Artificial intelligence makes UX designers life easier – at least for certain work steps. But the tools also have clear limitations. Where the opportunities and challenges lie when using AI tools in the design process and the tasks for which they are already convincing.
For many, it feels like it all started with ChatGPT. The triumph of generative AI applications now seems unstoppable. New, specialized tools are being developed every day to help employees complete their tasks more efficiently, creatively or quickly. UX and UI design is no exception.
Opportunities when using artificial intelligence in the design process
AI applications enable major efficiency gains, especially at the start of a project. “With AI, we can take big steps forward in a short space of time,” says Sabine Gerhards, Senior Experience Designer at Panter. For example, when researching or developing suggestions for the name of a product or service. “This allows us to concentrate more on the development of the design.”
Examples of tasks in which AI applications provide support are:
Brainstorming: AI applications are helpful sparring partners when developing design ideas. “With AI, the design process tends to pick up speed more quickly. This is because it is less bogged down, which leads to a refreshing creative ping-pong,” explains Sanja Jepurovic, Experience Designer at Panter. “This often results in new and exciting ideas that can be pursued further.” Important: The expertise of the UX designers remains central to checking the AI’s suggestions to see whether they fit in terms of design, correspond to the target group or can be implemented for barrier-free use, for example.
Taking on repetitive tasks: AI tools can take over individual time-consuming processes and thus make the entire design process more efficient. This applies, for example, to structuring customer research results or summarizing notes from calls and meetings.
Prototyping: AI applications play to their strengths in rapid prototyping by creating countless design variations within a short space of time. The visual representation, in turn, can simplify decision-making in organizations, as everyone involved has the exact same picture in mind.
In this way, AI applications also provide support in the testing phase or when personalizing the design for different target groups. In the best case scenario, designers save a lot of time and effort thanks to AI support.
However, time savings are by no means guaranteed in this use case. For one thing, the precise prompting required to convey the design idea to the AI tool is very time-consuming. Secondly, the quality of the tools’ outputs is difficult to predict.
It is not uncommon for designers to have to put a lot of time and effort into optimizing the proposals themselves. Therefore, experts who have the necessary creativity can often develop target-oriented prototypes manually in less time than with current AI tools.
Challenges in the use of AI in UX design
However, AI applications naturally have their limits. They cannot completely replace UX and UI designers. This is because the tools are neither able to think independently nor can they feel.
As a result, their output is usually very generic, not optimally tailored to the needs of users and does not trigger any specific emotions.
Last but not least, copyright aspects must also be taken into account. AI-generated designs can infringe copyrights. There is therefore still no alternative to close monitoring and further development of AI proposals by experienced designers.
In summary, this means that the machine can do a lot of hard work. For truly creative and innovative designs that generate positive feelings among users, people are still needed.
AI tools in the design process – concrete examples with Figma AI and FigJam
Each AI tool has its own strengths and weaknesses. The UX and UI designers at Panter generally rely on Figma AI and FigJam. We show three tasks where each tool shows its strengths to the full.
Figma AI
Prototyping: Figma AI allows you to quickly create design prototypes, variants and flowcharts that map all interactions between different design frames – all with one click. The AI tool is therefore suitable for developing an initial idea that designers can build on and develop further. However, as soon as it goes into more detail, the machine output is no longer sufficient.
Content Replacement: Generative AI creates realistic texts and images for design layouts in no time at all. Designers no longer have to rely on dummy texts or spend a lot of time searching for suitable stock images and can focus more on their core competence – the design itself.
Automatic naming of layers: The meaningful and consistent naming of all layers in the design file usually makes further work easier. Nevertheless, it is an organizational task that is often forgotten. Figma AI takes over this unpopular task and automatically generates suitable names for each layer. This is based on the specific content, its placement and the relationship of these layers to all other layers.
FigJam
Creation of templates and design templates: Templates for recurring meetings, standardized project timelines or generic design templates: In FigJam, these are created with one click. This means that designers need less time to prepare for meetings and other organizational tasks – and can focus more on the actual design.
Ideation for workshop icebreakers: In workshops, all participants should ideally pull together openly and purposefully from the very first minute. Depending on the composition of the group, however, this is easier said than done. With the AI functions in FigJam, questions or small tasks can be generated in no time at all to break the ice in the workshop. This is how collaboration works right from the start.
Summary of notes / sticky notes: Workshop notes are generally not very structured; after all, the inputs and discussions of all participants need to be noted down under time pressure. It is therefore time-consuming to summarize and structure all the sticky notes on the board afterwards. The AI functions take this task off our hands. The tool can quickly summarize the related notes in the entire file and present them logically. This means that the most important ideas and inputs are quickly and compactly presented to all workshop participants in a clear and concise manner. This enables quick understanding and better decisions.
AI tools vs. designers: where is the journey going?
When used correctly, AI support gives designers additional freedom to use their energy and creativity where they can create added value. However, artificial intelligence cannot find new, creative solutions.
However, the further development of tools also increases the risk of creativity in design processes becoming less valued. In future, designers and project managers will have to think even more carefully about where they can best use their expertise to create a unique user experience.
Panter creates digital solutions that are not only visually appealing, but also allow users to use them intuitively and without barriers. The basis for our successful designs is always extensive research. We create designs that ensure that users are delighted every time they use the application.
