AI won’t replace your designer
“AI makes everything look the same.”
If you’ve spent any time in design circles lately, you’ve probably heard that sentiment. Maybe even said it yourself. Templates, generated assets, and auto-layouts are everywhere. Quick, convenient, and often eerily competent. But, they can also feel flat. Soulless. Like someone has outright asked ChatGPT to do their branding and accepted the output without polish.
For designers, it’s tempting to see this as the beginning of the end. If AI can handle the basics, where does that leave the creative human?
When the shortcut slows you down
There’s a real irony to this. Using AI tools can often get you 80% of the way to a finished visual. But, the last 20% (the bits that actually matter) can take just as long as doing it all from scratch. Brand alignment. Accessibility. Professional polish. The little choices that bring a design to life.
These final touches? Still squarely a human job, no doubt about it.
What’s meant to save time can sometimes create more work. A designer has to fix what the AI couldn’t finish, or correct what it never fully understood in the first place. It’s frustrating and, truthfully, it risks watering down the end result.
A new kind of creative workflow
At Indiespring, we were averse to introducing AI to our design work due to these challenges. But since then, we’ve found that AI isn’t a threat to design. It’s a new kind of tool in the box. Our design team uses it as a jumping-off point - a sketchpad, not a shortcut. It’s how we explore more ideas, faster. Not by handing over the wheel, but by freeing up time to focus on what the client actually cares about: storytelling, context, and coherence.
The outcome? Designs that still feel distinctly human. Only now, we’re spending less time bogged down in pixels and more time crafting visuals that our clients love.
The myth of ‘losing control’
We were adamant that using AI in design meant letting go of standards. We felt we’d end up losing creative control or getting stuck with bland, generic results.
Then, a client asked us to integrate an AI tool they wanted to try with their design work… and it quickly became clear that AI could be a springboard, rather than a hindrance.
Because AI’s not perfect, the designer’s role becomes even more critical. You need someone with the judgment to know what to keep, what to discard, and what to rethink entirely. Someone who can spot the inconsistencies AI misses and elevate the output with decisions only a human can make. As a result of this, we’ve found that integrating AI tools actually empowers our design team, allowing them to be more consultative and less stuck in the weeds.
Creativity isn’t going anywhere
As our Lead Designer Andy Bellass put it, “AI is great for the heavy lifting, but it can’t replace your ability to creatively solve problems.”
This mindset shift and acceptance of what is possible is continuing to shape some of our most impactful work. Integrating AI tools in any department should never be about automation replacing people. It should always be about people learning where automation adds value, and where it doesn’t.
At Indiespring, we pride ourselves on taking a pragmatic approach to trends, tools and tricky applications. If you have an app that needs a guiding hand, we can help.
Get in touch with us here