UX/UI design in the era of AI 🤝

It won’t be an overstatement to say that generative artificial intelligence tools such as ChatGPT or Midjourney took over the UX/UI world. And naturally, what we don’t expect and don’t understand can be a strong trigger of fear. 

Following the moods within our Flaticon design community closely, we became aware that, yes – some designers are indeed afraid that AI could replace them. But is this fear rational? Only a few answers can be contained in a simple “yes” or “no”.

Therefore, let’s dive together into some of the reasons why it’s unlikely for AI to replace the job of UX/UI designers completely. In other words, what will differentiate a great designer from the not-so-great one?

Intelligent interfaces

Informed decisions require experience. 

Experience allows UX/UI designers to apply real-life common sense knowledge and grasp the broader context. AI so far cannot fight humans on that! 

Implementing a responsive and high-performance user interface means creating a system that is prepared to adapt to a user and not the other way around. It’s a great moment to add that all Flaticon interface icons are optimized as web fonts, pixel-perfect, and easy to edit. 😉

When we talk about intelligent interfaces, we mean the ones that provide the most intuitive experience. For that mission to be successfully accomplished, challenges like, for example, language ambiguity or cultural biases need to be addressed. 

As of yet, they remain a great handicap for AI tools.

THE motive

An awesome UX Writer, Kai Wong, explored in his latest article how The Golden Circle Model is applicable at the design level. The model was developed initially by the business consultant Simon Sinek to coach individuals and organizations on the secrets of successful leadership. It turned out, however, to be useful in many other areas, like design. 

Check it out 👇️

There are three layers determining success, and each touches a different matter. According to Kai’s reasoning, AI will ever be able to address only the first question “What”, whereas the second and the third one are beyond its capabilities to resolve. 

If we give it a bit of thought, it hits home. How to make your design special and why a project should be launched, in a broader sense, are some sort of philosophical ponderations.

Taking that into account, seems like we’re nowhere close for robots to decide on that. So, relax!

A great head start although here could be our Figma plugin that includes Flaticon’s interface icons, ready to support all your projects!

Taste of quality 

The most intangible skill, yet, the one that can make you an actual UX/UI star. 

Call it talent, intuition, or simply the sixth sense. What counts here is: AI does not have that superpower. Yet. 🤞

Taste in design does not mean that you just simply like “good things”. It’s the aptitude to grasp what would be regarded as excellent, beautiful, and attractive by a certain group of people. What we like or don’t is a decision usually based solely on emotions that rarely, or quite frankly never, are the result of any logical thinking. 

For AI to develop taste, it would need to be not only intellectually but moreover emotionally independent, which is not the case nowadays.

As Thomas Budiman, a Product Designer, said: you can ask your Grandma for a recipe, but it’s very unlikely that you will be able to reproduce it. 

Generative AI disrupted the status quo by all means, but as the famous phrase goes, “not all that glitters is gold.”

Many tasks surpass the capacities of AI at this point in history. What’s certain is that if AI is going to replace UX/UI designers, it will not be today. The fear of change is natural and can sometimes overwhelm us all. But change is the only thing we can be sure about that will prevail. The way we work and collaborate will keep on shifting, so maybe the best way to go about it is to embrace it. 

At the end of the day, we live in the moment, and while the future is not here yet, it seems reasonable to just simply focus on the present. So, take advantage of here and now! If you can be anything in this life, why not be excellent? Nowadays, becoming an exceptional professional is much easier than before, especially thanks to AI or tools like our Figma plugin with UI icons. Having that at hand, combined with your prominent UX/UI skills, can surely be the right formula for success. Your projects will achieve quality like never before, while you’ll be able to speed up your work and focus on creative tasks that are actually fun! 

All in all, as we notice that the world is not black and white but rather full of colors, tones, and shades, we might begin to comprehend that what makes all the difference is how we choose to see it. Only a human could write such a cliché, right? 😉