How to Replace Your Entire Design Team with AI

AI is taking over the world!

Except it isn’t. At least, not the design world.

Despite all of the cool designs we see with Midjourney or Dall-E, human created design, photography, and skits still resonate more.

Why?

AI is definitively less expensive than people. It’s faster than people. So, why haven’t brands like yours completely shifted creative budgets towards AI tooling?

The answer is everything made by AI… looks like it was made by AI.

Think for yourself. When scrolling through the feed, you may pause and take a look at an AI generated image, but something isn’t quite right. It’s too polished. Too familiar. It’s too… robotic?

But worst of all, it all looks the same.

So if 5 companies use the same AIs, they will all produce content exactly the same as each other.

Originality at its finest.

Brands must be unique. It’s just too hard to differentiate. Imagine going to great lengths to differentiate your product, service, and experience only to use the same AIs as a competitor and create the same content for the customers.

In a field of normal cows, a Purple Cow will surely stand out. However, a purple cow in a field of purple cows is just another cow. This is the reality of AI, and why brands haven’t replaced designers.

Unique designs are still required for brand recognition, and we don’t see that changing in the next 10 years.

By default, computers don’t know what looks cool. They can’t possibly know what’s good. A computer’s data on what’s cool or what’s good is based on data that exists. Ask it to make you a great shoe logo and it’s probably got the most amount of data on this image right here.

BAM. Original!

So what makes something “good” or “cool”?

We hear that all the time: that someone wants to look cool, or that if the design was good more sales would follow.

It’s easy to see how we can assume that to be true, but it fails to explain why other brands succeed without exceptional design. Does anyone think Jake from Life Is Good is an exceptional piece of art. If you saw it without knowing the brand, would you think that it’s a “good” piece of art or would you describe it as “cool?” Would an AI have come up with Jake?

*Jake

Brands are more than their designs. Your brand or your business is impacted by experience, quality, value, service and more. Does Chick-Fil-A have an exceptional font, or did its font become synonymous with its exceptional sandwiches and service? 

 

I am willing to bet organic Non-AI content will still catch more eyes than AI driven content until Generative AIs can create unique branded looks that are not easily replicated by others.

At Diesel Jack, we’ve started experimenting with AIs and it's fun to see what it can do and how much easier it makes our workday.

But it’s not replacing designers. 

At least not today.

Here's MidJourney showcasing my favorite things: Orcas, Surfing, Sports, and Asian Culture. Sick Orca.