by Cassidy Miranda
UTImes YourPace Student Journalist
Graphic designers work hard to bring their ideas to life in a way that will inspire and tug at the hearts of their consumers. While art remains subjective and personal, many wonder if having artificial intelligence, or AI, creating designs may be an easier and more cost-effective way of designing.
Graphique de France is a Massachusetts design business specializing in gifts and stationery items. Maria Gonsalves, the creative director at Graphique de France, says this is a possibility–but not for Graphique.
“It’s inevitable, and it’s already happening,” she said. “You can type anything into an AI generator, and it will spit out the exact image you’re asking for.”
“However, when dealing with smaller design companies, such as ours, we want to give our customers that personalized touch that AI just will not be able to replicate,” Gonsalves continued.
You can open any design app, such as Canva or Adobe Express, and describe your desired images or designs. Once you submit this description, the app will generate the image you are looking for. It is not always a perfect match, and it only sometimes looks visually appealing, but it has a rapid turnaround time compared to a human designer.
“I think there may come a time when AI might develop to be error-free and have a personalized touch added, but that time is not now or anywhere shortly,” explained Elena Iria, graphic designer at Graphique.
Iria has been a graphic designer for 5 years and says that while there are advancements in AI in designing, the pull of art has always been the artist behind the work.
“For simple work, like mugs or dish printing or posters, machines already mass-produced things,” said Iria. “ It is the greeting cards, the book covers, and things like that that make people want to see something unique and made by a real artist.”
While this may be the reality for the workers at Graphique de France, other graphic designers have had a different experience.
Christian Miranda, a graphic designer with 10 years under his belt, was laid off last August from his design job and hasn’t been able to find work in his field since.
“To make a long story short, the work I do can be done by AI and in a fraction of the time,” said Miranda.
He said that although the artwork that artificial intelligence produces could be better than his own, some companies are looking for quick and cheap over precision and uniqueness.
“I think this is the future unless you work at a smaller scale company that has clients who want handmade art,” he lamented. “Eventually you’ll be replaced, It won’t make a big difference to the public, they don’t care about art as is. But us artists we will know.”
Although AI can streamline some elements of graphic design, many artists and small businesses find that creativity remains firmly rooted in the human touch—offering a depth of uniqueness and emotional connection that technology has yet to fully replicate.
