AI & Design

For years, “jack of all trades” has been used as a put-down. “AI” also carries a similar stigma in design, mentioned in whispers if at all. Yet how AI is changing creative jobs shows us something different: it’s broadening what generalists can achieve.

Some agencies, like Collins, have been candid — and I applaud that. As they put it, “Never delegate your understanding” — AI can support, but it can’t discern, feel, or see like a designer.

Because in truth, AI is not the enemy of craft. Like generalism, it’s been misunderstood.

What if both of these so-called “dirty words” — generalist and AI — are actually the unfair advantages of the next creative era — more Lennon and McCartney than AOL and Time Warner?

A career shaped by breadth

Nielsen Norman Group recently wrote about the Return of the UX Generalist, positing that “AI is broadening the scope of what any individual can accomplish, regardless of their specific expertise.” I think the same applies across design as a whole. The future belongs not to those who cling to a single narrow skill, but to those who can move between skills, scales, and contexts — and use AI as a collaborator rather than a competitor.

And that’s a story I’ve lived myself.

From floppy disks to global networks (I won’t be long)

I started my career in a ten-person software firm, doing everything from duplicating disks to designing logos and manuals. Later, in a corporate in-house studio, I learned to navigate rigid style guides, manage a small team and work with senior partners. At a ‘new media’ agency in East London, I switched between print and web, adapting daily.

Then came outdoor advertising — where my role was to help clients see the impact of their campaigns. I developed the style guide for the international arm, created the pitch proposal template, and designed bespoke proposals for major sites like Westfield Stratford City. I also produced promotional brochures that showcased outdoor media during the 2012 Olympics. That experience taught me to think bigger, balance creativity with responsibility, and design at a scale that couldn’t be missed.

From 10 people to 100s to 1000s. From floppy disks to global networks. From “just get it done” to “manage the process.” Those shifts didn’t just give me skills — they gave me range.

Freelancing widened that further whether it was healthcare, wellbeing, education, NGOs, privacy, technology, gaming. Each had its own language, background, and challenges.

Why am I telling you all this? Because the rebirth of the generalist is a lived experience for me. Every change, every sector, every scale taught me that breadth and adaptability aren’t weaknesses. They’re the foundation that AI now compounds.

A diagram of generalism

Nielsen Norman Group framed the UX generalist as a figure spanning breadth and depth. If mapped onto my own career, the picture would look like this:

• Breadth of Experience — moving across industries, scales, and disciplines.
• Depth of Knowledge — building strong craft in design and branding, with hearty dollop of strategy.
• AI Amplification — using new tools to refine, articulate, and accelerate without replacing the work itself.

It’s not about being a unicorn who can do everything. It’s about a career of accumulated breadth, expanded further by AI’s ability to sharpen perspective.

How AI is changing creative jobs for designers

When working on brand strategy — defining audiences, mapping painpoints, analysing competitors, shaping positioning or planning a website — the craft of design remains in creative hands. AI doesn’t invent ideas or make leaps for creatives. What it does is help structure, refine, and accelerate background tasks.

• It can suggest additional palettes or voice variations, but the final fit is chosen through design judgment.
• It can compare competitors quickly, but only the relevant insights are carried forward.
• It can help articulate positioning or tone in draft form, but the nuance and ownership stay with the designer.

This aligns with how agencies like Collins describe their own approach: “Never delegate your understanding.” AI can support, but it can’t discern, feel, or see. The synthesis, judgment, and creativity remain firmly human. What matters is your ability to think and to judge.

And it’s vital to remember: AI gets things wrong. It makes assumptions, often sounding confident but being inaccurate. Taken as truth, it can mislead and even become a hindrance. The responsibility is on the creative to filter, test, and decide what holds water. This is how AI is changing creative jobs: not by replacing, but by aligning with the work of generalists.

The rebirth of the generalist isn’t about being a unicorn who can do everything. It’s about having a strong craft, honed over years, and expanding it with new ways of seeing, learning, and collaborating.

In the end, AI is here and changing creative jobs — it’s nibbling, even munching, at the creative industry’s traditional outputs and methods of working. The challenge is to adapt to this new reality, keep our human creativity, and use breadth, adaptability, and judgment to make AI support our work rather than become a fallback.

That can be the unfair advantage we all crave to differentiate ourselves — but only when guided by human discernment, because AI’s assumptions are its weakest trait. Keep your eyes open, ears pricked and your creativity human – the ‘generalist’ is back and with a new lick of paint.