AI in graphic design: AI canvas: artists swap brushes for bots

Artificial intelligence has upended the world of digital art and design but not in the way you might think. It’s spurred greater demand for graphic designers, illustrators, editors, prompt engineers and machine engineers. New roles have been created to fill gaps that are opening up—AI art curator, digital human designer, synthetic media specialist, generative music composer. Traditional design capabilities aren’t enough. Those who can balance artistic vision with AI fluency will be best positioned for success in this evolving landscape, experts said.

Work shift

Recruitment firm TeamLease said there’s a 10% uptick in hiring with 15,000 openings across these roles at junior and mid-level. Industries such as advertising, marketing, digital commerce, retail, ecommerce, education, entertainment, OTT and the creator economy are seeing the biggest rise. Sectors like edtech, ad agencies, marketing firms and film studios are hiring people with GenAI and creative skills, the company said. “We are observing a rise in pay packages for creative roles, especially for professionals who can integrate Gen AI prompt engineering into their work,” said Jaideep Kewalramani, COO and head of employability business, TeamLease Edtech. “The unique combination of AI proficiency and artistic talent is commanding a premium as it is helping organisations improve time to market, creative quotient and quality.”

Prompt engineering is the process by which results are derived from generative AI through scripts and templates.
Adobe develops frontier image and video AI models. It rewards stock contributors each time their work is used for training models. The company’s 2024 contributors’ bonus is at an all-time high. “GenAI is like the new digital literacy,” said Alexandru Costin, vice president of GenAI at Adobe. “Creating content is now 100x easier with GenAI, but, at the same time, it is also creating an infinite need for content. AI will enable a new level of personalisation where every user will see content that matches their expectations, aesthetic style, sentiments etc.”

Instead of selling their own creations, digital artists are now marketing specially curated unique AI prompts that generate artistic images. Online marketplaces such as PromptBase, Ai4Prompt, Etsy, Promptrr.io and many others are selling unique prompts for AI tools like Midjourney, Dall-E, Stable Diffusion, LumaAI, Gemini, LeonardoAI. Modern, vintage, cosmic and other art catalogues are retailing at $1.99-$4.50.

Enterprise use

Accenture is among top IT services companies doubling down on AI use through its marketing and creative services arm, Accenture Song.

Generative AI is changing the relationship between technology and creativity, said Deepak Bakshi, MD, Accenture Song in India. In the future, ideas and the ability to communicate with clarity might be more valuable than hard-earned and intricately mastered skills.

“For example, for the next generation of creative talent, the hours they’ve spent mastering a suite of software may not be as relevant as their frames of reference in doing so,” he said.

AiLusion, a Bengaluru-based startup that provides a smart plug-in solution to ecommerce companies, said AI cataloguing has enabled companies to reduce their SKU spends by a fifth.

“We can generate 30-40 SKUs (stock keeping units) at one-fifth the cost and one-tenth of the time taken for virtual try-ons in real time,” said Sachin Choukimath, co-founder, AiLusion, adding that he has ramped up hiring for image editors and graphic designers. Even though the demand for tools like Photoshop and InDesign will continue, there is a shift toward hybrid skills where GenAI capabilities are integrated with these applications.

“Tools like Photoshop are still crucial in graphic designing. While you can use AI to generate an image, that alone is not the end product—you have to create layouts, add call to action, legal and product descriptions, etc.,” said Sreeraman Thiagarajan, cofounder of AI solutions company Agrahyah Technologies, which works on image model applications in fashion and advertising.

Upskilling

Technology leaders stressed the need for upskilling to embrace the role shift occurring due to GenAI.

“AI can be put to work by nearly anyone, using commands in simple language instead of code. For organisations and their workforce, this shift has massive implications,” Accenture’s Bakshi said. “To succeed in this new era of AI-human collaboration, most people will need one or more ‘fusion skill’ such as intelligent interrogation, judgment integration, and reciprocal apprenticing,” Adobe’s Costin said, “You need to learn how to level yourself up from a person that moves pixels on screen to a creative director that can guide GenAI to generate 100 times more content that you can sell.”

The company has committed itself to equipping 30 million people with in-demand AI literacy, content creation and digital marketing skills. It’s also pledged to provide $100 million this year as donations and scholarships. Through collaborations with Coursera, NGOs, K-12 schools, colleges and universities, Adobe will provide courses on generative AI content creation, creative and AI skills, it said.