How should the Design Industry adapt to AI?
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Let’s look beyond writing better AI prompts and optimising processes. Let’s ask the big questions: How do we define and decide what ‘Design’ will be given AI? How will data + design integrate? How should Digital Product teams and leaders evolve to shape a new AI augmented world?
The world is in a constant state of flux, but there are moments where we as a collective, stand witness to the ‘tipping point’ — a build-up of small but significant steps over the years that finally culminate in a global shift, impacting people, businesses, politics, economies, communities, and culture.
Today we see three big shifts, or forces, that will contribute to the next ‘tipping point’: Artificial Intelligence, sustainability, and decentralisation of the internet (web3).
But what does AI mean for the Design and the Digital Product industry? …and what are we going to do about it?
“I want AI to take our jobs, our jobs are boring! Design is stuck in the rut of customer journey mapping, and we desperately need to get out of it."
Global VP of Design, Digital Consulting
The Transformative Potential of AI in Design and Product
The promise of AI hyper-optimisation and efficiency, comes with concerns around loss of jobs and value across industries. This also holds true for the digital design and product industry. But what does this mean in terms of practical application — in the way we build teams, foster leadership, up-skill and rethink our methods and tools?
While these concerns are real, this is in fact, the opportunity for Designers to truly be at the forefront of creative innovation and problem solving, with tools and data, like never before.
… but to play this important role, they will need to get involved early and not just create with AI, but shape AI itself.
In the near future there is going to be a significant shift in behaviour — the way information will be retained and retrieved — for consumers and for creators. This implies digital design and Product, will need to up-skill, and the roles themselves, evolved.
There are potentially three key pillars to this.
“People always want to jump straight on the AI bandwagon, and they often forget that in order to understand or build with AI, they need to start with data.”
Data & AI Product Management Expert, Design3
Democratisation of Design in Product Teams
AI will, and with utmost certainty, democratise the design process, speeding up iterations and enabling discovery and delivery at scale and so determining clear AI + Design quality guidelines — what good design looks like — should be one of the most important tasks the creative industry needs to collectively undertake today
The importance of data-driven decision making
With AI maturity, the reliance on data-driven decision making is going to be greater. Design and product decisions should be informed with data, and efficiency enhanced by AI tools, but there must continue to be a reliance on human instinct, industry experience and creativity.
Redefining the design process
There are five key phases to consider while determining this new approach to design and cross-functional collaboration:
“We have a responsibility as designers to consider the broader impact of our work, prioritizing human-centric design principles in an AI augmented future.”
Head of UX, Legal Technology Business
The design process needs to be redefined with several key considerations — a few of which are highlighted in the full report — for product managers and the shift towards data experiences and data needs.
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Teams are trained together and in the same manner to ensure a greater understanding of the different processes from design to development. This will create a common set of vocabulary and skills across roles that will in-turn enable these teams to work efficiently together.
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Utilise AI tools to conduct extensive market research, user behaviour analysis, and trend forecasting at scale and speed, surpassing traditional research methods
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Embrace the lean innovation approach over design thinking to continuously experiment and test new ideas and enhancements
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It is more pressing than ever for design leaders to be mandated to restructure their teams, articulate new methods and advocate a culture of innovation and creativity, not just within their teams, but across the business.
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Migrating from design thinking and double diamonds to creating a hybrid approach that incorporates the working methods of data scientists and product managers.
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Develop proactive risk management strategies for AI projects, to identify potential ethical, technical, and operational risks early in the development process and mitigating them effectively.
Onwards & Upwards
“From a business perspective, what’s going to happen is you’re going to need to have a stratification of supply. So really good content, really good design, good visuals and good ideas will have to surface to the top because demand is finite.”
Growth Strategy Executive, Global Social Media Company
In an era where it feels that Artificial Intelligence and data-driven ROI measures can kill radical new ideas, creativity and innovation — companies that seek growth and competitive advantage will have to rely on those who can see beyond the data-led binary approach to problem solving — and to those that can find new ideas, create novel experiences and discover new challenges that others may not be able to. This is where Design should define its value.
The decisions we will make today shape the design industry now but also the future for the next generation of designers. While this may feel overwhelming and a daunting task, for now, having read this article, and the potentially the report behind it, perhaps the question to really ask yourself is this:
What do you want your design practice to stand for?
Read the full report now
This article is based on the Design Forecast Report created by Wormhole / Design3.
This report has been written with the global digital design and product industry in mind and aims to be as practical and actionable as possible, and in doing so, potentially helpful to you in your current context and role.
It start with a critique of the Design industry, current and future, followed by the five key phases to consider when evolving your design process due to AI. All interlaced with potential Action Points for you to integrate in your practice…