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Conclusion

A revolutionary turning point in the development of graphic design is the introduction of generative artificial intelligence. This revolutionary technology has the power to open up fresh possibilities for creative expression, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in this evolving industry.

It is important that we approach innovation with a thorough understanding of the ethical implications and potential risks associated with this significant technology. Even though generative AI has a lot of potential, there are several concerns that need to be carefully considered and discussed in depth, including ownership and bias.

It is important to see generative AI as a tool that enables people to broaden their creative ideas, but humans are still in control. It should be viewed as a collaborator that improves the creative potential of human artists and designers rather than as a substitute for human creativity.

Designers should take advantage of this technology and the possibilities it brings with it. It's should not be a contradiction of humans versus machines, but a powerful collaboration where designers assume the role of creative directors, setting the vision and guiding Generative AI tools. Designers may automate repetitive tasks and free up more time to explore the boundaries of creativity.

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Procreate VS. Illustrator

Procreate

Procreate is a raster graphics editor app meant for painting, sketching, and illustrations. Some of its features include:

Animation tool for time-lapse

Create new brushes

Customize textures and effects in brushes

Text styles and typographies

Customized fonts

Adjust paint filters, effects, and blur tools

Draw, modify, or color-correct images

Some of the benefits that Procreates bring designers are:

Pressure-sensitive line strokes

Smooth transition from sketches to final product easier

Intuitive user interface

Great presets for image fine-tuning

Quick adjustments and edits

Cost-effective alternative to Adobe

Save files in PSD Format

Limitations from Procreate:

Limited blur effects

Limited functionality with animation assist tool

Layer limitations based on RAM and storage

Requires powerful iPad versions.

Apple Pencil compatibility requirement

Mediocre resizing abilities

Illustrator

Illustrator is a vector graphics editor and design program by Adobe. Some of its features include:

Advanced CAD (Computer-Aided Designs) Tools

Easy and quick data import/export

Content library for Inspiration

Vector graphics for high-quality formats

Benefits of using Adobe Illustrator:

Smooth and interactive user interface

Quality assurance in vector editing

Multitasking capability

Accessibility across devices with Creative Cloud

Dislikes of Illustrator:

Overwhelming number of tools

Steep learning curve

No mobile version

Inability to save new edits in old files

Procreate and Illustrator can be used similar in some instances, however, they are quite different and can be used for different reasons. As stated, Procreate is more for raster images while Illustrator is used for vector images. Choosing between the different software depends on the desired outcome and design. 

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Canva and AI

Canva is another platform that now offers Generative AI features. Canva is known for its user-friendly approach to graphic design. Some of the tools include:

Magic Media:

            Text to Image – This tool is powered by Stable Diffusion, and it generates images from text prompts. The quality of the results vary the more details the better the results. One can also choose from image styles like Photo, Neon, Minimalist, Watercolor, Retro Anime, and Dreamlike.

            Text to Video – The amazing quality of Canva's generative video is a result of its integration with Runway, a pioneer in text-to-video AI technology.

Magic Eraser – Similar to Adobe and other GenAI models, this tool allows designers to erase unwanted objects and people from their images. This tool works best when removing objects from plain backgrounds. 

Magic Edit – “With one click and a few words, you can turn one object into another.” (Kane, 2023) with this tool people can change backgrounds, customize products, and even do things like change the clothes on people in your photos.

Magic Grab – This tool turns static images and makes them editable. People can move and scale objects in their images. 

Magic Expand – With this tool, designers can expand the borders of their images, adding to their design and extending the content in the image. It might not create high resolution content and can look blurry at times. 

Magic Animate – Instead of animating each elements one-by-one, this tool allows designers to automatically set animations for all the elements in a cohesive way. 

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Best AI Design Tools in 2024

Generative AI design tools offer numerous advantages in the design process. Here are some key reasons why AI design tools are helpful:

Efficiency and productivity – AI design tools reduce the time and effort needed for manual design work by automating repetitive processes and making smart suggestions. This enables designers to concentrate more on the strategic and creative elements of the design process.

Design Assistance – AI design tools provide suggestions and ideas based on past performance, user preferences, or industry best practices. They help designers' work by assisting them make well-informed decisions. 

Design Exploration and Inspiration - AI design tools can generate multiple design variations enabling designers to explore their options and inspire their work.

Some of the best tools for designers and artists to use in 2024 are:

Dall-E 2

Generates realistic images based on text descriptions.

Can be used to create new and innovative designs.

Can be expensive.

It is invite-only.

Debuild

De-noise and upscale images.

Upscales up to 16x their original size while attempting to maintain great quality.

Free trial, then $9/month

Can be used to restore old photos.

Can be slow for large images.

Let's Enhance

Enhances images by sharpening, removing noise, and improving color.

Free trial, then $10/month

Easy to use.

Results can be inconsistent.

VisualEyes

Used to analyze images by identifying objects, scenes, and people.

Free trial, then $15/month

Can be used to understand the content of photos.

Can be slow for larger images.

Visit the following website to learn more!

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Midjourney Features

There has been an ongoing issue with Generative AI tools when generating art and images: most of the results created are low resolution and pixelated. Midjourney has solved this issue with an option to upscale images to super high resolutions. Midjourney’s results use to be limited to a default resolution of 1,024 x 1,024 pixels. This is only enough for medium-sized web images, but not high resolution enough to print a good quality image bigger than a postcard. The recent update allows users to upscale images by 2x or even 4x, resulting in a maximum image size of 4,096 x 4,096 pixels. This is equivalent to 4K resolution. Now artists and designers are able to upscale images without appearing blurry or pixelated and making them suitable for larger files and formats. This resolution gives people the ability to create large high-quality images for things like desktop wallpapers. 

While this new feature of upscaling to higher resolutions in Midjourney's generative AI is a great improvement, it does come with a price. The process of upscaling to sizes like 1,024 x 1,024 pixels usually takes a few seconds, but scaling by 2x or 4x may take two or three minutes to complete. Because customers are charged according to the quantity of processing time their jobs take, upscaling photos may result in fewer images being produced within the allowed monthly amount. Customers might pay more to extend their allowed hours in order to meet longer processing times. The company states that upscaling won't improve the quality of blurry images, as well as the possibility that images might become slightly darker during the upscaling process.

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Illustrator 2024

Adobe has released the new version of Illustrator CC 2024 introducing features and improving existing tools. These improvements can help artists and designers improve and enhance their workflow. Some of these include:

Text to Vector Graphic – this tool is an addition allows designer to convert texts into vector graphics. “Similar to Generative Fill in Photoshop, this feature uses vectors to create generative fills, opening up new possibilities for designers.”

Retype – this tool identifies fonts in raster images and applies them to editable text objects. This comes in handy for designers who are constantly matching fonts in their work.

Mockup – Wraps vectors around the geometry in mockup images, creating a realistic mockup effect for showcasing designs. This tool is quite useful for creating mock-ups for clients.

Share for Review - allowing users to share their artwork as a PDF, enabling feedback from other people all within Illustrator. This feature can be used by artists and designers wanting or needing feedback from other fellow artists or even clients. They can access the artwork and provide notes right in Illustrator. Since it shares it as a PDF, there is no worrying about changing the artwork or file. 

Contextual Task Bar – This tool came from Photoshop. It offers convenient tools and shortcuts for common tasks and saving time.

Smooth Tool - automatically smoothens paths and making the design look cleaner. This tool is not as effective sometimes, but it is really useful when attempting to create smooth and flowing shapes.

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Photoshop 2024

Adobe has released a new update to Photoshop for 2024, including new features and improved tools. These are some of them:

Floating Task Bar – This taskbar appears near your work and contains common tasks and tools as shortcuts. But people did not like it as it would get in the way of your image move all over the place. Now users can choose to pin it so that it stays wherever you put it.

Generative Fill – This tool is now out of Beta and available in the main Photoshop. With this tool you can add, replace, remove, and expand images. The AI takes the million images it has been trained on and generates based on that knowledge, giving you options to choose from. One can also expand an image by dragging the crop tool and the tool will generate more of the image. It is still lower resolution, but Adobe is working on it. 

Generative Fill as a Paid Add On – starting November 1, 2023, there is a limit on generations. “For Full Creative Cloud members, it’s 1000 a month, for Photoshop and photography program, it’s 500 a month.” Only Generative Fill and Generative count as credits.

Remove Tool – This AI powered tool works better at removing objects more realistically. This tool does not need internet connection and does not use GenAI credits.

New Gradient Tool – This tool offers editable and non-destructive gradients that give people a lot of flexibility with the tool, and most importantly it is non-destructive and can be changed. 

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Copyright Issues with GenAI

Artists Sarah Andersen, Kelly McKernan, and Karla Ortiz have sued AI art generators, Stability AI, Midjourney, and DevianArt. The artists argued that these Generative AI tools violated the rights of millions of artists, saying these programs have been trained on billions of images scraped from the internet “without the consent of the original artists.” (Vincent, 2023) This lawsuit has been filed by layer and typewriter Matthew Butterick and the Joseph Saveri Law Firm, who have also sued Microsoft, GitHub, and OpenAI in a similar case. Butterick argues that the tools should be fair to everyone involved. 

Since the Generative AI tools have become quite popular, designers and artists have strong opinions about the impact on their careers. Some argue that these tools are just aiding artists to achieve their full potential, while other artists say it is the end of creative jobs. 

There are currently no established standards about whether the AI tools violate copyright rules, therefore it is still up for debate. “The creators of AI art tools generally argue that the training of this software on copyrighted data is covered (in the US at least) by fair use doctrine.” (Vincent, 2023) 

The lawsuit by Butterick has been criticized for making false claims, arguing that the AI models store copies of copyright material like images. However, AI tools do not actually store images but rather contain “mathematical representations of patterns collected from these images.” (Vincent, 2023) The model does not combine images from the web, but it creates images based on mathematical equations.

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Graphic Design Trends

According to an article written by Josh Howarth, there are 13 graphic design trends forecasted from 2024-2026. The graphic design industry is always changing evolving cultural norms and consumer expectations. 

Hand-drawn Illustrations – Driven my consumer demand for authenticity, as custom illustrations convey personal touch and originality. Custom illustrations and art are often preferred over stock photography. The Apple Pencil is known for its pencil-on-paper-like functionality and is often the favored tool for illustrators. The Apple Pencil 3 is highly anticipated for its new features like a rotating cap and multi-touch sensors.

Surrealism – Surrealism is known by the use of vibrant colors, negative space, and juxtapositions. It combines elements of dreams and realities to create unique designs. This trend suggests a growing interest in pushing the boundaries of design, exploring the unconventional, and embracing surreal elements in visual expression.

Colorful Minimalism – This type of design tells a lot with only a little. Colorful minimalism relies on simplicity, order, and clean lines.

Maximalism – Designers ignore boundaries and embraces excess, using a bold mix of colors, patterns, layering, off-balance, and lack of negative space. Gen Z seems to be highly attracted to maximalism.

Data Visualization – Brands attempt to catch the eye of consumers with art, but with an attention span of only 8 seconds, the message needs to be communicated quickly. Graphic design techniques are successful in getting the message across successfully. Infographics are not only stating data, but also telling a story. 

To learn more about other trends in graphic design, visit the following website:

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GenAI Needs Human Creativity

Some generative AI image tools are Adobe Firefly, Midjourney, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion. Most graphic designers use the Adobe Creative Cloud, so Firefly is a very important tool. Adobe Firefly is a generative machine learning model that “offers new ways to ideate, create, and communicate while significantly improving creative workflows using generative AI.” (Adobe) Designers and artists state that without human creativity, Gen AI won’t be able to recreate the work of creative humans across art, marketing, and advertising. 

Nicola Hamilton, president of the Association of Registered Graphic Designers stated, “ChatGPT is becoming increasingly capable of doing our writing and planning, while Midjourney and DALL-E are creating pretty advanced artwork when given the right prompts.” Designers are taking advantage of the flaws in the technology that still requires human participation and prompts in order to produce the desired results. 

One of the biggest concerns around Generative AI and the design industry is copyright. Many Generative Image generators don’t own the artwork they are using. The legal complications regarding copyright are complex and an evolving issue. Hamilton discusses, “Once that artwork has been generated, who owns it then? Can designers put it out into the world as their own? Can they sell it to a client to use as advertising?” Given this, it is important to be wary of how we use the content provided by GenAI. Experts, like Nicola Hamilton, recommend using it only as a ‘playground’ for experimentation until clearer standards and rules are established.

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DALL-E 2 and bias 

OpenAI’s latest AI model, DALL-E 2, now has the ability to turn a text prompt into a realistic image. This technology has been trained on 650 million images and text captions, allowing for the creation of a variety of scenarios. Vipul Gupta, a PhD candidate at Penn State who uses DALL-E 2 stated, “What people thought might take five to 10 years, we’re already in it. We are in the future.” (Johnson, 2022) However, OpenAI’s “Red Team” have seen bias in the model’s results. DALL-E 2 frequently produces images of white men, sexualizes images of women, and reinforces racial stereotypes. Given these problems, members of the Red Team suggested releasing the model without the inability to generate faces, as the bias is seemed to increase when attempting to generate facial features. OpenAI acknowledges the limitations and state the model is only experimental and not for commercial use.

DALL-E 2's training involved a combination of internet-scraped images from licensed sources, as described in a document written by OpenAI's ethics and policy researchers. Members have attempted to reduce the spread toxicity or disinformation by “applying text filters to the image generator and removing some images that were sexually explicit or gory.” (Johnson, 2022) Users are required to identify images with a signature color bar produced by DALL-E 2, and only noncommercial use is allowed. OpenAI’s team states that they understand that a lot of harm can come from the misuse of this technology, and they are working to diminish the bias that is currently reinforced by the model.

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Future Scenarios of Gen AI and Creative Work

In an article by the Harvard Business Review, the authors discuss the potential impact of generative AI, like ChatGPT, on creative work and its future with three possible scenarios: 

An Explosion of AI-Assisted Innovation

In this scenario, generative AI tools enhance human creativity by speeding up the creative process. This does not mean replacement of humans but making their work more efficient. This could lead to increased creative production and lowered entrance barriers for aspiring creators.

Machines Monopolize Creativity

According to this scenario, human-produced content may be overshadowed by an abundance of algorithmically generated content, creating issues with authenticity and copyright. Extensive content and extreme customization may increase competition for people's attention, requiring the development of new management techniques.

"Human-Made" Commands a Premium

As generative AI material expands, people might grow to appreciate real human creativity more and demand more accuracy from their content. Since generative algorithms cannot keep up with the rapid changes in cultural and social situations, human artists continue to have a distinct advantage in this area.

Some ways people can prepare for this evolving landscape are:

Prepare for Disruption

Invest in Your Ontology

Get Comfortable Talking to AI

It is critical that there is a balance between Gen AI and human creativity in the future.

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AI Generated Images

People have been taking advantage of the images that Generative AI is able to create. Programs like OpenAI’s DALL-E 2 and Google Research’s Imagen have made this possible. People have input descriptions such as “A million bears walking on the streets of Hong Kong. A strawberry frog. A cat made out of spaghetti and meatballs.” (Metz) It doesn’t matter how crazy, AI will attempt to create the image you describe. Sometime the images Gen AI provides are silly or not credible looking, yet it is amazing what some of the results can be.

These are some examples generated by Imagen (Google Research)

As incredible as this technology can be, bias has been an issue that continues to arise with Generated AI Images. This technology seems to strengthen the bias and stereotypes on a massive scale and even spread disinformation. Open AI and Google Research have addressed this issue; however, the amount of racial bias, Western cultural stereotypes and gender stereotypes are still persistent.

 In the example above, Google’s Research Imagen created an image of royal racoons. Even though people have attempted to stay away from using humans in their images to avoid bias, this generated image still shows hints of bias. “Holland Michel noted, the raccoons are sporting Western-style royal outfits, even though the prompt didn’t specify anything about how they should appear beyond looking royal”. They can be hard to catch, however, there can still be subtle hints of bias. So, we have to be careful how we use these tools and the images they create for us.

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Is there still a future in graphic design?

Artificial intelligence is changing the landscape of the design industry, giving people the tools to facilitate the creative process. Many designers and artists believe this is the end of graphic design. Throughout the years, many programs have facilitated the creative process by getting rid of tedious tasks and speeding up the process. In an article titled AI And The Future Of Design: Is There Still A Future In Graphic Design? the author states, “AI will be an exponentially larger opportunity, mark my words, and it will be a daily reality of life.” Generative AI is a tool for both designers and clients to brainstorm and make their ideas come to life. This technology will continue to take over and become a bigger part of our everyday lives. 

For years and years, stock websites have been giving graphic designers and artists shortcuts, providing them with fonts, photos and illustrations. This would eliminate hours and hours of work. Yet nobody thinks of stock websites ruining the industry. 

The platforms such as the Adobe Creative Suite including Photoshop and Illustrator, were once thought to ruin the graphic design industry. Photographers though Photoshop was not real and true photography. But technology allows us to create these programs and platforms to save time and try new things, to experiment. And create art in different ways. But at the end of the day, this technology needs human to work and create. They don’t do everything themselves. 

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Trends in Graphic Design

Graphic Design will continue evolve and be transformed by the discovery of new tools and technology. In the article Trends in Graphic Design Technology You Need to Know About, the author stated that there are some trends that are acting as the “guiding force” in this industry. 

Artificial Intelligence: Adobe sensei allows designers to “discover opportunities, make tedious processes fast, and offer relevant experiences to every customer.” 

Physical Immersion: consumers are more likely to be attracted and impressed by immersive, interactive marketing. And virtual reality makes this happen. Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) make endless possibilities for advertisers to reach consumers in an interactive way. AR and VR together create Parallel Reality (PR), which is display technology that allows for different people to see different things when looking at the same point. 

Sensory Design: people can engage with the art or surroundings through multi-sensory interactions. This has potential to make design more innovative, emotional, and personal than ever before. “The Mood As Interface model, as worded by Buckley, will lead to emotion-driven websites, interfaces and digital advertising.”There are still some artists and designers that are hesitant to enter these trends as they are skeptical about using certain technology in their creative process. However, these are just tools that could aid them in creating their art. It is not cheating. These tools still need a human mind to tell them what to do. The person who enters the prompt is the creative one, and the machine is just helping make it happen. 

https://99designs.com/blog/trends/graphic-design-technology-trends/

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Best AI Graphic Design Tools

AI graphic design tools are revolutionizing the way artists and designers express their creativity, helping them become more efficient in less time. Some of amazing tools are:

Uizard – Digitizes hand drawn ideas into digital files, allowing app developers and designers to work faster. It speeds up prototyping process while keeping the personification of hand-drawn designs. Notable features: Transform sketches into digital UI designs, speeding up the prototyping process, and offer designs in multiple formats toe export. 

Designs.ai – an AI-assisted design toolkit. Their main feature is the machine learning abilities which studies your likes and offers tailored design solutions. It “ensures an efficient and personalized design journey” 

Adobe Sensei – Uses Generative AI and machine learning to automate tasks and provide innovative design solutions. It is embedded in the Adobe Suite and has become a substantial tool for professional graphic designers and creatives. 

Fronty – Simplifies the web design process by turning image designs into code. It generates custom HTML, CSS, and React code. It accelerates the web development process. 

AutoDraw – (created by Google) Converts rough sketches into refined and polished illustrations. Its machine learning predicts what you’re trying to draw and it presents you with polished sketches to choose from.  

Khroma – AI color tool that based on your aesthetic, Khroma provides you with personalized color palettes and helps designers be consistent with their work. 

Let’s Enhance – Improves quality of images without losing details. It can enlarge low-resolution images and restore the quality of old pictures. Takes pixelated images and adds detail to provide a high-res image and ideal to print. 

Read the article to learn more!

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Generative AI Video Manipulation

Adobe is working on a new tool that uses Generative AI to add or remove objects as well as change colors in videos. This tool is called Project Fast Fill. It is another of Adobe’s new experimental AI features announced at the company’s MAX conference. In his article Adobe is working on Generative AI Video Manipulation, Umar Shakir states, “Fast Fill works similarly to Google’s Magic Editor, where you can move around people or objects — but with video instead of just still photos.” People can enter a prompt and the program can change colors, change accessories on a person, erase unwanted objects in the background, and more. This tool is still in the works and is an experiment the company’s engineers are working on. It is not yet available to the public. 

As Adobe continues to utilize Generative AI technology to create more amazing tools and features, the company is also working on implementing this technology for video, audio, and 3D design. Some examples are:

Adobe’s Project Dub Dub Dub can automatically translate a video recording into a number of supported languages.  

Scene Change can move subjects to a new location in another clip.

Res Up uses diffusion to upsample lo-res video. 

Project Poseable can pose 3D objects based on photos of real people and can generate 3D renderings using text input.