The three golden rules I follow to use AI wisely in my everyday surface designer workflows.
Many of us use AI (meaning Artificial Intelligence, not Adobe Illustrator!) to support our many tasks. Here, I am sharing the golden rules that I stick to when using AI so I don’t lose my authenticity as a pattern designer. This is the first part of a two-part series on how to integrate AI intentionally into your designer workflows.
No time to read the whole article? Jump to TL;DR!
I’ll start with a (not so) fun fact: A recent study found that 45% of the information provided by AI models for news content queries was incorrect. Let that sink in for a moment.
Let’s be honest, many of us use AI in our everyday business tasks. It simplifies many things and especially as solopreneurs, anything that helps with all the various tasks is welcome. But if you use AI regularly, you also start noticing who else does it. Have you ever stumbled upon an instagram caption and thought to yourself: “This is definitely AI-generated”? There are certain tells that immediately give the use of AI away. Which in itself is not a bad thing. But when all the instagram post captions start to sounds the same, it does get a bit boring, doesn’t it?
Before I became a (now full-time) surface pattern designer, I used to work in the field of language technology in an AI research institute for 10 years. So I decided to combine that background with my creative work and share a few lessons that help me use AI to simplify my processes — without replacing them.
Just to make this very clear: I don’t use AI to generate designs and I definitely don’t recommend you do it. I use AI to make everyday tasks easier so I have more time for the fun stuff.
My 3 no-gos for using AI effectively in your surface pattern designer workflows to protect your creativity
By avoiding these three common AI pitfalls, you can use AI in ways to protect your creativity and help you stay authentic.
Rule #1: Don’t believe everything an AI says
This one is more of a general rule and also applies to non-designer contexts. Still, I think it’s important to mention here. Because the answers of chatbots sound so human-like, it’s just so easy to forget that they are in fact not humans. Coming back to the study I mentioned earlier, AIs often generate incorrect or even fabricated output.
Let’s say you want to find fabric companies that you can pitch your fabric design collections to and you ask an AI to generate a list for you, including contact emails. From my own experience, I can tell you that lists like this are at least 50% wrong, if not more. You’ll get companies that don’t exist, companies that are real but irrelevant, and sometimes even completely made-up contact information. The time it takes to verify all the information you received might be better invested in researching the list yourself.
The same goes for other scenarios. In my last blog post about the creative strategies that help me place higher in Spoonflower Design Challenges, I shared my process for researching a challenge prompt. I never exclusively use AI for this. It’s always best to get your information from various sources like Google, Wikipedia, Pinterest, and then let the AI add on top of what you already have. That way, you can spot any wrong information right away.
Rule #2: Don’t let an AI write your texts for you
Yes, you read that right. I don’t let an AI write my texts. Instead I let it enhance my texts.
Here is how I do it: If I want to write an Instagram caption, I write it myself and then paste it to the chatbot of my choice (BTW, no ChatGPT for me anymore!) and ask it to correct potential errors, eliminate repetitions and smooth it over a bit. That’s it. Minimal edits only. And the same goes for any other text.
Why? Because I don’t want my texts to sound generic; I want them to sound like me. And the AI can never do that.
Rule #3: Don’t let an AI do the brainstorming alone
Whether it is for a new collection, a new design, a design challenge or contest, a new blog post idea, … I don’t let the AI take over the brainstorming for me. There are several reasons for that.
- To stick to my style, I need to come up with my own ideas first.
- Others might ask chatbots the same questions — and get very similar outputs. That is especially inconvenient in the context of design contests.
- If you never do the work yourself, how will you improve? That does not only go for brainstorming but for basically anything.
So what do I do instead? Similar to rule #2: I lay the groundwork myself. Once I have some ideas, a perspective, a direction I want to go in, I ask AI to help me expand them. That way, it becomes a partner in the process rather than the driver.
Conclusion
You might have noticed, the cornerstone of all three rules is the same: Lay the groundwork yourself and then let the AI help you once you’ve established your own authentic direction. Think about this as if you were a writer and the AI were your editor: The original content comes from the writer (you) and the editor’s (AI’s) job is to find issues, polish, give feedback, and provide recommendations on improving (if wanted). The benefit of this approach is clear: Growth can only happen when you put in the work yourself. And your own authenticity will shine through only when the ideas you present are truly your own.
Are there also rules for DOs?
I know I started with the “negative” DON’Ts, and after reading this it might seem that AI can’t even help you that much in every day life. But don’t be discouraged! If you know how to use AI properly, it can indeed help you a lot. My next blog post will cover the DOs on how to actually integrate AI into your workflows successfully without losing your personal touch, including some bonus AI prompts for you to use right away. Stay tuned for part 2!
Did my DON’Ts help you? Do you have other rules yourself when using AI as a surface pattern designer? I would love to hear them in the comments! If you have any questions, you can also drop them in the comments or email me at hello@dalia-designs.com!
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Brief Summary (TL;DR)
My three no-gos for using AI as a surface pattern designer are: Don’t believe everything the AI says, don’t let the AI write your texts, and don’t let the AI do the brainstorming for you.
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