Introduction
In today's creative landscape, it is impossible to ignore the buzz around Artificial Intelligence. For leaders investing in their company's visual identity, the question is pressing: will AI replace the need for a designer?
My answer is no. But it will redefine the value of a designer.
The real risk is not that AI replaces designers, but that it commoditizes the output without understanding the input. Anyone can generate a thousand logos overnight. But can they build a strategy? Can they create a coherent system? Can they instill a brand with the distinctive character that comes from human intuition?
This is where the line is drawn, and where my practice as a specialist in type driven brand systems remains not just relevant, but essential.
How I use AI: A practical approach
I am not a Luddite. I use AI. But I use it as a scalpel, not a sledgehammer. My approach is pragmatic and focused on augmenting the creative process, not replacing it.
In my studio, AI has two clear roles:
- Image Editing and Asset Generation: Extending a photo background, creating simple patterns, or generating abstract textures for mood boards. These are tasks of execution, not of conception.
- Quick Idea Generation: Overcoming a creative block by visualizing a range of stylistic concepts for a single element. It is a starting point for a conversation, not the final word.
In this role, AI is an efficiency tool. It handles the repetitive work, allowing me to focus more on the strategic.
What AI Cannot Replace: Strategy and Craft
When you invest in a brand identity, you are not buying a collection of images. You are investing in a strategic business asset built on three things AI lacks.
- Clarity of Vision: AI operates on past data. It synthesizes what already exists. A strategic designer synthesizes your future ambition and translates it into a visual language.
- The Nuance of Typography: This is the core of my work. Typography is a language of subtlety. The choice of a typeface, the adjustment of spacing, the custom shaping of a letterform these decisions are deeply intentional. They convey authority, warmth, or innovation. AI can assemble fonts, but it cannot understand the strategic meaning behind them. It cannot craft a bespoke typeface that becomes an ownable asset for your brand.
- Cohesive System Design: A brand is a universe, not an island. A logo must live in harmony with its color palette, graphics, and typography. AI generates individual artifacts. A strategic designer architects the system that binds them all into a consistent and trustworthy whole.
Moving Forward: A Partnership
The most powerful outcome will be a partnership. The designer acts as the strategic lead, using AI as one tool among many. We will use it to handle tedious tasks, explore initial concepts, and then apply our expertise to refine and instill the work with meaning.
For entrepreneurs and growing companies, this means the goal is not to find someone who can just make a design. It is to find a partner who can think strategically, who understands that precision in design is a business advantage, and who can use new tools without sacrificing the craft that builds lasting brands.
Your brand deserves more than a prompt. It deserves a point of view.
