will appear, old ones will disappear, and the industry will continue to change. But creativity, strategic thinking, and human insight remain the things that separate good design from great design.

A good business and a good designer understands that.

So, yeah. Viva l'AI. Let's use it for good.