The Future of Graphic Design: Will Robots Automate Your Job?

Lots of people are freaking out that an AI controlled robot will steal their job. Even more scary is the fact that they’re probably correct.

A study in 2013 determined that 43% of US jobs are at risk of automation. These are not just unskilled jobs we’re talking about either. Any job that involves repetitive steps or clearly defined rules is a prime target for machine learning algorithms. This includes areas of finance, law, medicine, accounting and education.

So what’s the future of graphic design? It’s easy to assume that graphic design will be hard to automate because it’s a creative skill that requires abstract though and conceptual thinking. In this article we’re going to look at how AI will affect graphic design jobs and what designers can do to stay relevant.

Is graphic design dead?

No. Absolutely not. Graphic design will be alive and well for many, many years to come. In fact, the very cool website Will Robots Take My Job? have even put a number on it. They predict that there is only an 8% risk of graphic design jobs being automated. Even better are the future prospects for art directors, who only have a 2% chance of their job being stolen by a robot.

So this is great news right? Yes, but it’s only a small part of the story. Even though the future of graphic design seems safe, the advancement of AI and technology means that the role of the graphic designer will be forced to change. Graphic designers will have to adapt and change if they want to survive in a robot controlled future.

Let’s take a look at how and why…

Graphic design automation isn’t a new thing

Before we look at the role of AI in automating graphic design, it’s important to understand that graphic design automation has been happening since the birth of the printing press. A few of these transformative events include:

• The shift from manual typesetting to phototypesetting

• The invention of Letraset, which allowed type to be transferred from a character sheet onto a design by rubbing

• The introduction of the Apple Macintosh and the birth of desktop publishing

• The rise of the internet and responsive / adaptive web design

Each of these periods in history have increased graphic design automation, and yet they have all resulted in even more jobs for designers! In fact, graphic design has become thoroughly embedded in our culture and business activities precisely because of these advancements in technology and automation.

Designers currently use a vast array of tools to make their jobs easier and automate repetitive tasks. Most of the content you view on the web has been built using some kind of automated framework or platform. WordPress alone powers around 20% of the websites in existence! Anyone can easily design infographics using products like Canva and services like Shutterstock makes finding images quick and easy.

These platforms and tools drive some graphic designers crazy because they feel the web has become homogenized and boring. On the other hand, businesses and clients love them because they’re easy, fast and look great. They also tend to bend the web towards consistent user interaction patterns. This is useful because the goal is generally to make it easy for customers to buy your product or interact with your service.

The role of artificial intelligence in graphic design

Machine learning and other AI algorithms are very good at spotting patterns or performing repetitive tasks based on a defined set of rules or a series of steps. A lot of the work designers do on a daily basis falls into this category, particularly for more junior designers who are often given less creative work. Some examples include:

• Cropping photos

• Picking color palettes

• Pairing fonts

• Positioning design elements according to well established rules like balance or white space

• Developing user journeys, and other common interaction patterns

• Designing web pages according to a set of defined parameters

It’s not a huge leap to imagine an AI designer handling all these tasks in the not too distant future. In fact, there are already some sophisticated examples in production:

•  The Grid, an AI driven website creation tool that makes all the design decisions for you

• Project Dreamcatcher which uses AI to design CAD prototypes based on a set of predefined design objectives

• Adobe Sensei which uses AI to let designers automatically manipulate photos in increasingly sophisticated ways.

In cases where an AI can handle a design task, humans will begin to work more and more in partnership with AI assistants. For example, an AI might produce 50 different variations of a logo based on a set of input parameters and the designer will provide feedback and manipulate the AI in the right direction to produce the final result.

What does this mean for the future of graphic design jobs?

Designers will need more uniquely human skills

In the future, there is no doubt that designers will leave many of the tasks discussed above to our robot overlords. Instead, the role of the designer will change to focus on applying uniquely human skills to design problems that robots can’t hope to replicate. Let’s look at some of these and how they relate to solving design problems.

Social intelligence

Social intelligence refers to how we understand ourselves and how we relate to others and society. It basically defines our humanity and empathy. A high level of social intelligence is implicit in all important and meaningful design and luckily for us, robots won’t develop social intelligence for a very long time (if ever).

Creativity and talent

An AI can produce a good solution as long as the rules are clearly defined. Having a unique, shocking or interesting idea is something that only a human designer can do.

Brainstorming and ideating

Some of the most creative ideas come from brainstorming. It works because participants are encouraged to lose their inhibitions. Getting loose is something an AI is incapable of doing.

Empathy and emotion

Some of the best design work taps into our emotions and sense of empathy. A Robot killing designing machine can’t feel empathy and will never compete with a human designer.

The impact of technology on the future of graphic design

VR and AR in graphic design

There’s little doubt that virtual reality and augmented reality will be the next frontier for graphic design and human computer interaction. They also represent huge employment opportunities for graphic designers at all stages in their careers.

VR and AR are still in their infancy and there are many big and important problems to be solved. There is currently no killer app for any VR or AR platform and besides gaming, we don’t even really know how these new tools will be used. More importantly, the interaction patterns and graphic design language that defines how we interact with them is still very primitive.

Start playing around with the Apple ARKit or an Oculus Rift and you’ll soon see the amazing potential. If you need any more evidence, there are plenty of rumours that Apple’s next game changing product will be AR glasses, Facebook paid 2 Billion dollars to buy Oculus and Magic Leap has so far raised 1.4 Billion dollars in funding.

Conclusion

Graphic designers of the future will have long and successful careers as long as they’re willing to leave the more repetitive aspects of design to machines and concentrate on the human aspects of design such as social intelligence and empathy.