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After Design – Helping Designers Adapt to an AI Future

Jim MacLeod

AI is redefining the design landscape. Stay ahead with this weekly newsletter on trends & how to prepare your career for an AI future.

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AI Hype is Dying Down, But Not Because it's Going Away

5 May 2024 | Issue #46 In this issue: The AI hype will die down Thinking frameworks for AI How AI is changing work at Asana Midjourney breaks free of Discord An AI agent for your browser I'm in Cleveland! Midjourney on the web The AI hype will die down. It's already starting. Even though I'm 46 issues into this newsletter, at some point it will come to an end. The buzz around AI will go away and people will become accustomed to it. The reason for this is that AI will eventually be baked into...

3 days ago • 4 min read

28 April 2024 | Issue #45 In this issue: How to compete with AI for your first job Synthesia launches expressive avatars Regenerative AI: The future of digital advertising? Where is your organization on the AI Acceleration journey? New podcast you have to listen to Set up your own Discord server for Midjourney Prompt: a group of students are talking to a 40-year-old woman --ar 16:9 If you're somebody who is getting ready to enter the marketing field, I have a couple of scary numbers for you:...

10 days ago • 4 min read

21 April 2024 | Issue #44 In this issue: Is strategy the death of design? Can we have ethical AI? Which states use AI the most AI prompts: The book Adobe Premiere Pro adding genAI capabilities How to set up your own Discord server for Midjourney Find inspiration in Cleveland Prompt: a strategist leading a design session. --ar 16:9 (it was black and white, then I added the color in Photoshop) "Strategy" can be a tricky word. It means different things to different people. For some, it sets the...

17 days ago • 4 min read

14 April 2024 | Issue #43 In this issue: Sometimes, AI isn't the answer LLMs are amazing, but why? When is content "good enough" to publish? Adobe Firefly: create images based on your sketches Easily edit images in ChatGPT Secrets behind my process I helped write a book! Pink Floyd had their own fail whale recently Knowing how to use AI is a useful skill. Knowing when to use AI can be even more important. Recently, Pink Floyd ran a contest encouraging fans to make visualizations to celebrate...

24 days ago • 3 min read

7 April 2024 | Issue #42 In this issue: Data shows AI ISN'T taking your jobs Rand Fishkin is willing to bet $5000 this is true I helped write a book Everything will be fine! A recent comprehensive analysis of over 5 million freelancing jobs has shed some light on the issue of AI taking jobs away from people. It reveals trends that are reassuring for creative professionals. The 3 categories with the largest declines were writing, translation and customer service jobs. The number of writing...

about 1 month ago • 2 min read

31 March 2024 | Issue #41 In this issue: Anti-AI protests ... kinda? SXSW: creatives and technologists clash Is it AI or not? Quiz Google: AI will replace agencies Canva acquires Affinity Secrets behind my process I helped write a book! No better way to show how human designers are better than AI (as of today) Did you hear about the protests at SXSW? There was a group of designers who were protesting AI taking their jobs. The right of expressing oneself is a cornerstone of democracy, and...

about 1 month ago • 6 min read

24 March 2024 | Issue #40 In this issue: Doomers and boomers debate AI Pastors: AI replacing people okay for others, but not for me GPT-5 coming this year Photoshop controversy AI arms race, Apple + Google ?!? Reddit users not concerned about AI taking design jobs At a recent private screening of "Oppenheimer" hosted in a co-living space near Alamo Square—a hub for both AI optimists and pessimists—attendees from both camps gathered to reflect on the historical parallels between nuclear...

about 2 months ago • 4 min read

17 March 2024 | Issue #39 In this issue: AI will handle 95% of what marketing agencies will do AI comments on LinkedIn Midjourney consistent characters Devin, AI for software engineering How to use AI to write a book about AI Designers are circles, developers are squares Hit those KPIs Happy St. Patrick's Day to those of you in the US who aspire to be like those of us with Irish lineage. If you may have been over-served last night, well, I don't know if this newsletter will help. But Sláinte!...

about 2 months ago • 5 min read

10 March 2024 | Issue #38 In this issue: OpenAI's first acquisition: a design studio New Microsoft default typeface Generative AI design patterns How AI could disrupt creators Using genAI for diversity images will backfire A juvenile joke goes viral The original prompt of "Robot making it rain" didn't work well. OpenAI has made its first acquisition, and it's a design studio! Global Illumination, a New York-based AI design studio known for its innovative use of AI in creating creative tools...

about 2 months ago • 3 min read

3 March 2024 | Issue #37 In this issue: How are agencies using genAI? AI ideation creation engine announced Strategies for an accelerating future 27 stats on an AI future Content marketing newsletter recommendation Best book covers of Feb 2023 CircleBoom recently released a comprehensive look at agencies using AI. The report interviewed dozens of agency leaders to understand how they are using generative AI in their work. Many are using genAI to articulate ideas. The AI isn't creating ideas,...

2 months ago • 4 min read
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