How Can AI be Beneficial In Designing?

Incorporating the capabilities of AI in data-centric processes is something that we have learned to accept. But what happens when we think of adding the intelligence in tasks that are based entirely on human intuitions?

Is the inclusion of AI in UI/UX design set to garner the same disruptive effects that AI offers in every other industry vertical it touches? The answer is Yes. But not in a way that we think. Meaning, AI will never replace the humans out of design, it will aid us in the journey of getting better in design.

Let us dissect the statement through the role of AI in design in this article.

While there is a class of people who believe that AI will replace designers with it, the importance of human-driven UX, the reality is that the amalgamation will be of complement and not competition.

Here are some of the ways through which AI will be bettering the design systems in a digital product.

A. Lowering Repetitive Tasks

There are a number of repetitive tasks that a designer has to undergo in their everyday work life. There are many images that have to be resized according to platforms, several layout and formatting issues to solve and there is the constant mundanity in converting the designs into code.

More and more designers are now using AI to handle these tasks. The one task that they are now relying on AI to handle is generation of components either in code from design document or in design document from the code – earlier, they had to do the time taking task, which did not even directly implied to any creativity, manually.

B. Democratizing Website Design

Brands like Wix have built a design principle in website algos to help their customers build, user-friendly, rich websites are irrespective of their design expertise. All you have to do is tell Wix AI assistant the types of website you need and then you’ll be asked basic questions like the brand name, location, and theme, etc. Upon your answers, you will be given design options to choose from.

There are other similar solutions as well like Sacha by Firedrop.AI chatbot, which help manage any AI customization that you need. In case you need any design change, all you have to do is tell the bot, which then makes some creative suggestions.

C. Developing Something Out of Nothing

One of the biggest challenges that designers face is in terms of finding faces or logos without facing any copyright issues. AI solves this problem. There is a website by the name of ‘This Person Does Not Exist’ which gives designers the faces of people who do not exist. This makes it easier for UI designers to get away from paying hefty amounts to stock image websites.

There’s another company, LoGAN, that makes use of AI to design logos from various distinct colours – something that converts the hours-long tasks into a matter of a few clicks.

D. Getting Insights into UI Elements

Knowing what works for digital visitors or customers is difficult. More often than not, businesses silently go into oblivion not knowing that their customers had left their digital space because of poor UI/UX.

With the help of AI-powered heat maps, designers can get a clear idea of which elements are the visitors engaging with and which are they ignoring – thus giving them a clear path to redesign their user experience efforts. Heat maps is only one way how AI betters mobile app design and customer experience, there are several others like AI-based UAT, which helps businesses get an idea of what their customers are looking for.    

E. Aiding Localization-based Design

While on one hand localization has become the need of the hour for a business to go global, the efforts of designers, on the other hand, have grown by manifold. Converting a design element into a localized element calls for a deep understanding of the targeted location – something that comes with the attached time.

With the help of AI solutions, designers can turn global elements into localized elements in a matter of a few clicks.

F. Abiding by the Compliances

From ADA to GDPR compliance, there are many regulations that a business must follow to prevent getting fined. There are some AI-powered solutions that scan websites and analyze their marketing content for identifying compliance risk issues. By converting the legal checklists into digital rules, these solutions can easily manage compliance, while boosting the company’s productivity and mitigating the risk factor.

Design Tools That Use AI to Deliver Better Designs

• Adobe Photoshop

In Photoshop, the Select Subject feature uses AI for memorizing shapes and changing, editing them. The feature is based on the Sensei AI system which aids changing the backgrounds by identifying different subjects in the image.

• Prisma and Depart

The two AI-powered editing platforms use the technology for identifying different aspects of photo and video to transform them into a style of your choice. They also give you the choice to work around colors and filters.

• Let’s Enhance

Let’s enhance, use AI for improving the image quality with the help of three filters:

Anti-JPEG –  Converts  the image into high-quality PNGs

Boring – Scales image to 4 times, minus any effect on image quality

Magic – Enables the addition of detailing in the images.

While these are just a few examples of AI incorporation in design tools, the design platforms of the AI-driven future will also see a change. The future products will put more focus on experience design which centers around user persona, user behavior, and contexts for bringing more value to the visitors and users.

These changes will call for an adjustment in the design tools as well. The ones that support usability testing and user interaction will be preferred over ones that only support UI mapping or wireframes. The design focused businesses will have to take the help of a skilled UI/UX design agency that has extensive knowledge of the AI field, to take the journey of becoming an experience embedding brand.