I’ve been a designer for 26 years. Over the years, I lead a design firm and a team of creatives. I’ve worked with Fortune 500s, startups, nonprofits, artists—you name it. The tools have changed. Trends have come and gone. But one thing has stayed the same: design is about people.
Always has been.
Recently, I joined a panel hosted by students and professors from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The conversation focused on design careers, and naturally, questions about the role of AI in creative work came up. I’ve been hearing those questions more and more lately. But what stood out to me on that call wasn’t excitement or curiosity—it was hesitation.
A kind of quiet freeze.
The students weren’t experimenting with AI tools or debating the future. They were stuck. Some asked, “Will there even be jobs for us?” Others didn’t ask anything at all. They just sat in that uncomfortable silence, unsure how to even process the conversation.
And I get it.
There were moments in my career where I was completely frozen too. I didn’t know where to begin. Couldn’t see the path forward. I’ve been overwhelmed. I’ve been uncertain. I’ve stood still when I didn’t know how to move.
The truth is, no one fully knows where this is all going.
Not long ago, I listened to Geoffrey Hinton—one of the pioneers of AI and machine learning. He’s been working in the field for over two decades. In a recent interview, he said he didn’t realize the full weight of what this technology could become until just two years ago.
That hit me. Because if someone who helped build it is still processing the impact, it makes sense that the rest of us are too.
And maybe that’s okay.
Because what started this shift wasn’t just code. It was curiosity. And what will move creativity forward through all this uncertainty is the same thing.
Not perfection. Not pressure. Curiosity and more of the design-thinking.
I’ve Seen Shifts Like This Before
This isn’t the first time the creative industry has gone through a massive change. I worked through the shift in the late ’90s when the internet started replacing print.
Design school curriculums were still focused on traditional layouts and print techniques. Meanwhile, clients were asking for websites, interfaces, interactivity. The world was moving faster than what we were being taught.
Then in the early 2000s, we made a sharp pivot. Graphic design became user experience design. Layouts gave way to logic. Aesthetics had to live alongside usability. We weren’t just designing things that looked good anymore. We were designing things that worked—and worked for real people, in real time, across different screens and use cases.
It was an uncomfortable shift for a lot of people. It redefined what it meant to be a designer. But it also opened up something bigger.
This moment feels a lot like that. The technology is different, but the tension is familiar.
AI Isn’t the End of Creativity
It’s just the next chapter. And honestly, a lot of the panic is based on the wrong idea.
AI isn’t replacing creativity. It’s reshaping it.
At ArtVersion, we’ve already integrated AI tools into parts of our process. They help us move faster in the early stages. They assist with prototyping, organizing content, exploring visual directions. They help reduce some of the workload repetition.
But they don’t define our direction. They don’t choose the final version. They don’t make the judgment calls.
We do.
AI can generate options. It can remix patterns. But it can’t feel when something’s off. It can’t sense when a layout doesn’t align with a brand’s story or when the tone misses the mark. That takes intuition. That takes listening. That takes experience.
It takes a designer.
Taste Still Matters
You can’t automate taste. You can’t plug in empathy. No tool can replace that moment when something clicks—not because it’s perfect, but because it’s honest.
That’s what design is.
The creatives who thrive in this new era won’t be the ones who know every tool. They’ll be the ones who know how to guide them. The ones who understand how to build something that connects. Not just something that gets generated quickly.
Clients still come to us for clarity, not quantity. For trust, not templates. And that tells me something very important: design isn’t going anywhere.
It’s evolving. Like it always has.
For the Next Generation
To the students who asked, “Will there be jobs for us?”—I don’t have a perfect answer. No one does. But I can say this: the need for thoughtful, intentional, human-centered design isn’t going away. If anything, it’s becoming more important.
Don’t get stuck trying to outpace the machine. Learn how to lead it. Learn how to see beyond the surface. Develop your perspective. Sharpen your taste. Get better at asking questions, not just solving problems.
That’s what will keep you relevant. That’s what will make your work resonate.
Tools will change again. So will platforms. But people will always need meaning. That’s where design lives.
Final Thought
I’ve lived through multiple turning points in this industry. From print to web, static to responsive, mobile to motion, and now human to human-plus-machine.
Every time, there was fear. Every time, there was opportunity.
The creatives who keep going are the ones who stay open. The ones who stay curious. The ones who don’t freeze for too long.
Creativity isn’t canceled.
It’s just shifting, again.
And if we’re paying attention—we shift with it.