Will AI affect UI-UX designing?

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Design is not just about functionality and aesthetics. It connects the users on the emotional level too. On the other hand, AI is a machine that can act using human-style reasoning or perception. AI can think logically but it cannot think rationally. At best, AI can be the designer’s partner which will help in easing the process of UI UX designing, prototyping and testing.

The AI-driven design will dramatically increase the activity of many designers as designers can quickly and easily create tons of changes without much effort. In the future, designers will train their AI tools to solve design problems by modelling them based on their preferences.

So, let’s explore the effect of AI on UI UX design.

The fate of designers in the age of AI:

Remember when computers and automation first came in, there was a lot of noise about how it was going to harm people financially. But the reality is here, and things have never been better. There is hardly any business in which computers aren’t used.

The debate on whether AI is good or bad has been around for decades, and just like every change faces criticism and resistance, the opinion about AI is also divided.

Design is about personality

Designing comes from the uniquely human ability to empathize with users and develop a creative output, which cannot be replicated by artificial intelligence.

AI is surely powerful but it cannot do everything. It cannot have original thoughts and hence, it cannot create anything new. It is simply programmed to function in an automated way and does not feel emotions.

Designing, on the other hand, is not a skill that can be passed on or taught in a specific way. It is a process that one has to individually go through by evolving and adapting to their situations and context.

It is largely based on various social, business, and technical interactions that get distilled into a creative form. These different variables are used to create products that cater to the needs and requirements of users.

Hence, even with the tremendous leap in AI technology, the designer’s job is safe. The jobs that AI is targeting are the ones that involve repeat processes. Take call centres or BPOs for example. With AI & automation, all responses to common customer queries are automated. This has eliminated the requirement of customer care executives and taken over by bots.

AI can only refurbish old patterns and combine new ones, follow a systematic process and deliver. Designing being a creative profession operates on the level beyond the attainment of AI.

Many designers are also more than willing to integrate smart software and applications into their work. In fact, they are the ones honestly believing in the power of human-AI synergy.

How will AI benefit UI UX design?

We believe that the combination of AI and UI UX will result in wonders. It will be a collaborative effort and instead of a problem, it will give rise to a series of opportunities.

Here are some ways designers can use AI to their advantage:

1. Training and Delegation of repetitive work

Robots can learn work of image resizing, colour adjustment and basic editing. This will increase a designer’s productivity and save them some time to exclusively work on the design.

Back in 2017, Airbnb announced a technology that would identify sketches and convert them into codes in real-time.

This is a massive advancement in the design and AI integration space which is not only going to help designers in getting more time for brainstorming and making strategic decisions, but it is also something that will create wonderful output for the end client.

Intuitive design systems

Designing for websites and mobile applications requires a systematic process, where creativity has to be amalgamated with business logic and consistency.

This is where AI can make a lasting imprint. As mentioned before, AI can learn patterns, rules and analyse data variables.

They can largely help humans (or designers, in this case) by handing over meticulous tasks and relying on robotic precision instead of human memory and attention.

AI can help customize UI UX

Another opportunity resides in the customization of UI based on the user.

Cambridge Analytica Scandal in 2018 proved to us that none of our data is safe. Social media has exposed our lives publicly, and brands (or their robotic systems) are using this to their advantage.

AI is already looking at what the user likes, their hurdles in UX, what sort of colour palette, typography, font size or call to actions they most interact with, and change the design accordingly, on a per-user base. 

With the help of AI, you may give the users a more human, intuitive and positive experience by reducing errors and frustration. The user experience of the same app might differ from one set of users to another. For example, the young generation will find booking a bus ticket from an app easier, compared to the elderly, who will find it difficult.

The biggest example of this is Netflix- which displays a per-user based screen by analyzing user choices, the genres or actor they watch more often and recommends movies in that manner.

The future of AI and UI UX design

Machine learning technology has all of the composition and colour matching skills like that of a human, but it cannot fully fulfil the product experience.

Since User Experience is gaining a lot of importance in the market, we can expect more emphasis on Experience Design in the near future- a strategy that deals with user personas, behaviour and understanding of user to bring them more value.

Therefore, various tools that support user interaction will be largely needed. Tools that support wireframes or UI mapping might transform or simply be eliminated over the course of time.

Designers should think of the best use of AI-powered tools that will help in producing innovative designs rather than worry about being their jobs being lost.

Final Thoughts

AI and UI UX are intertwined, and AI will not and cannot replace the designers. It will automate repetitive tasks which will help designers to focus on what’s important (i.e. the design decisions etc.)

It will also help designers and brands in creating more personalized experiences for users. Hence, to take advantage of the incoming AI revolution, designers need to polish their skills to a high degree of sophistication.

Designers need to add value to their profile (be a design consultant or strategist) and delegate bots all the boring tasks of the day which don’t need human intervention. An AI apocalypse is not coming but a work revolution might be on its way.