Can AI Play a Role in Graphic Design?

General

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AI or Artificial Intelligence is a technology that is being used in many fields. AI is now used in graphic design and many believe that AI is the future of graphic design. How can AI help you create the best graphic designs? Will AI replace graphic designers? These are the questions you may probably have.

We give you the answers to these questions. You can also get to know about how AI is being used in graphic design and why you should consider using AI.

What is AI and how does it help in graphic design?

AI is a technology that uses reasoning just like humans do. The use of AI has revolutionized many sectors, including graphic design. There are many AI tools available that can be used to create graphic designs. It is important to first understand what AI can do that humans cannot.

Humans can do many of the things that AI does. However, the benefits of using AI are more. This is why businesses today prefer to use AI. Some of the key benefits of using AI in graphic design are listed below.

1) Content personalization

AI can offer content personalization. It can serve different graphic designs to different users For example, the graphic design displayed on a website would change depending on the visitor. Based on the visitor’s profile a different graphic design can be displayed. In today’s world, a ‘one size fits all’ approach does not work. Content should change to suit the user. AI can do it effectively.

2) Speed

The biggest benefit of using computers and AI is speed. What humans can do, AI can do much faster. AI helps in saving time, which in today’s world is money. Like all other jobs, graphic design involves doing repetitive tasks. AI can automate such tasks helping in saving a lot of time. The use of AI allows designers to focus on complex tasks, while the AI does repetitive and tedious tasks.

3) Create variations

Once you create a design, you may want variations of the same design. The variation could be in terms of changes in patterns, colors, and fonts. Creating variations manually is not so easy and takes a lot of time. AI can help you do it quickly and effectively. In Italy, the well-known brand Nutella used AI to create variations of its product. AI could create 7 million variations by referring to a database that had dozens of colors & patterns.

Now that you have seen the benefits of AI, it is also important to understand its limitations. There are certain things that only humans can do and not AI. This illustrates the point that AI cannot replace designers. AI may help reduce manpower. But we cannot have a situation where the design is entirely done by design without humans.

4) Handles multiple variables

Reading through data is tough as there would be many variables. Scanning through these variables, processing them, and understanding them is tough. This makes it tough for humans to do it. For example, a study showed that doctors needed 160 hours every week just to read research papers.

AI, on the other hand, can process data within seconds. For the example given above, an AI system named Watson could process 2 million pages of research papers within minutes. AI can also handle data with multiple variables effectively. The processing and analytical powers of AI are definitely superior to that of humans.

What are the limitations of AI?

1) Inability to understand emotions

AI cannot understand emotions or similar nuances. Emotional subtleties are lost if you use them on an AI system. This is where humans score. Humans can understand emotions and use them in their work. They can create a design that produces a particular type of emotional reaction. This is something AI cannot do.

Good design should help create a great experience for users. To do this, the right use of emotions is needed. While humans can do this, AI cannot. Also, AI cannot show empathy. This is a skill that only humans possess. While there have been attempts to teach emotions to AI, they have not been successful.

2) Cannot produce original designs

To create an original design, creativity is required. This comes from the brain of a human designer. AI cannot create an original design. It can only study an existing design and rework it. The end result of such a design may or may not be good. This is another area where humans score over AI.

Creativity is the key to art. Graphic design is an art and the best designs come from creativity. AI can only follow instructions and work as per algorithms. It cannot do someone on its own by innovating things.

3) Cannot filter biases

AI accepts whatever datasets are fed to it. They are then processed to create results. Biases cannot be filtered. When AI was asked to identify people/objects, it tagged certain people as gorillas because of their skin color and appearance. AI could not filter bias in the datasets. Morality is something that only humans are capable of. AI cannot learn it.

Why AI is the future 

AI is the future thanks to its benefits of speed, processing power, and ability to create variations. AI will not replace a graphic designer but will help the graphic designer work more effectively and produce better results. In the future, a graphic designer will use AI as a tool in their work. AI will help them become curators from creators. They will be able to curate designs and content by tapping into the power of AI.

AI will work as a catalyst to make graphic design effective. Along with AI, machine learning will be used in graphic design. Machine learning is the ability of machines to learn based on experience. This would give AI greater capabilities. While it while not overcome all the limitations of AI, it would definitely enhance its capabilities. This would be a boon for graphic designers.

AI will thus not replace designers but will become a partner to help them create amazing designs.

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