The Doorman's Lesson
Technology disrupting design and human experience is nothing new. Rory Sutherland's 'Doorman Fallacy' describes a hotel that replaces its doorman with automatic revolving doors to cut costs. While the door still functions, the hotel loses something essential: the security, personal recognition, and warmth that only a human touch can provide. This scenario is an apt analogy for the crossroads that design is at right now.
Generative AI is the revolving door of the 21st century. It is a great tool, but it shouldn't be a shortcut to creating meaning, connection, and thoughtfulness in our work. AI can streamline tasks, but what happens when we overlook the “doorman” functions that designers provide? Those human nuances that don’t easily fit into metrics profoundly impact user experience, such as personal connection and trust.
As designers, our role isn't just to solve problems but to communicate, build narratives, and craft relatable experiences that resonate.
Design values: process and outcome
In life, we usually find that nothing worthwhile comes without effort – be it things such as fitness, health or relationships. AI tools challenge this concept. For design, the value often lies in the process as much as the outcome.
Humans want human makers (but they’re not necessarily bothered by AI)
While tools (like AI) can accelerate creation, the value of design often lies in the journey rather than just the destination. Each iteration, consideration, and decision contributes to a deeper understanding of people’s needs and contexts.
Recent research supports this view. A 2023 MIT study on "Human favouritism, not AI aversion" revealed that while people preferred AI-generated content in blind studies, they preferred human-created work when told about its origins.
Even as AI begins to match and outperform humans in creative tasks like writing and visual asset creation, people are still strongly inclined toward human contribution. Human involvement and transparency in the creative process still resonate deeply, even as AI technology advances.
Pragmatism and personal expression
As design professionals, our approaches to design reflect a careful duality of pragmatism and personal expression. The tension between these two elements makes great design – shaping individual design philosophies as diverse as Mies van der Rohe's minimalism, Dieter Rams’ beauty in function, or Don Norman's designing for delight.
Design reflects years of accumulated wisdom and lived experience. These personal philosophies and processes help create designs that stand out in an increasingly automated landscape. They represent what we make and how we think about the relationship between people and design products.
Today, we can generate images and videos of almost anything we like with AI. For a designer, a good way to navigate this is a return to classical design processes. That’s where skills like discernment (what or why we generate something), curation, and the ability to judge the output come into their own.
The path forward isn't a stark choice between human creativity and artificial intelligence but thoughtful integration.
In the hands of great designers, AI is a powerful tool that complements our design capabilities. It enhances the efficiency of our work without sacrificing the depth and personal touch that resonates with people. The discernment and skill of today's designers are critical to maintaining that balance.
The trick is to explore how this balance works in our daily design decisions to move from possibility to practice.
Innovative, emotionally resonant design
Like many others, our design team is learning to integrate these powerful tools into our workflow in a manner that preserves human design principles and reflects the values we want to manifest in our community and broader society.
Considering when, why, and how to utilise AI in this paradigm shift can safeguard practices from the pitfalls of blind adoption—because when you're wielding a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.
If anything, the principles and values that underpin design are more important than ever. Meaningful and valuable design translates beyond visual appeal; it communicates ideas and values that we connect with.
The Doorman's Lesson
Technology disrupting design and human experience is nothing new. Rory Sutherland's 'Doorman Fallacy' describes a hotel that replaces its doorman with automatic revolving doors to cut costs. While the door still functions, the hotel loses something essential: the security, personal recognition, and warmth that only a human touch can provide. This scenario is an apt analogy for the crossroads that design is at right now.
Generative AI is the revolving door of the 21st century. It is a great tool, but it shouldn't be a shortcut to creating meaning, connection, and thoughtfulness in our work. AI can streamline tasks, but what happens when we overlook the “doorman” functions that designers provide? Those human nuances that don’t easily fit into metrics profoundly impact user experience, such as personal connection and trust.
As designers, our role isn't just to solve problems but to communicate, build narratives, and craft relatable experiences that resonate.
Design values: process and outcome
In life, we usually find that nothing worthwhile comes without effort – be it things such as fitness, health or relationships. AI tools challenge this concept. For design, the value often lies in the process as much as the outcome.
Humans want human makers (but they’re not necessarily bothered by AI)
While tools (like AI) can accelerate creation, the value of design often lies in the journey rather than just the destination. Each iteration, consideration, and decision contributes to a deeper understanding of people’s needs and contexts.
Recent research supports this view. A 2023 MIT study on "Human favouritism, not AI aversion" revealed that while people preferred AI-generated content in blind studies, they preferred human-created work when told about its origins.
Even as AI begins to match and outperform humans in creative tasks like writing and visual asset creation, people are still strongly inclined toward human contribution. Human involvement and transparency in the creative process still resonate deeply, even as AI technology advances.
Pragmatism and personal expression
As design professionals, our approaches to design reflect a careful duality of pragmatism and personal expression. The tension between these two elements makes great design – shaping individual design philosophies as diverse as Mies van der Rohe's minimalism, Dieter Rams’ beauty in function, or Don Norman's designing for delight.
Design reflects years of accumulated wisdom and lived experience. These personal philosophies and processes help create designs that stand out in an increasingly automated landscape. They represent what we make and how we think about the relationship between people and design products.
Today, we can generate images and videos of almost anything we like with AI. For a designer, a good way to navigate this is a return to classical design processes. That’s where skills like discernment (what or why we generate something), curation, and the ability to judge the output come into their own.
The path forward isn't a stark choice between human creativity and artificial intelligence but thoughtful integration.
In the hands of great designers, AI is a powerful tool that complements our design capabilities. It enhances the efficiency of our work without sacrificing the depth and personal touch that resonates with people. The discernment and skill of today's designers are critical to maintaining that balance.
The trick is to explore how this balance works in our daily design decisions to move from possibility to practice.
Innovative, emotionally resonant design
Like many others, our design team is learning to integrate these powerful tools into our workflow in a manner that preserves human design principles and reflects the values we want to manifest in our community and broader society.
Considering when, why, and how to utilise AI in this paradigm shift can safeguard practices from the pitfalls of blind adoption—because when you're wielding a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.
If anything, the principles and values that underpin design are more important than ever. Meaningful and valuable design translates beyond visual appeal; it communicates ideas and values that we connect with.
The Doorman's Lesson
Technology disrupting design and human experience is nothing new. Rory Sutherland's 'Doorman Fallacy' describes a hotel that replaces its doorman with automatic revolving doors to cut costs. While the door still functions, the hotel loses something essential: the security, personal recognition, and warmth that only a human touch can provide. This scenario is an apt analogy for the crossroads that design is at right now.
Generative AI is the revolving door of the 21st century. It is a great tool, but it shouldn't be a shortcut to creating meaning, connection, and thoughtfulness in our work. AI can streamline tasks, but what happens when we overlook the “doorman” functions that designers provide? Those human nuances that don’t easily fit into metrics profoundly impact user experience, such as personal connection and trust.
As designers, our role isn't just to solve problems but to communicate, build narratives, and craft relatable experiences that resonate.
Design values: process and outcome
In life, we usually find that nothing worthwhile comes without effort – be it things such as fitness, health or relationships. AI tools challenge this concept. For design, the value often lies in the process as much as the outcome.
Humans want human makers (but they’re not necessarily bothered by AI)
While tools (like AI) can accelerate creation, the value of design often lies in the journey rather than just the destination. Each iteration, consideration, and decision contributes to a deeper understanding of people’s needs and contexts.
Recent research supports this view. A 2023 MIT study on "Human favouritism, not AI aversion" revealed that while people preferred AI-generated content in blind studies, they preferred human-created work when told about its origins.
Even as AI begins to match and outperform humans in creative tasks like writing and visual asset creation, people are still strongly inclined toward human contribution. Human involvement and transparency in the creative process still resonate deeply, even as AI technology advances.
Pragmatism and personal expression
As design professionals, our approaches to design reflect a careful duality of pragmatism and personal expression. The tension between these two elements makes great design – shaping individual design philosophies as diverse as Mies van der Rohe's minimalism, Dieter Rams’ beauty in function, or Don Norman's designing for delight.
Design reflects years of accumulated wisdom and lived experience. These personal philosophies and processes help create designs that stand out in an increasingly automated landscape. They represent what we make and how we think about the relationship between people and design products.
Today, we can generate images and videos of almost anything we like with AI. For a designer, a good way to navigate this is a return to classical design processes. That’s where skills like discernment (what or why we generate something), curation, and the ability to judge the output come into their own.
The path forward isn't a stark choice between human creativity and artificial intelligence but thoughtful integration.
In the hands of great designers, AI is a powerful tool that complements our design capabilities. It enhances the efficiency of our work without sacrificing the depth and personal touch that resonates with people. The discernment and skill of today's designers are critical to maintaining that balance.
The trick is to explore how this balance works in our daily design decisions to move from possibility to practice.
Innovative, emotionally resonant design
Like many others, our design team is learning to integrate these powerful tools into our workflow in a manner that preserves human design principles and reflects the values we want to manifest in our community and broader society.
Considering when, why, and how to utilise AI in this paradigm shift can safeguard practices from the pitfalls of blind adoption—because when you're wielding a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail.
If anything, the principles and values that underpin design are more important than ever. Meaningful and valuable design translates beyond visual appeal; it communicates ideas and values that we connect with.
