What the Rise of Computers Can Teach Designers About AI

I spend a little time on Reddit (u/AgedCreative69) and I see a lot of posts from younger designers (and older ones) that are concerned about the future of graphic design, advertising, & marketing and what it means for them & their future.  Below is a response to one of those posts... The TLDR; on this is that, in my opinion, we have been here before, and we came through it. We'll do so again... but it will change things. Bear in mind... this is oriented at graphic designers... Fine artists/Illustrators have their own challenges.

Original post here;  Interested in your thoughts.

Whewww… OK. Here I go. This is something I’ve wanted to get off my chest for a little while.

I see so much hand-wringing, teeth-gnashing, and worry being worn on designers’ sleeves over AI, and I’ve gotta tell you…it’s just not healthy. You would think that, as a 57-year-old designer, I’d be just as frightened by it as anyone else—if not more so. Truthfully, I’m not.

I know that many of you have never known this business without computers. When they first came along, as a lot of older designers will tell you, many of the same worries and concerns were voiced.

And while, yes, computers fundamentally changed our business and some specializations went by the wayside … who remembers color houses, plate makers, and typesetters? … the industry continued on.

We learned to adapt, and eventually, as is natural, older generations of designers were replaced by newer generations who understood the technology and knew how to get the best out of it. Those designers didn’t just survive the change. They expanded what designers could create, how quickly they could create it, and where that work could be used.

Although computers took some opportunities away, they also created entirely new ones. Eventually web design, motion graphics, 3D visualization, user-interface design, digital advertising, app design, interactive media, and social content all became viable career paths because of that technology.

Smaller studios and individual designers gained the ability to do work that once required entire production departments, outside vendors, and equipment most of us could never have afforded. Computers didn’t just change how we worked. They expanded what designers could do and who could do it.

Society is built on evolution and change, and AI will likely be the same way.

I’m not saying that AI is necessarily healthy, but it’s here. We have to figure out how to work with it, maintain the quality of work we’re used to, and establish the kind of integration we want to see in the future of our industry.

That doesn’t mean blindly accepting everything AI produces. It means learning where it is useful, where it falls short, and where human judgment still has to lead.

I hate seeing all the negative and defeatist posts on other platforms and watching designers fuel and feed each other’s fears. Younger designers have to rise above this, carry the torch, and chart the path of the industry’s future.

In addition, remember this: Those who are forcing AI slop down your throats never respected you in the first place and never valued what you did. To them, you were a necessary evil.

But the people and organizations that truly value creativity understand that the finished image, layout, animation, or campaign is only part of the work. They value the thinking behind it. They value judgment, strategy, taste, experience, context, emotion, and the ability to recognize whether an idea is actually any good.

AI may be able to speed up production, but production and creative thinking are not the same thing.

People still need to think, and people still need to have great ideas. Great creative is nothing without great ideas, and at the end of the day, that’s what is going to rise above the slop.

My opinion is that we’re still in the honeymoon stage with this whole AI thing. Right now, a lot of people are excited by what it can do without fully understanding its limitations, consequences, or appropriate role. Eventually, the novelty is going to wear off, and people are going to begin seeing the real personality that lies underneath it. As I recall, this was also the case with computers.

There’s an awful lot more I could say here, but crap, this is the longest post I’ve ever written. Even though I’m reciting it, autocorrect is making it hell to turn into something that makes sense.

Anyway, take this for what it’s worth. It’s just my two cents, and it’s been sitting on my chest for a while. This seemed like as good a time as any to get it off.