We use AI in our studio. A lot.
We build tools with it, automate processes, use it to summarize long docs, analyze content, and even simulate parts of our client’s thinking when we’re building briefs.
AI helps us work faster. Smarter. Cleaner.
But it never — and I mean never — drives the creative.
Because AI doesn’t know what you want.
Even if you prompt it a thousand ways.
Even if you have moodboards and reference visuals and examples ready.
Even if you write the most perfect prompt in the world.
You’ll never get exactly what’s in your head.
That’s the core problem.
You might get close.
You might get lucky.
But it’s never it.
Not because you don’t know how to use it.
But because AI doesn’t create — it combines.
It uses what already exists. Which means it’s already diluted.
That’s not creative direction. That’s compromise.
Yes, AI can surprise you.
It’s unexpected — but never in the way that you imagined.
It’s not the “holy guacamole, this is better than I thought” kind of unexpected.
It’s the “ugh, that’s not it, let's try again” kind.
That’s why starting with AI is dangerous.
Because when the first spark — that first idea — comes from a machine, the designer never actually gets to visualize anything for real.
And the power of good design is visualization.
You see it in your head before it exists.
You imagine how the website flows, how the colors interact, how the poster feels — and then you bring it to life. That’s design. That’s creation. That’s your job.
AI robs you of that.
It replaces vision with compromise.
So if you’re an “AI-first” agency, all you’re doing is building on guesswork and average.
It’s lazy.
It’s fast food.
Everyone gets something that looks okay but tastes the same.
The client didn’t get what they really wanted.
The agency didn’t get to build what they envisioned.
We’ve got a word for that: compromise.
And as someone once said — compromise is when neither side gets what they want.
That’s the problem with this whole “AI-first” bullshit.
It’s not that AI is bad.
It’s that using it first makes everything worse.
At our studio, we use AI to support our thinking — not to replace it.
It helps us move faster so we can spend more time on the stuff that matters.
On your brand. Your message. Your feel. Your soul.
That’s what design is supposed to be about.
If your agency is “AI-first,” then your design is “creativity-last.”