Three things designers can do to become more valuable as AI evolves
By: Liat Kohanteb, Founder and Creative Director of Kre8ive Touch
A designer I know recently sent her client an ad she created after following her typical process:
She met with them for a discovery session and researched the key points (goals, market, audience, etc.).
She took the time and energy to consider their preferences while also taking into account industry norms and the differentiators that make her client stand out.
She put her heart into directing every part of the project, from copy to design, to make it as tailored and relevant as possible and, hopefully, move the right people to take action.
But when the first round of feedback came back, boy, was she in for a surprise:
“Actually, we had something more like this in mind,” the client said, attaching an ad they’d made with ChatGPT, of course. Copy, design, slop and all.
You know the look: divider lines everywhere, glaring icons in harmless-looking circles, a bunch of swirly hearts and scribbles, lots of copy smothering whatever white space was left, and of course the signature glossy stiff-postured photos.
It was practically screaming “made by AI.”
Oof.
If you were the designer, what would you say?
You can't just tell the client their ad looks like every other AI ad out there, can you? They clearly liked something about it.
But you also can't ignore the real work you did to understand the nuances of their brand.
This is a question more and more designers are going to face.
If a client can make an ad in minutes, what are they hiring you for? Why would you be valued over AI?
Let’s talk about three areas where human designers can use their expertise and make a real difference.
1. Help clients identify the real problem
A client says, “I need an ad.”
Okay, but what do they need the ad to do?
Maybe people aren’t noticing their company’s current ads. Maybe people see them but don’t understand their product, service, or offer.
At first glance, those might sound like the same problem, but in reality, they call for different decisions from the designer.
So before you start designing, get past “we need an ad” and ask:
Who needs to notice this?
What matters to them, and why would they choose this client’s business over the competitors?
What should viewers understand in a few seconds?
What action should it lead them to take?
Those questions are a starting point, but clients don’t always have neat answers. That’s where your human intuition comes in. Listen deeper, read between the lines, and ask what feels missing until you can both name the problem the ad needs to solve.
AI can take “I need an ad” and produce one in minutes based on the brief it’s given. But as a designer, you can help the client figure out what isn’t working and what this ad needs to do differently.
2. Recommend a direction and explain why
Once you know what the design needs to accomplish, you have to make a call about the creative direction, especially when a project could go in several directions.
AI can generate more options in an afternoon than most teams can honestly evaluate in a week, and some of these directions may even look polished enough to use.
But which one is right for this client?
A polished design used to suggest there was expertise behind it, but now, with AI, designs can be created without the same level of strategy behind them. This can be confusing to a client, as they may not see the missing strategy on the surface level.
This is where you, the “trained and true” designer, matter.
Start with what you know about the client: where they’re coming from, what they’re trying to accomplish, and what their audience needs to understand.
Look at each direction: Does the message come through right away? Does it feel like this business, or could it belong to anyone in the industry?
Then tell the client what you recommend for them in their case and why. And you can even go further and tell them what you would change to make it even better.
Now, instead of another endless pile of possibilities that AI can spit out in a split second, your client has someone who can see past “this looks good,” recommend a direction that fits their goals, and explain why that is the best step for their business.
3. Carry that direction through the whole campaign
Choosing a direction is one thing.
Carrying it through the ad, landing page, emails, and every other piece the audience sees is another.
You can have an ad that looks great, a landing page that looks great, and emails that look great, but still have a campaign that feels all over the place. The ad catches someone’s attention with one message and visual feel, and the landing page seems to emphasize something else.
AI makes it faster to produce each piece, which makes it even more important to look at how they work together.
Start by turning the direction you chose into decisions you can use across the project:
What message needs to lead the design?
What should the imagery add?
Which visual choices should stay consistent from one asset to the next? Where should they change, and why?
Then think about the job each asset carries:. The ad has a few seconds to catch someone’s attention. The landing page has to follow through on what the ad promised.
They should feel connected, while each uses the imagery and message in a way that suits its purpose.
AI can help you explore images and headlines and quickly try variations. But you still need to direct and refine what comes back.
If an image leaves no room for the text, rework it. If the key message gets buried on the landing page, fix the hierarchy. If the WhatsApp version is impossible to read, rethink the layout instead of shrinking everything down.
That’s the value you bring: the client has someone making sure the message and visual direction hold together as their audience moves from one designed piece to the next.
Back to our story for a minute…
What would you say to the client who sent over that ChatGPT ad?
You could start with, “Tell me what you like about this.”
Let’s say they tell you it feels more lively than the ad you sent. Now you have something to work with. You can bring in some of that energy, give the main message room to breathe, and make sure the landing page follows through on what the ad promises.
The client gave the designer a clue, even if it arrived in a pretty unexpected way.
The designer’s value is knowing what to take from it, what to leave behind, and how to carry the stronger direction through the whole campaign.
Liat Kohanteb
Liat Kohanteb is the Founder and Creative Director of Kre8ive Touch, a creative strategist and consultant, and the mind behind Design Unstocked™, an AI image generation course for designers.
With more than 12 years of experience across branding, websites, advertising, and marketing design, she helps businesses and creatives get clearer direction, strengthen ideas, and make smarter strategic decisions. Liat also specializes in AI image generation for real design work, helping designers use new tools with more control, intention, and creative judgment.
