Generative A.I. and the Designer – a New Unity

Today, most graphic designers, especially those who are professionally trained, operate within the monopolistic Adobe ecosystem since their schooling. Therefore, with Adobe's launch of Firefly, people are left wondering about their potential reactions. If we had asked designers five years ago, over 90% of respondents would have said that it is not possible; human designers cannot be replaced by machines. However, if we were to conduct the same survey today, the results would be drastically different.

When urbancoolab (now coolab.ai) first launched our generative AI designer in 2018, most people were apprehensive about the advent of creative machines. Upon witnessing the results it produced, people went into denial. However, with the proliferation of AI tools, denial is no longer tenable.

Walter Gropius (Walter Adolph Georg Gropius, a German-American architect and founder of the famous Bauhaus School of Design) once stated that one of the aims of the Bauhaus was 'a new unity' between art and technology. Was the Bauhaus successful in merging art with mass production? With generative AI, this concept is surely becoming a reality.

There is a false definition of design capability that suggests it should not be automated and that 'mass' is a negative term. Another false definition of design revolves around the unrealistic belief that all design must possess a degree of originality or unique recreation. Designers and design students are trained to feel inadequate if their work is not original enough. This leads to unnecessary overthinking and unproductive exploration. When there isn't a clear brief and the expectation of originality is high, design becomes inefficient. The time spent is not necessarily correlated with the quality of the design outcome.

The hard facts of a data-driven market economy must be taken into consideration. Designers need not close themselves off to a perpetual cycle of creative frustrations. It's not that our mass societies should only accept affordable designs because clients can only afford a fixed number of hours for a job while designers tirelessly seek novelty. Design productivity is rooted in the time available for inspiration, awareness, and craftsmanship. Generative AI can revolutionize this landscape, turning designers into creative directors. Generative AI eliminates the arrogant barriers between designers, creative directors, and artists. Let’s not forget that the design world is an ever-changing system influenced by technology and culture. Coolab.ai aims to introduce and advocate for a different approach to design – one that lowers the costs of inspiration, experimentation, asset production, and format adaptation. This makes good design accessible and affordable. Adobe is designed for professionals to engage in professional design, while Canva is designed to be user-friendly for producing adequate designs. Coolab.ai is designed to enable everyone to create good designs.

Economists may think of value as how much a design can justify a higher price, whereas designers may view it as how a design can evoke emotional responses and drive action. Coolab.ai believes that both of these aspects can coexist, and the cost of production can approach close to zero. Designers (whether trained or untrained) are beginning to adopt generative AI because it gives them back hours of their lives at a time when there's a soaring demand for high-quality design content. The industrialization of design is inevitable.