![[1-substack.jpg]] # On how to make AI useful for visual creatives ## Introduction We talk a lot in and out of LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, Substack, about how to integrate AI into our workflow, but not that much into the struggle we find ourselves in by letting a machine touch and edit years of training and trial and error from our part. Today I bring my thoughts not as a negative but as a bridge for conversation—as a olive brand for those who feel obliterated by the velocity by which we have to act and adapt. The idea is to be open to change, but change is difficult and hard to tackle sometimes. I've been bulldozed with Claude these past two months, and I have some thoughts on this "design with AI" bit we find ourselves in right now. There have been cascades of information from all sides of my life that have been selling me the benefits of working with Claude—from how it shows its thinking progress in the chat box to how to develop complicated apps, features, widgets, and systems from scratch. It IS interesting; it IS kind of amazing. The big "but" is: It requires a lot more thinking to actually be of service to designers, video editors, or motion graphers. (I find myself in the position of all of them sometimes; bear with me here, I will always talk about the three of them.) ## What's my take? **AI is incredibly useful.** It has helped me organize my ideas, summarize meetings, order my notes, structure my presentations, and it has even given me a partner in crime when it comes to balancing encounters based on the CR system for my Dungeons and Dragons sessions. (Not really having to do it because I'll fudge my dice to let my players win if it's necessary so, why bother here?) **But asking me to use it as a designer feels so... invasive.** I sat down to think hard about this, this week. The main question is: How can it be used in a non-invasive manner? Responsibly and without wasting the water of the world on slop? AI is being used in wonderful ways; it’s not all that bad. There is [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fw04IxXvRSM) that showcases how AI was used on an app that can detect diabetes through the sound of a voice. It's a beautiful example of how machine learning can improve our lives in a positive way and help a lot of people. So, with that in mind, I sat down in front of the [Anthropic website](https://www.anthropic.com/) and started reading its documentation and examples of use. I created some things from scratch too: [^1] - A shortcut on my Windows PC, under the contextual menu that appears when right-clicking, that helps create folders for my projects. - A widget that reads and shows me my open tasks for the day on my Obsidian vault, inside all of my notes. (I could clean up a lot of open tasks that were driving me crazy.) - A skill for Claude with design systems of my agency's clients, so designers have more time to learn, help each other, and have a nice light afternoon instead of moving things around a thousand times on presentations they told us nothing about. (We don't always get a lot of context, okay? It gets exhausting sometimes.) ## Now what? After that, I sat to think some more. What do I want to give to the AI to do, and what do I want to keep? I want to create visuals, think about mood boards, use my mind to create connections, and solve problems. **I want control over the fun part.** The boring, exhausting bits... those, Claude can take. What are those tedious tasks? Let's list as many as I can think of: - Folder creation—yes, of course. - Repetitive deck design—maybe; I spend a lot of time on those. - Applying the design I already made 4 years ago to all of my Behance posts—could it be? - Talking to clients? (No, I know, it should not, and it won't, but it's a nice thought.) - Keep a database of what I do? To what end? - Give personal reviews based on books, studies, or systems we create. - Maintain consistency where my eyes cannot reach—maybe an alert that tells me when my style or wireframes are getting sloppy or way too different from where I started. - Make me a storyboard? Feels wrong, though. - Search my files? - Order my files? - Those could be dangerous; we don't want anything stolen. This is all a big question mark. And it's going to stay like that for a long time until I start developing the fluency needed to solve all of that in a fun way. ## Conclusions The takeaway is: keep learning, keep being wary, keep trying to understand from a creative standpoint. Be ready, be smart, use it, but don't let it think for you. I'd like to leave on a positive note, full of hope and all of that: I have seen some great examples of creativity when using Claude. This designer has created a beautiful tool to recreate different types of graphics: https://www.tiktok.com/@made.by.anton/video/7641230036544015638 There are ways to make it our own; we just have to find what that means for each and every one of us. [^1]: Shout out to the Anthropic Academy, where I could learn all the basics with zero costs and even put it on my LinkedIn. Big win there!