How AI Is Changing The Way We Design

For years, we’ve seen artificial intelligence depicted in science fiction movies as a futuristic technology that was just out of reach. And since AI took over the world we had to deal with the changes and the consequences everything has brought over us.

Some jobs were erased, and some appeared as well. But for the ones worried that the end is approaching, it’s not the case when it comes to UI/UX design. As many of us are hoping on the AI bandwagon, we can expect to see some impressive advancements and uses of AI in all industries and this also includes the graphic design industry.

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The Rise of AI

Artificial intelligence is everywhere and it is slowly taking over all industries - especially graphic design. But first, let’s find out more about AI. AI can be defined as John McCarthy put it “It is the science and engineering of making intelligent machines, especially intelligent computer programs. It is related to the similar task of using computers to understand human intelligence, but AI does not have to confine itself to methods that are biologically observable.". Meaning that AI has the power to replicate or mimic human behavior once it is programmed to do so. 

As AI is transforming every industry, the power of conversational AI technologies, such as chatbots, AI-powered virtual assistants, and natural language processing (NLP) tools, has become more and more helpful as they can offer the best services at any time. And if you are wondering how they work, well, these tools can be effectively utilized to automate customer service and enhance the overall customer experience. 

So, if you have a question regarding your UI/UX design, you can expect an answer immediately. As AI-powered tools can deliver round-the-clock assistance, available 24/7, which can be a huge relief as medical problems don’t come at a specific hour. 

American futurist and speaker Thomas Frey predicted in one of his TEDx talks that by 2030, approximately 2 billion jobs will have disappeared. And if that number doesn’t ring any bells for you, well that number represents nearly half of the number of jobs in the world. And the main cause is robots and AI. 

But, while jobs disappear, others will appear. We have self-driving cars, chatbots that are operating continuously, smart homes, smartphones, and smartwatches. Mostly, every gadget or piece of technology that has the word smart in it, seems to be our first choice. 

The short answer is no, they will not disappear. Do you remember The Grid? The tool that would miraculously deliver you websites that can adapt to any size or device, designs that would be coded and ready to run at any time. The Grid would have been the tool that adapts and uses artificial intelligence to make changes along the way as you upload more content to your platform, all without the need for any UI/UX designer. But if you don’t know how that turned out, well you probably haven’t heard of them for a reason. It was nothing like they would imagine. 

The choices you make when creating a design are not all based on an algorithm, you choose the color of your design not based on color meaning and you don’t choose the icons and the animation based on a strict set of rules. UI/UX designers express feelings and make a design that shows empathy. 

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Designers Should Work Alongside AI

For UI/UX designers to keep up and not be left behind, working alongside AI tools seems to be the best practice available. With every update that comes, we are more scared that our job can be done by a robot, but things are not quite like that. Think about the countless hours spent researching, the user testing, or observing how your user reacts when being given a design. A tool will be able to catch up on some of those characteristics but will not be able to really see the emotions your users are feeling.  

But we can train AI to help us instead, and we can train AI to do the work and tasks that can be automated. Cropping, resizing, or adjusting the colors from a photo can be done with the help of AI. Imagine an AI doing all the groundwork for you, so you can stay and focus on other tasks and be more productive. 

Even more so, AI can be used when creating specific graphics, which can later be integrated into your design. But, like in every other domain, with new capabilities, new challenges come along and make us rethink our strategy when it comes to designing. AI can help us organize our ideas, see different options, and deliver certain design elements or graphics, yet it can’t compete with human emotions, and replace the power that comes with creativity and new ideas. 

AI can also help designers when it comes to creating visual styles. An AI tool can be used to generate different layers and filters that can be applied to photos and videos. And there are some AI tools that started doing this, Artisto or Prisma. The apps can scan and analyze the specific content you are providing and see what certain changes can or can’t be made depending on the elements that AI recognizes.  

And the power of AI doesn’t stop there. It can also help generate certain elements and sketches. So, if your drawing skills are not on point you can receive the help you need from AI. If you are going to ask your grandparents how they were conducting work, best believe that concepts like “ automated tasks” or “robots” will not be mentioned at all. Their work was most likely done manually, with a lot of physical or mental effort, and without the aid of modern technology and automated tasks. And when it comes to machine learning the whole process can be done due to the power of engaging with the mechanism. AI learns is made by us, it learns our patterns and it is trained daily by everyone who is using it. So, it can learn our patterns and slowly predict our intentions.

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“As Artificial intelligence is not a substitute for human intelligence; it is a tool to amplify human creativity and ingenuity” as Fei Fei Li, an American computer scientist who has brought AI a new step forward, said. 

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AI also has the ability to personalize the user experience for everyone. Having knowledge about your audience is the most important thing when it comes to building your design.  And building a predictable design can be done with the help of AI.

Accessibility is one of the most important features when it comes to design. Accessibility is the one that can improve usability and features like an intuitive design, and clear and organized navigation that can be used by everyone. Being accessible should be more important than having a complex or aesthetically pleasing design that is hard to understand or read. 

As Steve Ballmer, former Microsoft CEO, said “Accessible design is good design if it benefits people who don’t have disabilities as well as people who do. Accessibility is all about removing barriers and providing the benefits of technology for everyone.”.  So, when creating a design we need to make sure that anyone can benefit from it. 

 However, coming up with all possible variables and scenarios that can interfere with your design can be challenging. But AI can help us with that. As sites are getting smarter and smarter you can analyze how the users interact with your design. 

We should also keep in mind that users commonly use an F-pattern when scrolling through a design, website, or app. So, keeping that in mind don’t overdo it with a ton of details that will slow down your user when interacting with it. And, variables can help us try out different versions of the designs and see which one is the most accessible.

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So, while Artificial intelligence will impact humanity, we are confident that, as humans, we will be able to adapt to its effects. We shouldn’t work against artificial intelligence but rather alongside it. 

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We at uinkits understand the importance of inputs in great user experiences and creating amazing UI designs. That’s why we’ve developed a Figma UI Kit with design components that include these essential UI elements that enable you to design intuitive and user-friendly interfaces effortlessly. 

“You press the button, we do the rest,” – Kodak.

Inspired by this iconic tagline from Kodak, we believe in simplifying the design process for you. Our Figma UI Kit, uinkits, is a complete design system with UI components that allows you, as a UI UX designer, to create your products as quickly as pressing a button. 

Our design system includes UI components, variables, cards, buttons, and everything you need for your design process. All you have to do is take your UI design component needed, and you’re ready to use it in your designs!