adapt or die: the design professional’s odyssey at the dawn of ai.
above midjourney bot
in the eloquent words of buckminster fuller, “a designer is an emerging synthesis of artist, inventor, mechanic, objective economist, and evolutionary strategist.” as we stand at the precipice of the ai era, it’s conceivable that fuller would have woven ‘poet’ into this tapestry of roles. this addition symbolizes the transformative journey of design professionals in the age of artificial intelligence.
it was just a matter of time for artificial intelligence [ai] to pay DesignApplause a visit. about 18 months ago we began hearing about a word generating application called chatgpt, a chatbot developed by openai and launched november 30, 2022. based on a large language model, it enables users to refine and steer a conversation towards a desired length, format, style, level of detail, and language. openai also has developed software that generates images from words. named dall-e a generative artificial intelligence program that generates images from natural language descriptions, called prompts. currently, midjourney and stable diffusion are fighting for supremacy in the image generation space.
here’s how it works and looks like: crafted from the cacophony of zeros and ones, an image springs to life based on nothing but a few words. definitely not ripe for submission, nor fully prepared, but frighteningly efficient and undoubtedly worthy of further exploration.
above dall-e bot
the evolution of design: a dance with technology the essence of design lies in its purpose: to forge functional, usable objects. this process has historically been a ballet of human creativity and technological advancement. from the initial sketch to the detailed drafting, designers have always been in lockstep with the tools of their times – from hand-drawn blueprints to cad and 3d modeling. now, ai ushers in a new epoch where designers narrate their visions directly to machines. the quintessential skill of the future is not just in creating but in articulating intentions with clarity and imagination, using the brain as the primary tool.
above midjourney bot
creative destruction: the artist’s rebirth great artists, like picasso, embraced ‘creative destruction’ to continually reinvent their perspectives. in the realm of design, this concept takes a new form. designers are evolving from mere creators to discerning editors – sifting through ai-generated possibilities, deciding what to keep and what to discard. this shift from artist to critic is epitomized by tools like midjourney, which generate multiple options, leaving the designer to select the most fitting. the future of design ai lies in a harmonious blend of technologies like gpt-4 and midjourney, offering a rich palette for creative exploration.
above> modjiurney bot
embracing ai: the designer’s new collaborator at the dawn of ai, the most prudent path for designers is not resistance but active participation in shaping this new tool. the analogy of photography’s journey from an unrecognized art form to a celebrated medium is apt here. ai, initially perceived as non-humanistic, is on a similar trajectory toward acceptance and appreciation in the design world. the successful designer of tomorrow will not work alone but in tandem with an ai collaborator. this partnership promises to expand the boundaries of creativity and efficiency, allowing designers to explore uncharted territories.
