Prompting Creativity: What AI Taught Me About Design
As part of several design challenges and tasks during my postgraduate studies, I explored how AI could assist me visually specifically by generating cover images for my case studies. It started as an exciting experiment. Tools like DALL·E gave me eye-catching, themed images with surprisingly little input.
As part of several design challenges and tasks during my postgraduate studies, I explored how AI could assist me visually specifically by generating cover images for my case studies. It started as an exciting experiment. Tools like DALL·E gave me eye-catching, themed images with surprisingly little input.
From Prompt to Page: My Journey with AI-Generated Visual Covers
Personal Reflections
As part of several design challenges and tasks during my postgraduate studies, I explored how AI could assist me visually, specifically by generating cover images for my case studies. It started as an exciting experiment. Tools like DALL·E gave me eye-catching, themed images with surprisingly little input. For Design Challenges 1 and 2, I was impressed: the images aligned with my themes and gave my documents an elevated, cohesive feel.
But as I progressed to Design Challenge 3 and beyond, things changed.
The AI-generated visuals began to feel… off. Either the colours didn’t fit, the layout wasn’t quite right, or the overall emotional tone was missing. I found myself spending more time tweaking prompts than actually designing, specifying every little detail – background, mood, composition, and even font styles – just to get something usable. The creative spark I felt at the beginning started turning into frustration.
And that’s when I had my realisation.
It brought me back to a conversation I once had with a friend back in Sri Lanka when we both started our journey in UI/UX design. We questioned whether AI might replace us someday. Now, after personally experiencing how much human effort it takes to extract meaningful results from AI, I feel confident that designers are far from replaceable. AI only reflects the clarity of the human’s imagination. If the input prompt isn't thoughtful, the output will fail to meet expectations.
This whole experiment made me appreciate something I hadn’t fully acknowledged before: the human mind is the creative source. AI is just a mirror; it doesn’t create without guidance. We still need to imagine, decide, and articulate before AI can follow. In that sense, design remains a deeply human process, and our jobs as designers are still rooted in empathy, creativity, and intentional thinking.
The Turning Point: Realizing the Limits of AI
This wasn’t just about image generation anymore; it was about how much mental clarity and creative vision I had to feed into the system just to get decent results. AI wasn’t replacing my creative process; it was simply mirroring how well I could communicate what I wanted.
It reminded me of a conversation I once had with a friend when we were first starting out in UI/UX. We wondered whether AI would eventually replace us. After this experience, I feel more grounded in my answer:
AI doesn’t replace designers. It reveals how intentional, clear, and human we really are.
What I Learned as a Designer Working with AI
Prompting is a creative skill
Writing prompts for AI tools like DALL·E requires more than just describing what you want; you need to consider visual language, emotional tone, composition, and even metaphor. It’s not easy, and it takes practice.
AI is a tool, not a substitute for vision
AI can generate visuals, but it lacks context, intuition, and emotional depth. Without human input, it’s just noise. The tool depends entirely on the person using it.
Inconsistency is still a challenge
Even when using nearly identical prompts, the outputs often varied in quality and theme. This made it hard to build a consistent visual identity across my work.
Emotion is hard to automate
I realised how much of my own design work is emotionally guided – something AI cannot replicate. Visuals that feel “off” emotionally can undermine an otherwise good design.
Creativity starts with us
The human mind remains the origin of design. AI can enhance creativity, but it can’t initiate it. The more clearly I thought, the better AI responded. But it never led the way I did.
Questions & Next Steps
1. How do I develop better AI prompting skills to improve visual quality more efficiently?
How I came up with this: I noticed that I was spending too much time revising prompts. That made me question whether there’s a technique to make this more efficient.
Next step: I plan to research prompt engineering techniques, maybe take a short course or watch tutorials specifically tailored for designers using DALL-E or similar tools.
2. How can I maintain originality and authenticity while incorporating AI into my design workflow?
How I came up with this: I want to ensure that my designs remain unique and true to my creative vision, without relying too heavily on AI-generated content.
Next step: I plan to set clearer boundaries for how and when AI can enhance my work without overshadowing the originality of the design process.
Final Thoughts: Why This Still Matters in UX
This reflection made me appreciate the invisible effort behind meaningful design. Tools are powerful, but creativity, intuition, and empathy are still our most important design assets. Especially in UX, where we’re designing experiences for people, not just visuals for screens. Emotional reasoning and human intent cannot be automated.
AI can extend our abilities, but it can’t replace our imagination.
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