Generative AI is now part of everyday design work, including mine. It has changed how fast we can explore ideas. It has not changed what makes a campaign work: a clear idea, aimed at the right people, crafted with care.
This is how I use it, and where I deliberately don't.
Where AI genuinely helps
- Exploration. Moodboards and rough directions that used to take days can be sketched in hours. More directions on the table means better conversations with clients early on.
- Previsualisation. Showing a client how a key visual looks on a bridge screen, a mall wall or an exhibition booth before anything is produced.
- Adaptation support. Extending backgrounds and adjusting compositions for awkward formats, always checked by a designer.
- Production chores. Upscaling, cleanup and masking: the tedious work that eats hours.
- First drafts of words. Headline options and copy drafts to react to. A starting point, never the final line.
Where it still doesn't
- The idea itself. Knowing what to say, to whom, and why it matters to them is strategy. AI can generate options; it can't own the decision.
- Arabic typography. Arabic text generated inside images is still often malformed. I always set Arabic type by hand, with proper fonts and joining.
- Cultural judgement. Saudi audiences notice details: modesty, local references, tone, what feels respectful during national and religious occasions. That judgement has to be human.
- Consistency across a campaign. Keeping one brand world consistent across fifty formats is a system problem, not a prompt.
- Rights and responsibility. Every tool has its own terms. Avoid real people's likenesses and other brands' trademarks, and know what you're allowed to use commercially.
A workflow that keeps quality high
- Brief and idea first, on paper, before opening any AI tool.
- Explore wide with AI: many quick directions in a short time.
- Choose two and rebuild them properly in professional design software, with real typography and brand assets.
- Use AI again for support: extensions, mockups and cleanup.
- Human quality check on every final file.
Quality checklist for AI-assisted work
- ✔ Hands, faces, products and logos look correct
- ✔ All text, especially Arabic, set by a designer, not generated
- ✔ No accidental trademarks or recognisable people
- ✔ Resolution suitable for print or LED screens
- ✔ Colours checked against the brand guidelines
- ✔ The client knows where AI was used
Be open with clients
I tell clients where AI was part of the process and agree on usage rights from the start. Transparency costs nothing, and it builds the kind of trust that keeps clients coming back.
