AI in graphic design is a hot topic — with many strong opinions.
Some people believe artificial intelligence will open up design to the masses, while others fear it’ll be the death of graphic designers everywhere.
Regardless of how you feel, AI will soon become a major part of your life. According to a 2022 Deloitte report on AI in enterprises, 94% of business leaders found AI important for organizational success in the coming years. And 79% of them even expected to deploy three or more AI applications within a year.
While many of these AI applications focus on customer service and financial planning, some companies are also pushing forward with AI in graphic design.
And we aren’t talking about quick art generators. Instead, we’re referring to AI graphic design tools that let people create designs from scratch or help designers automate menial parts of the design process.
Let’s see how AI is changing graphic design, whether these changes are good or bad, and look at a few examples of artificial intelligence in graphic design.
What is AI in graphic design?
Artificial intelligence in graphic design refers to using machine learning to create graphics. The AI tools provide shortcuts to design work by helping a designer or replacing them entirely.
Based on whether they help a designer or replace them, we typically have two types of AI graphic design tools:
Generative design tools
Generative design AI programs create images based on prompts the user provides, usually in a matter of seconds. Popular AI tools DALL·E 2 and Midjourney are common examples of such tools.
You can see a few examples of Midjourney’s generated images below:
While generative design tools can create gorgeous works of art quickly, they remain controversial. The machine learning algorithms involved trained on art from real artists who did not always give their permission for their work to be used.
AI-assisted design tools
If you’re a designer or business owner working with designers, you can also find AI tools that speed up the design process. For instance, there are tools that can come up with color schemes, translate designs into CSS and develop brand kit ideas.
Such tools can remove many of the time-consuming tasks from the design process.
How AI is changing the design industry
AI is having a huge impact on the design industry and affecting everything, from who creates graphics to how designers work.
Already, many human designers are changing how they approach content creation. Instead of developing everything from scratch, they use AI to create mockups, work out the typography and color scheme or generate templates they can personalize.
The push for this transition is coming from the demand side as well. A 2022 Venngage poll on visual content found that original graphics (36.4%) was the most used visual content, overtaking stock photos (33.6%).
To cater to this image generation demand, graphic designers are looking for ways to incorporate AI into their workflow and automate repetitive tasks. For instance, they are delegating tasks like background removal, facial expression alteration and basic photo enhancements to AI.
Similarly, designers are also finding AI helpful in the research and exploration phase of design. They can use AI to generate dozens of templates from a single sketch, each with variations in colors, shapes or element placement.
In general, AI in graphic design will lead to faster workflows with fewer repetitive manual tasks. It will also mean custom designs become more accessible to more users.
For designers, it means they’ll have more time to focus on the creative process or work on their portfolio website.
Benefits of AI in graphic design
AI in graphic design can help website owners save time and money on things like logo design. Not to mention, you don’t need to spend hours learning design software to do basic edits like background removal.
In particular, AI in graphic design will help:
- Save time: AI can remove backgrounds from pictures, handle basic photo editing and do other menial tasks. Many of these tasks used to take hours for an average person to do, but with AI, they can do so in minutes.
Some AI programs, like Adobe Sensei, even let you resize and repurpose designs while suggesting alternative color palettes in seconds. - Remove guesswork: AI doesn’t rely on eyes the way humans do. The AI programs depend on datasets and machine learning, meaning they break colors down to their numbers and make recommendations off the back of that data.
So while a designer may have to adjust a particular shade of orange a few times to see which looks “best” with a shade of blue, AI will look at the hex code or RGB value and select colors based on the value. It can create a complementary or analogous color set much faster than designers. - Save money: Many AI programs have competitive pricing and will save you money compared to hiring a professional graphic designer. This may be a good option if you only need a few graphics here and there.
While the promise of more art for less money may make AI seem like a no-brainer, there are a few issues to keep in mind.
Considerations surrounding AI in graphic design
As of writing, artificial intelligence is a buzzword almost everywhere. We say “almost” because laws are still lagging. We don’t have clear regulations surrounding what’s acceptable and what’s not.
For instance, the U.S. copyright law doesn’t cover material created by anything other than a human. In other words, your AI-generated images cannot be copyrighted in the United States.
While it doesn’t mean you can’t use AI as part of your process, you might need to take extra care while handling sensitive graphics. For instance, if you’re developing a logo for your online store, ensure humans are also involved in the process to protect your brand.
Another concern? Who is the owner?
AI art is in murky waters when it comes to ownership, too. Many beginners don’t realize that they may not own the rights to their work, or they may have input art from a different artist without their permission.
For instance, In January 2023, a class action lawsuit was filed against multiple AI companies on behalf of some artists who claimed their work was used without their permission.
To be on the safe side, it’s best to use designs you already have the rights for as AI inputs.
Lastly, read the specific usage rights of the programs you work with as well. Some AI tools specifically state they are allowed to reuse any of the designs you create using their program.
Examples of AI graphic design in action
Now that we’ve gone over how you can benefit from using AI in graphic design, let’s look at more specific examples.
Using existing brand images to create new visuals
You can use existing graphics, photos and text for your brand as inputs for AI tools to create new templates or social media images.
For instance, Adobe Firefly (currently in beta) aims to offer this functionality to bridge the gap between creators and generative AI so that designers have more control over the design process but do less work.
Creating color schemes
You can create contrasting, visually appealing color palettes with tools like Khroma. Just select the colors you like, and Khroma then offers brand color palette options with enough contrast and complementary options to be visually appealing yet easy to read at.
Automating basic image editing
Do you find Photoshop challenging to work with? You can use AI to do most of the basic stuff Photoshop does. You can remove backgrounds from your photos, change facial expressions, do skin retouching and more.
For example, you can try out Removal.AI for free to remove the background from any picture you upload quickly. AI identifies the subject and gets rid of the rest.
Generating full graphics
You can also create fully generated graphics using prompts to create unique artwork.
For example, Cosmopolitan made their June 2022 magazine cover using DALL·E 2. While the look might not be typical for a woman’s fashion brand, it certainly got some additional press for them.
Visualizing themes
At the 2023 Grammy Awards, digital artist Refik Anadol worked with AI to create graphics, set design and other visuals that were prominently featured at the show.
You can use AI in a similar way to develop a brand or event theme. Imagine creating a series of Instagram posts with a specific look, building your other social media with similar graphics and even integrating it into your website.
Future implications of AI in graphic design
It’s hard to know exactly how AI will change graphic design, but we can assume the changes will be big.
AI art keeps becoming more sophisticated. In a 2023 survey of 504 Yale undergraduates, the respondents could tell apart images generated by AI and humans only 54% of the time. Soon it might be even more difficult.
At the minimum, you can expect the following changes:
- Adoption of AI in brainstorming: More and more designers might rely on AI to convert a single sketch into multiple mockups or alternate ideas.
- Quick editing capabilities: We might see users regularly using AI tools to edit photos and illustrations on the fly.
- AI-assisted design: Designers might incorporate AI into their design process by leaning into AI for mundane tasks, finding relevant color combinations and getting design inspirations.
We can expect even more changes if the laws surrounding image copyrights change. But till then, it’s better to focus on how AI can save time and automate parts of the design workflow over quickly generating art with the programs, especially if you want to use the work for commercial purposes.
Even if you aren’t going to use AI yourself, it’s useful to keep up with these trends, whether you’re a designer or an entrepreneur looking to benefit from deep learning.
For instance, if you own an online jewelry store, you can rely on AI graphic designing to edit your product images in batches.
Final thoughts: An overview of AI in graphic design
While AI in graphic design is a new concept, the tools might not be as difficult to incorporate as you think.
Besides generating illustrations, you can automate tasks, create mood boards and quickly alter existing images.
You can also use AI to beef up your portfolio and add product images to your ecommerce shop. Thanks to AI, the sky’s no longer the limit when it comes to what you dream up. You’re limited only by your imagination.
Whether you wish to host your AI-generated designs or start your AI-based marketing business, Bluehost offers tons of affordable hosting options. If you’re looking for a hands-off approach like what AI offers, you can give our WordPress hosting a try as well.
FAQs regarding AI graphic design
AI is currently at its beginning stages in both web and graphic design, but it’s growing quickly. McKinsey found that adoption of AI amongst businesses more than doubled between 2017 and 2022, from 20% to 50%.
While many tools are still testing their alpha or beta versions, you can find AI in almost every design stage, from planning to implementation.
AI can make it easier for non-designers to create the graphics they want. It will also make UI/UX much faster and more seamless than it has been.
Users can also expect AI to remove much of the more repetitive work, meaning more time for the fun, creative aspect and less time spent rendering those ideas.
AI will make a big difference to graphic designers. It will automate repetitive tasks and replace other processes. It’s possible that, in a few years, designers will use AI tools that don’t even exist.
As a graphic designer, you should test these tools as any other tool that makes your job easier. Instead of worrying that AI will replace you, look for ways to work with AI.
AI will probably change how illustrators work, but it doesn’t look like it will replace them completely.
We’ll probably use AI technology to replace parts of the illustration process, particularly in mockups or planning. Otherwise, human illustrators will still finalize the work to ensure everything meets client expectations.
