Let's talk about AI

Love it or loathe it, AI is here to stay. Over the past year, I’ve gone from being extremely sceptical, to someone who now uses it regularly. So what’s changed?

Focusing on the positives, I have found AI most helpful as an editor and analytical tool. As someone who is gradually learning to use social media, I have found it helpful for suggesting how to communicate with followers and potential clients across different platforms. Whether suggesting captions, hashtags, post ideas or editing my writing to be more appropriate for different audiences, it scores very highly.

I have also found it to be incredibly intuitive in knowing my ‘voice’ – something which is important to me as I have always wanted to sound friendly and approachable in my work! There is also no end to the possibility AI can offer when it comes to content creation ideas, marketing strategies, and client attraction and engagement. And as a one woman band, this has the potential to save me time and money!

But, and it’s a big BUT, I would never ever use AI for colour and design. Asking AI to create a design, colour scheme or mood board would completely take away from the authenticity of who I am and the services I offer. Not only do I love that work (so why would I ask a bot to do it for me), but crucially AI cannot delve into our emotions and our personal responses to colour. It cannot create designs which have a heart and soul, and which connect with the end client on an emotional level. And that’s what my designs are all about. It’s not just about using colour, but using the right colours which connect with people and support how they want to feel in a room.

Just by way of illustration, I tried this out. I recently asked ChatGPT to look at my website and create a mood board based on my presentation style. I gave it a brief - “design a mood board for a client living room. They want to use dark blue, greens and touches of mustard yellow. They like natural materials and connections with the outdoors. They need suggestions for wall coverings, curtains, rugs, cushions, sofas and an armchair. Storage also needs to be considered for busy family life.”

AI generated

This is what it came up with.

OK, so AI can put together mood boards. But there are so many things wrong with this! The images appear very flat. They aren't laid out well. They have stuck too much to a formula of colours without any interest in patterns or texture. It certainly doesn't reflect my presentation style. Perhaps most importantly, it lacks personality. It doesn’t tell a story. It doesn’t make me feel….anything.

And the reason for that is because AI is unable to replicate the way humans connect with each other. It cannot recreate the relationship between designer and end user, and the intuition that comes from that. .

Here's my design!

So the good news is that whilst AI tools are useful for many processes, it won’t be replacing us designers any time soon. I will keep doing what I do – meeting with people, listening to their stories, and designing rooms which connect to how they want to feel.