Part 3 of 3 AI in Graphic Design
Customer loyalty and retention require a comprehensive strategy intentionally designed around every step of the customer journey. Every touchpoint is either building loyalty or eroding it.
So where does AI fit?
In part three of this three part series we will tackle the controversial topic of using AI for graphic design and how artificial intelligence technology can support a stronger customer loyalty and retention strategy.
It’s time for me to come clean! I use AI both personally and professionally.
There are just some tasks that AI can do for me much faster and, in some cases better, than I can do it myself.
By delegating to AI the tasks of keeping my schedule, giving me a daily briefing on topics I have an interest in and new innovations in areas of interest to me, it frees up my time to do the things only I can do. Things that require a human touch or interaction.
I admit I also use what I call “Dr. AI” when I am trying to find additional information on something my Primary Care Physician or Physical Therapist mentioned to me. Do I take everything Dr. AI finds for me without checking sources for accuracy? Of course not.
The same goes for anything you ask AI to research or create.
So, how do you know if you should use AI for Graphic Design?
Ask yourself these questions:
How important is the project?
Does the project need to be “on brand”?
Is it important for the project to stand out from competitors?
Does the project need to feel personal and/or custom?
If you are going to ask AI to create a project, spend time developing a direction for the project. Give AI specific prompts and supply as much original and unique content as possible. If you give a prompt that says, “design a flyer for an open house for my real estate listing”, AI will gather the information of what an open house flyer looks like and will produce a generic flyer that looks like every other one that supplied the same prompts.
I made some mistakes along the way. The first one was my head shot. I wanted to update my social media profiles, my resume and my professional bio. I was recovering from rotator cuff surgery and was in a sling for six to eight weeks. So, I took a photo of me from last fall and put it into AI and asked it to use the photo and create a headshot. It looked like me, well a “brushed-up” version of me. I got a few snarky comments but I looked past them.
Then, my daughter, whose opinion I value greatly and who has a degree in marketing, said “Mom, you have to get rid of that AI headshot. People are pushing back on them and your jaw line is off”. She was right.
Next, I used AI to create graphics for social media posts. It did a pretty good job, but I began to notice my graphics looked a lot like other social posts for other companies. I also noticed that every restaurant flyer looked like every other restaurant flyer. The same was true for many other industries.
The irony of this is I decided to hire a well respected graphic designer to create my branding and a talented web designer to create my website. I did this so I would stand out from others and then I used A1 generated, generic graphics templates!!
Here’s the kicker. Herb Cloutier, Principal at Designed By DW, the person who did my branding and a trusted advisor for all things social media, told me that by using AI generated graphics, some of the social media sites actually tagged my posts as AI generated!!! The ideas and the content for my posts is 100% mine, but because I used AI to design the template, my posts bore the Scarlett “AI” Letters! That’s the last thing I want followers to see on my social media posts.
I have since changed my strategy. I taught myself Canva and also I am leaning into Herb from Designed By DW to help with some of my more challenging social media post graphics.
There are a lot of conversations about how AI will change the way we work. Some believe that AI will replace humans. Others reject anything AI related.
I believe AI and humans can make each other better.