POV of a design lead: AI became my right-hand man.

Ai.lemma (Ai, Dilemma)

Thinking back 1-2 years ago, I started to ask my design team to use AI to ideate as part of the creative process. Back then, AI wasn't at a point where it could create tons of accurate creative assets like illustrations or 3D graphics that could be used in real commercial work. At that point, AI technology was mainly used to create written content, copywriting, or code.

I was also in a dilemma of using AI assets as part of the delivery. I thought that if I were using those assets as part of my delivery and was still being paid, was I then a scammer? Thinking that anyone could also generate what I had generated, did that then defeat the point of having me and my team, who were just a bunch of designers?

This wasn't a dilemma that could be solved immediately. AI technology was progressing so fast that it didn't take long for AI to be able to create realistic images, good and usable illustrations, videos, and motion graphics. I have to admit, I was a bit passive when it comes to using AI-generated graphics as part of the creative assets my team used to create our deliveries.

Be it graphic work, websites, or animated videos. I was afraid that by using it, I was reinforcing the belief that we, servants of the creative industry, could truly be replaced by emotionless lines of code.

Start of a new project, SISI Memecoin

Check out the project here: https://x.com/SiSi_Memecoin

Two months ago, I got hired to work on a meme coin project and played the role of their creative lead. It was a typical crypto project where the timeline was always super short. Furthermore, it was very illustration-dependent.

Having worked with an illustrator before, I knew that this project was going to be a hard rush if I were to go through the design process traditionally.

I knew it was about time to let go of my dilemma and just fully focus on making sure that I could deliver good and, most importantly, "fast."

My team and I worked on graphics for social media posts, their sales deck, and animated meme videos; we were throwing out about 5-10 new content daily for the operation team to post them on their social media and their telegram community. The efficiency of having AI as part of the design process is amazing. I fully see the benefits of using it, as well as its limitations.

I used to be afraid of AI fully replacing all creative roles* (including me) in what I do, but after using its full capabilities, I have to admit: It indeed does have the capability to reduce the manpower required in a company's creative team. However, they will never be able to replace a creative team fully.

Here is why: They are only as useful as their prompter.

Imagine AI as a sword. It allows anyone, everyone, to make an impact. However, if you put a common man with a sword versus a trained samurai with a sword, that is when you will realize the impact it creates will be drastically different. When my team delivered a graphic post, it was hardly just a full image created on AI. Every graphic itself is like a composition created from five different prompted assets. Yes, the assets might be created from AI, but the final output wasn't.

How we use it and how we compose – that's based on our design sense, understanding of composition, and color sense, which were built upon our experiences from creating such graphics from scratch in the past without AI.

AI's true role: it's not a replacement for the creative mind but an amplifier

Looking back at the past couple of months working on the SISI Memecoin project, my perspective on AI in design has definitely shifted.

I went from being hesitant and grappling with the ethics of using AI-generated assets, wondering if I was being a "scammer" or contributing to designers being replaced, to fully embracing it as a powerful part of our workflow.

All of this happened because the demanding timelines forced my hand, pushing me to leverage AI not just for ideation, but for generating actual creative assets at speed, which resulted in undeniable efficiency gains that allowed us to produce a high volume of diverse content daily that would have been incredibly challenging through traditional methods alone.

Along with the human touch of a designer, AI can be a designer's right-hand man in providing raw materials that make sourcing graphic assets much more efficient.