If you work in graphic design, you probably already know this Adobe has added a new feature to Photoshop, AI-based generative fill. And you know this because there has been a lot of attention around this new feature everywhere, and especially on all social media – be it TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or elsewhere.
In this article I don’t want to go into technical details to explain how to use generative filling. I’m interested instead in reflecting on the impact that these innovations of Artificial Intelligence are having and will have on the work of graphic designers.
Adobe’s Generative AI
If you haven’t been able to follow the updates in the last few weeks and have no idea what we’re talking about, I’ll give you a quick recap. A couple of months ago, Adobe introduced a new generative artificial intelligence engine, called Adobe Firefly. This AI engine is capable of creating and building images from text prompts, providing surprisingly accurate graphics, images, photographs, and drawings.
Since it was launched, still in a non-final version, Adobe has given free access to this tool. In this way it has been possible for those who have used it to begin experimenting with its potential. On the other hand, this phase is also fundamental for developing the product. As you certainly know, in fact, artificial intelligences are based on neural networks; in practice, the more they “do things” the more and better they learn how to do them, just like the human brain.
Maybe you are one of the many people who have started experimenting with these AI-based tools for design, illustration, or other purposes. And maybe you have used other tools, such as Dall-e or Midjourney.
Well, maybe you haven’t noticed, but Firefly stands out from other generative AI graphics engines for a feature that is not a detail at all. Adobe has used only images to train its AI that it owns the rights to. So anyone who creates projects with this software will be able to use them for any purpose, even commercial, without any problems.
This is no small competitive advantage, if we are talking about design from a professional point of view. But in the last few weeks something has happened that really seems destined to change graphic design as we know it.
AI-Powered Generative Filling Inside Adobe Products
The real news is that this generative AI engine, starting in June 2023, you can find it integrated into Photoshop as one of the tools in the beta version. It is clear that there are still many things to improve and perfect, but the implications that this innovation can have are gigantic.
As Marco Agustoni showed you can use this tool to do things that were previously almost impossible, or required hours of work. For example, add elements to an image, generate entire scenes from scratch, merge two images, and much more.
I have to admit, while I’ve been keeping up to date with what’s happening on this front, I didn’t expect Adobe to release something this advanced on day one.
As I was telling you before, there is still a long way to go in terms of the quality of the results. For example, in Marco’s video, the artificial intelligence, when asked to insert a cat, created a very cute one: but with six legs.
But be careful: do not focus too much on these errors of generative intelligences. Because if at the moment the technology is immature, and shows all its limits, the speed of development and correction of errors is rapid. In a few months these tools will be much more powerful and by focusing on the initial problems, we risk losing the big picture.
And the bigger picture is that these tools are already, right now, revolutionizing the way graphics are done.
Ok but, so… What is left for us designers to do? Are we still needed?
The Role of Graphic Design in the Age of AI
It is the right time to start reflecting on these dynamics, and I would like to do so in the most useful and constructive way possible. Facing reality, understanding what is happening helps us do something positive: prepare, act and update ourselves.
What we are witnessing is an unprecedented revolution in the field of graphics. But not the first: the world of design has evolved through the invention of printing, the advent of the Internet, digitalization and so on. The phenomenon we are talking about, however, is unique for the speed with which it is happening.
Although it is difficult to make predictions in such a context, I believe that the role of the designer will not disappear: but it will certainly change. The designer will have to become a guide within a world of creative chaos.
Because if anyone can ask AI to generate images, logos or retouch photos, then the task of those who work as designers will be to provide informed and qualified guidance.
It will become increasingly clear that the skills of a designer are not limited to knowing how to actually create graphics. Rather, the abundance of material that can be obtained at very low costs will make skills regarding design and selection increasingly necessary.
The designer will come into play precisely to choose which material is suitable for the objectives of a brand. His skills will be indispensable to modify and adapt what artificial intelligence creates, making it appropriate for the message that is to be communicated.
Artificial intelligence is about to replace much of the intermediate work of the designer. I’m talking about all the largely mechanical, or repetitive, tasks like
- retouch a photo
- change the background,
- replace sunglasses with prescription glasses, or vice versa
- remove red eyes
- create abstract landscapes
- apply effects of any kind.
Probably, we will not even have to deal with the concrete part of creation, that is, developing and producing ideas for logos, scenes, graphics and communication lines.
In reality, even if it seems like an absurd prospect and scares us a little, this change is already underway. It won’t happen overnight, and probably not even in the space of a few months. But over time, the market will absorb this technological revolution: therefore, in a few years, the profession of graphic design will change accordingly.
Design, select, communicate
I’ll tell you what I think the designer of the near future will do, in practice.
He will be in charge of modeling what the AI will create. This means on the one hand giving up some of the activities you may like to do, but on the other hand avoiding all the boring work. In some ways it will increase the responsibility: the designer will have to be a conscious guide in the aesthetic chaos generated by the AI. He will have to understand which options are valid, which can be generated, and which to create depending on each case.
If a company needs to communicate a message, it cannot simply generate a random image. Because, to maintain a clear and defined communication line, each visual tool must be consistent. For designers, this means increasingly dealing with the communication strategy and approach. At the same time, learning to handle these artificial intelligence tools, to be able to give precise and detailed input.
In practice, work in the field of graphic design, in a landscape rich in AI-based tools, will mainly concern planning, design and strategy activities.
In essence, the designer will go back to doing what he always had to do: design, select. He will no longer have to spend hours and hours creating, he will no longer have to use all the individual processing tools to retouch the image a thousand times, he will no longer have to hunt down the ideal stock photo.
What happens to graphics and photo editing software?
At this point you might be wondering what will happen to the various graphics and photo editing software, those from Adobe as well as all the others in circulation.
If you think they are destined to disappear, in my opinion, you are very wrong.
They will simply change, they will have new and more powerful tools for photo editing, vector graphics or modifications of elements of any kind. But it will always be necessary to use them to design.
Not only that! You will also need to use them to manipulate and fix what the AIs create.
Let’s take this generative fill tool for example. When you generate something, it might not be exactly what you want. You might need to modify it, retouch it, improve it. And to do that, you will obviously have to use all the other tools in the software.
And anyway, beyond generating images or parts of them, there are many other activities that are carried out through graphics and photo editing programs. For this reason, it is very unlikely that, in five years, we will only use Firefly and not Photoshop, for example.
Rather, the opposite will happen: the tools you use and know today will remain, but enhanced by the integration of artificial intelligence functions. In fact, this is what we already see happening, and not only in the field of graphic design, but, for example, in that of search engines.