You can see all the articles in this series here<\/a>.<\/p>\nBroadly speaking, are you excited for how AI will change the design industry, or nervous?<\/h5>\n
Nervous? Excited? Those are emotions for people who haven\u2019t been paying attention.<\/p>\n
First, AI will make mediocre work even more mediocre. It has already unleash tidal waves of slop and irrelevance.\u2028\u2028But for those who truly understand design \u2013 who have judgment, imagination and the ability to ask the right questions \u2013 AI is just another tool to make extraordinary work.<\/p>\n
So, I\u2019m neither excited nor nervous. I\u2019m relieved. It lets us focus on what matters: using every tool available to create work that\u2019s unignorable.<\/p>\n
The future never asks for permission to arrive.<\/p>\n
I bought my first Apple Macintosh in 1985, after graduating from MassArt. I fell hard for digital design. Emigre fonts were in their infancy \u2013 loud, odd and new. The old guard hated them. Massimo Vignelli, high priest of Modernism, called Emigre a \u201ctypographic garbage factory\u201d \u2013 a threat to the order of the universe.<\/p>\n
But I loved Emigre for taking this new technology so seriously. So did thousands of other young designers. Back then, we all sent our typesetting out, like the laundry. I sent in a job built entirely from brand new Emigre typefaces. The typography salesman brought it back to me, laughing.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow long?\u201d he asked. \u201cHow long will this silly Mac trend go on? While you just ordered a hamburger, the best people, the best agencies, will always want the finest filet steak. There will always be a market for us, for typographic excellence and real expertise. Your machine will never replace that.\u201d He jabbed a finger at my beige Mac, like it was a rat in the pantry.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, I know, it\u2019s limited,\u201d I said. \u201cBut soon it won\u2019t be. And I want to be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAI\u2019s impact on design has been a decade-long, overnight sensation.\u201d<\/p>\n
A few years passed. That beige Mac box grew up, got faster, smarter, sharper. I added a printer. New fonts multiplied like bunnies. The old, legendary typographic houses soon went dark, their unused, dusty Photo Typositors sold for scrap.<\/p>\n
The \u201cfilet\u201d he spoke of was soon being served up on an explosion of glowing Mac monitors all around the world. I just kept running with it. I felt the ground shifting under everyone\u2019s feet.<\/p>\n
But his laughter, his entitled certainty, taught me something. Design cannot only be about defending the purity of whatever came before. Our profession\u2019s legacy, our knowledge of design and art history is crucial. But what\u2019s equally crucial is that we work in the noisy, messy, explosive present \u2013 making things that pull the future closer.<\/p>\n
Sure, tools change, interfaces change, mediums change. The creative task doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
Now I hear that same cynical laughter about AI. The same fingers pointing. The same warnings about \u201creal\u201d craft and \u201ctrue\u201d expertise. The same smug assurance that the new technology will never match the filet steak.<\/p>\n
Got it.\u2028\u2028I\u2019ve seen this movie before. And right now, this is the worst this movie will ever, ever be. AI technology is outgrowing its limits, daily. So the work for all of us \u2013 the real work \u2013 is to see where it\u2019s all going and start building there.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to do.<\/p>\n
Do you have an agreed policy around AI as a business?<\/h5>\n
Our policy? Do smart, great work.<\/p>\n
At COLLINS, our approach is simple: use AI when it serves your work, never when it replaces your thinking. \u201cNever delegate your understanding,\u201d Charles Eames warned us all. I agree.<\/p>\n
So, we\u2019re learning when to start with AI and when to stop. That\u2019s judgement. And judgement, unlike AI, cannot be prompted.<\/p>\n
When did you realise AI was going to have an impact on design?<\/h5>\n
Seven years ago, I did an interview with the intrepid Chris Do. We talked about AI and the generative design systems we were building at COLLINS then.<\/p>\n
In fact, we actually saw it coming long before that \u2013 my co-founder Leland Maschmeyer and I began experimenting with algorithmic visuals and coded design systems for clients like Spotify over a decade ago. It wasn\u2019t to be \u201con trend.\u201d We knew it was the next frontier.<\/p>\n
Take a look at the\u00a0Type Directors Club 35th Annual\u00a0we designed back in 2014. All generative imagery. The systems we coded made it; we then selected and edited.<\/p>\n
AI\u2019s impact on design has been a decade-long, overnight sensation.<\/p>\n
Have you undergone any AI training, either as a studio or individuals?<\/h5>\n
Certainly. But our profession needs people who understand when AI matters \u2013 and more importantly, when it doesn\u2019t. That\u2019s where we train. Well, that and trying to make work that matters. Work that shapes things for the better. Work that, we hope, lasts.<\/p>\n
How do you use AI in the studio\u2019s creative process?<\/h5>\n
Let\u2019s be clear: AI is a tool. It is not a creative director.<\/p>\n
We use it where it makes sense \u2013 agentic systems, research, visual examination, content exploration, workflow acceleration.<\/p>\n
For example, agentic systems will help us keep the best ideas and clarity of our design programmes stronger and more coherent as they expand across more complex systems, from communications to environments to product engineering.<\/p>\n
That will encourage, we believe, far more creativity in both conceptualisation and execution. All good.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s what AI can\u2019t do: it can\u2019t see what we see. It can\u2019t feel what we feel. Its biggest shortcoming? No discernment. Zip. Zero.<\/p>\n
It can\u2019t understand history like we do (and yes, it helps to have a library with almost 6,000 books at COLLINS to inspire us). AI can\u2019t tell us when to stop, when something\u2019s wrong, or when we\u2019re asking the wrong question entirely. That\u2019s why we need humans \u2013 and more designers with curiosity and daring \u2013 to lead.<\/p>\n
Do you think clients care if\/how you use AI in your work?<\/h5>\n
Clients don\u2019t hire COLLINS for gimmicks or tricks. They hire us for difference \u2013 for transformative ideas that matter. They care about results.<\/p>\n
When we created adaptive identity systems for Mailchimp or, more recently, a new, sound-responsive design program for Muse, clients didn\u2019t ask about our \u201ctech stack.\u201d They respond to work that moves them.<\/p>\n
The moment you start selling your \u201ctech\u201d instead of its outcomes or benefits, you\u2019ve already lost. In the end, our clients care about one thing: does it work?<\/p>\n
Do you use AI for any non-creative aspects of running your business?<\/h5>\n
Any tool that helps us focus on the work and dodge a bureaucratic circus is worth exploring. But we\u2019re not chasing every shiny AI bandwagon.<\/p>\n
We use tools where they can make a real impact \u2013 project management, data analysis, operational efficiency. The goal isn\u2019t to automate everything \u2013 it\u2019s to automate what doesn\u2019t need human intelligence so we can focus on what does.<\/p>\n
Beyond the best-known tools (like ChatGPT), what is one AI tool you\u2019d recommend to other design studios?<\/h5>\n
OpenAI apparently likes recruiting from COLLINS. Some of my colleagues have taken good roles there and are really enjoying their work, making an impact.<\/p>\n
But no, as much as I like them \u2013 and others \u2013 I\u2019m not going to recommend a specific tool. That\u2019s missing the point. The tool isn\u2019t what matters.<\/p>\n
Actually, let me repeat that:\u00a0the tool isn\u2019t what matters.<\/p>\n
What matters is your ability to think and to judge.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t think there is a magic bullet. What I\u00a0do\u00a0think is that AI will quickly replace most low- to mid-tier design work. It\u2019s already happening.<\/p>\n
Yes, some of us will continue to thrive in analogue disciplines. But the sharpest creative minds among us will learn to use AI with muscular, fluent, critical artistry.<\/p>\n
Facing all of this, it\u2019s really easy to feel overwhelmed. But you are not, not, not alone. Everyone can feel that way, too.<\/p>\n
Three years ago COLLINS began hosting gatherings in cities around the world, places where designers and technologists can drop the armour and actually\u2026talk. For the last two years at Cannes, COLLINS House has hosted leaders from Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Frontify, The United Nations, Monotype, Disney, along with people like Scott Galloway, Cindy Gallop, Sir John Hegarty, will.i.am.<\/p>\n
All people experimenting at the forefront of AI. Taika Waititi, Oscar-winning director of Jojo Rabbit<\/em> and Thor: Ragnarock<\/em>, spent a day with us sharing how he is using new AI tools in the pre-production of his movies.<\/p>\nWhy do all this? Because we really want the future we\u2019re all rushing toward to feel less like a tsunami and more like a wave we can all surf.<\/p>\n
And the tide isn\u2019t waiting. If we\u2019re not ready, it\u2019ll take us somewhere we didn\u2019t mean to go.<\/p>\n
So all the choices we make now \u2013 about our intentions, our ethics and the world we want \u2013 will decide whether we\u2019re riding the wave or tumbling in its undertow.<\/p>\n
So join us. Explore more. Experiment more. Spend more time talking with others trying to figure this all out.\u00a0And keep your eyes open.<\/p>\n
Surf\u2019s up.<\/p>\n
\n
What to read next: <\/strong>Turning Points: Butterfly Cannon<\/a> | Who should be the UK\u2019s chief design officer?<\/a> | How is Superside using AI?<\/a> | Have design job ads become too specific?<\/a>\n<\/div>\nSource<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"COLLINS is a US-based transformation consultancy which works with clients like Bose, Target, YouTube and Figma. Co-founder Brian Collins explains how they use AI, and how he feels about it. You can see all the … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[145],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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