Published on 20 July 2025 | Author: Bimal Rajappan, (Lead Designer)
For Designers, it was not very impressive or threatening till we came to the Mid 2025s when Generative AI tools like Loveable, Claude, Figma Make etc are looking as potential threats to the way we design .
As generative AI revolutionizes design workflows — automating tasks, generating infinite variations, and accelerating production — the traditional markers of a good designer are being redefined. Technical skills, hustle, and even creativity are becoming easier to replicate. So what will truly set the next generation of designers apart in this AI-powered landscape?
Not tools. Not talent.
Taste
How AI Is Shifting the Designer’s Role
Generative tools can now create layouts, logos, and interfaces at lightning speed, however, the true skill lies in knowing what feels right. When production is automated, the designer’s role is evolving that of a maker to curator, from technician to editor. It’s not just about producing things; it’s about understanding meaning, quality, and context.
Tasks like resizing assets, building mockups, or testing color palettes can now be handled by AI. But when every designer has access to these tools, output alone doesn’t stand out.
What matters is which direction to take, and why. As Ari Hicks notes, speed isn’t the goal — better outcomes are. Designers must edit, prioritize, and ask better questions.
Instead of drawing every pixel, we now orchestrate systems. We guide AI tools with prompts, feedback, and constraints. We interpret their outputs with a critical eye. The future of design is collaborative — between human intuition and machine generation.
Creative directors like Rick Rubin or Virgil Abloh built their legacies not by crafting every detail, but by knowing what mattered. They framed and refined ideas with clarity and taste. Designers are now stepping into a similar space — where the job is about creative direction and meaning.
Taste separates the generic from the inspired. It allows designers to connect brand, user, and experience seamlessly. It enables them to make choices that are not just good-looking, but appropriate and powerful.
Taste also scales with leadership. Great design leaders align every detail around a central vision. They orchestrate harmony, not just execution. In the AI age, this kind of holistic judgment becomes even more crucial.
How to Develop Good Taste
Good taste isn’t something you’re born with — it’s something you build. With intentionality and deliberate efforts you could also develop great taste. Here are a few frameworks
- Broaden your input: Study architecture, fashion, music, nature. Go beyond your design niche. The more reference points you have, the richer your sensibility.
- Curate intentionally: Save designs that inspire you. Organize them. Revisit them. Remix ideas to find your voice.
- Critique regularly: Analyze what works and what doesn’t — in your own work and others’. Build a habit of noticing details and asking why they succeed or fail.
- Reflect and iterate: Your taste will evolve. Look back at your past work and note how your preferences have changed. Keep learning
Using AI to Sharpen Taste
AI isn’t your replacement — it’s your amplifier. When used intentionally, it becomes a powerful tool to explore more, reflect deeper, and refine your creative judgment. Use GenAI tools to:
- Generate variations quickly, then curate what works.
- Test wild ideas to push your boundaries.
- Compare and critique outputs to refine judgment.
- Free up time for reflection and higher-level decisions.
The Future Belongs to Taste-Makers
As automation becomes the norm, designers who bring vision, culture, and empathy to the table will lead. We’ll see new roles emerge — AI curators, aesthetic strategists, and design facilitators. Education will shift toward storytelling, critique, and cultural literacy. Leadership will be defined by creative clarity.
AI can mimic style, but not soul. Taste is still a uniquely human compass. It guides meaning, connection, and beauty.
This is a unique place in time for designers and creatives. Learn to lean into well curated and well crafted judgment, cultivate perspective and use AI as an amplifier. In the this wave of endless possibilities, your sense of what and why stuff matters will be your greatest asset.
About Author,
Bimal Rajappan
Lead Designer
I’m a designer with a curious mind, always diving into tech, science, and recently, geopolitics. I love reading, playing strategic war games, and working on my fitness goals. I’m all about creativity and learning new things, constantly finding ways to make my designs more meaningful and impactful.
Banner image credits: Photo by Faizur Rehman on Unsplash
%20in%20India.png)
