I’m a digital designer, photographer and web designer in Dresden. And of course I wonder whether AI will eventually take over parts of my job.
The honest answer: yes, in some places it already does.
But I don’t see that as a threat in principle. For me, AI is above all a tool that makes certain tasks faster and easier. What matters to me is what I make of it.
From designer to art director
More and more often, clients come to me with things they’ve created themselves with AI. A logo, a poster, an image idea. Then it’s often no longer about me designing something completely new, but about the question: “Is this good? Can we use it like this?”
That shifts my role somewhat from classic designer to art director.
I look at whether the design fits the brand, whether the typography works, whether something is too much or whether important things are missing. Legal questions play a role, too. And sometimes the solution is quite simple: a different typeface, fewer symbols, a little more calm.
With AI-generated posters in particular, I now often see a certain uniform look. Technically, a lot of it looks good, but when everyone uses the same tools, similar results quickly emerge.
AI can design. But it doesn’t automatically know what’s really right for a particular client.
Web design is changing especially strongly
In web design, the change is even more obvious to me. Simple websites can now be developed very quickly with AI. Texts can be revised, layouts created and complete HTML pages built.
That saves time and can make websites cheaper for clients.
If a company only changes its website once or twice a year, in my opinion it doesn’t necessarily need a complex CMS. A cleanly built HTML site can be completely sufficient.
For me, the development time saved doesn’t mean my work is worth less. It’s changing. I can focus more on design, concept and the client’s requirements, while AI takes over part of the technical work.
I’m more relaxed about photography
With photography, I see things a little differently.
Of course, AI can now generate impressive images and get a lot out of existing photos. But when I photograph an event, I’m documenting something that actually took place.
AI can generate a plausible picture of it. But it can’t know what that specific moment really looked like.
And the more artificially generated images we see, the more important exactly this authenticity could become: a real company, real people and real situations. How I handle this in everyday work is described in a separate post: Where do I actually stand on AI-generated images?
I’ll keep using AI
I don’t want to avoid AI. On the contrary. I already use it and will continue to use it – in web design, for developing ideas, for texts and in many other areas.
But I don’t want to simply leave the design to the machine.
If AI gives me twenty drafts, I still have to decide which one works. And sometimes none of them is good enough.
So maybe in the future I’ll spend less time on pure production and more on selection, concept and art direction.
I don’t see that as losing my profession, but as a change.
AI will change my profession. But in the end, someone still has to design.
An outside look at your design?
You’ve designed something with AI and aren’t sure whether it works like this? That’s exactly what I like to look at – for graphic design just as much as for websites. Drop me a line and tell me what it’s about.