There has been a lot of talk about AI in the web design and web development space, where you can design and build websites or even create mobile applications with a few prompts like Loveable,… Companies like Squarespace, Wix, and Webflow are also trying their hand at AI, making the process of launching a website even faster.
The process of wireframing and UI design can now be assisted with AI services like Relume or Google’s Stitch. There will be a lot more of these tools coming in the near future, so what does it mean for me as a web designer or for people interested in joining the field?
I personally have been trying not to use these AI tools in my design process, as I’m still learning different styles and developing my own taste in web design. The process of trying different layouts, experimenting with colors and fonts, and feeling that something is off after designing something—the whole trial-and-error process—may take a long time. The client may not even care whether it’s built by AI or not as long as the end results looks good and usable. However, by taking the time to look for inspiration, sketching out ideas, moving frames pixel by pixel, and replicating other people’s designs has helped me understand design principles, realize what works and what doesn’t, and grasp the reasons why, and helped me build my own design system.
When I first started learning English, before I know how to ultilize the internet besides playing internet games on y8, my old teacher used to make me flip through the pages of a dictionary to find the definition of whatever words I wanted to learn. Meanwhile, my other classmates had small handheld digital dictionaries where they could quickly type in words and find definitions right away—the devices even had games on them. I was so jealous of my classmates and frustrated that I wasn’t allowed to use the cool digital dictionary. I later found out the reason my teacher wanted me to use the paper dictionary was that I could come across other words or read about the definitions of nearby words, thereby learning more just by the process of looking for one specific word. I ended up learning more and understanding more vocabulary by the end of the semester compared to most of my peers.
If you are new to web design, I encourage you to go through it without AI for the first couple of projects and use it sparingly afterward. I feel lucky that I began my journey without the help of AI—it has helped me develop a mindset for critical thinking, design thinking, and problem-solving skills, fine-tuning my design process to adapt to different projects with varying requirements. The learning process was slower but more precious, and I look back at the time I spent and the effort I put in with fond memories and gratitude.
The hard way is worthwhile and will pay dividends in the long run.