AI and where it fits with design

In truth, I'm still learning about how to best harness the power and help of AI. I've started using some AI tools like Midjourney and Adobe Firefly to help with design. ChatGBT has of course been useful for research for a while now! I am currently investigating plugins for Adobe XD and figma to explore page layouts.

At the research and discovery phase, AI helps analyze competitors and look for inspiration.

Real World Examples

Homepage animation

Featured on the homepage of my site I used a combination of AI generate images and my images to create a video of me in a book! The animation that AI can create from flat imagery is amazing but can also be somewhat clumsy and difficult to control!

Logo creation and ideation

Recently I experimented with Adobe Firefly (which plugs into Google Gemini/Nano Banana) to create ideas for a logo, incorporating a bee and other shapes. Although a lot of good looking ideas were generated, in the end I created something from scratch to meet the very specific and detailed vision of the client. So in this case, AI was part of the journey but couldn't create the final artwork.

Logo design - a mixture of AI generated ideas and old fashioned human leg-work. Some of the small details, for instance how the letters extend and overlap, comes not from AI, but from sketching or iterating ideas on screen.

Conclusion

AI can help ideate and create but the human role is unchanged because we must still decide what enhances design and experience versus what’s just decorative noise.

I'm discovering that the key to creating assets with AI is learning how to describe in detail exactly what you need, and then refine. It's true that I am just scratching the surface of AI and what is possible.