My design process and my view on AI
AI has no soul. It is here anyway, and it will not go away. How I see it, where it fits into my design process, and where it does not.
AI has no soul. Sure. But it is here, whether we like it or not, and it will not go away.
So the useful question is not whether to use it. The useful question is where it helps good design and where it gets in the way.
How I work
My process has five steps. They have not changed because of AI. What changed is how fast I can move between them.
- Observe. Understand the people, the context and the system a product lives in.
- Sketch. Many cheap ideas, on paper and on screen. Keep the few that earn their place.
- Build. Clickable and physical prototypes, as close to real as early as possible.
- Test. Put it in real hands. Watch, measure, change what does not work.
- Ship. Production-ready files, code and documentation that last.
Where AI helps
AI is a good assistant for the work around the design: summarising research notes, generating variations to react to, writing the first draft of documentation, turning a Figma frame into a first version of code.
It makes the cheap parts cheaper. That leaves more time for the parts that matter.
Where it does not
AI cannot care. It does not notice that the coffee pot drips when you pour. It has never stood next to a user who is frustrated and cannot say why.
Judgement, taste and responsibility stay with the designer. If a design fails, “the AI suggested it” is not an answer I would ever give to a client.
My rule of thumb
Use AI to explore faster. Never use it to decide.
The best solutions still come from the combination of care, skill and experience. AI can speed up the skill part. The other two are still my job.
