A Week In The Life Of An AI-Augmented Designer<\/h1>\nLyndon Cerejo<\/address>\n 2025-08-22T08:00:00+00:00
\n 2025-08-27T15:32:36+00:00
\n <\/header>\n
Artificial Intelligence isn\u2019t new, but in November 2022, something changed. The launch of ChatGPT brought AI out of the background and into everyday life. Suddenly, interacting with a machine didn\u2019t feel technical — it felt conversational<\/strong>.<\/p>\nJust this March, ChatGPT overtook Instagram and TikTok as the most downloaded app in the world. That level of adoption shows that millions of everyday users, not just developers or early adopters, are comfortable using AI in casual, conversational ways. People are using AI not just to get answers, but to think, create, plan, and even to help with mental health and loneliness<\/a>.<\/p>\nIn the past two and a half years, people have moved through the K\u00fcbler-Ross Change Curve<\/a> — only instead of grief, it\u2019s AI-induced uncertainty. UX designers, like Kate (who you\u2019ll meet shortly), have experienced something like this:<\/p>\n\n- Denial<\/strong>: \u201cAI can\u2019t design like a human; it won\u2019t affect my workflow.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Anger<\/strong>: \u201cAI will ruin creativity. It\u2019s a threat to our craft.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Bargaining<\/strong>: \u201cOkay, maybe just for the boring tasks.\u201d<\/li>\n
- Depression<\/strong>: \u201cI can\u2019t keep up. What\u2019s the future of my skills?\u201d<\/li>\n
- Acceptance<\/strong>: \u201cAlright, AI can free me up for more strategic, human work.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
As designers move into experimentation, they\u2019re not asking, Can I use AI?<\/em> but How might I use it well?<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n <\/p>\nUsing AI isn\u2019t about chasing the latest shiny object but about learning how to stay human in a world of machines, and use AI not as a shortcut, but as a creative collaborator.<\/p>\n
<\/a>\n <\/p>\n
\n\n \u201c<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\nIt isn\u2019t about finding, bookmarking, downloading, or hoarding prompts, but experimenting<\/strong> and writing your own prompts.<\/p>\nTo bring this to life, we\u2019ll follow Kate, a mid-level designer at a FinTech company, navigating her first AI-augmented design sprint. You\u2019ll see her ups and downs as she experiments with AI, tries to balance human-centered skills with AI tools, when she relies on intuition over automation, and how she reflects critically on the role of AI at each stage of the sprint.<\/p>\n
The next two planned articles in this series will explore how to design prompts (Part 2) and guide you through building your own AI assistant (aka CustomGPT; Part 3). Along the way, we\u2019ll spotlight the designerly skills AI can\u2019t replicate<\/a> like curiosity, empathy, critical thinking, and experimentation that will set you apart in a world where automation is easy, but people and human-centered design matter even more<\/strong>.<\/p>\nNote<\/strong>: This article was written by a human (with feelings, snacks, and deadlines). The prompts are real, the AI replies are straight from the source, and no language models were overworked — just politely bossed around. All em dashes are the handiwork of MS Word\u2019s autocorrect — not AI. Kate is fictional, but her week is stitched together from real tools, real prompts, real design activities, and real challenges designers everywhere are navigating right now. She will primarily be using ChatGPT, reflecting the popularity of this jack-of-all-trades AI as the place many start their AI journeys before branching out. If you stick around to the end, you\u2019ll find other AI tools that may be better suited for different design sprint activities. Due to the pace of AI advances, your outputs may vary (YOMV), possibly by the time you finish reading this sentence.<\/em><\/p>\nCautionary Note<\/strong>: AI is helpful, but not always private or secure. Never share sensitive, confidential, or personal information with AI tools — even the helpful-sounding ones. When in doubt, treat it like a coworker who remembers everything and may not be particularly good at keeping secrets.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
\n 2025-08-27T15:32:36+00:00
\n <\/header>\n
Just this March, ChatGPT overtook Instagram and TikTok as the most downloaded app in the world. That level of adoption shows that millions of everyday users, not just developers or early adopters, are comfortable using AI in casual, conversational ways. People are using AI not just to get answers, but to think, create, plan, and even to help with mental health and loneliness<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the past two and a half years, people have moved through the K\u00fcbler-Ross Change Curve<\/a> — only instead of grief, it\u2019s AI-induced uncertainty. UX designers, like Kate (who you\u2019ll meet shortly), have experienced something like this:<\/p>\n As designers move into experimentation, they\u2019re not asking, Can I use AI?<\/em> but How might I use it well?<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n <\/p>\n Using AI isn\u2019t about chasing the latest shiny object but about learning how to stay human in a world of machines, and use AI not as a shortcut, but as a creative collaborator.<\/p>\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n It isn\u2019t about finding, bookmarking, downloading, or hoarding prompts, but experimenting<\/strong> and writing your own prompts.<\/p>\n To bring this to life, we\u2019ll follow Kate, a mid-level designer at a FinTech company, navigating her first AI-augmented design sprint. You\u2019ll see her ups and downs as she experiments with AI, tries to balance human-centered skills with AI tools, when she relies on intuition over automation, and how she reflects critically on the role of AI at each stage of the sprint.<\/p>\n The next two planned articles in this series will explore how to design prompts (Part 2) and guide you through building your own AI assistant (aka CustomGPT; Part 3). Along the way, we\u2019ll spotlight the designerly skills AI can\u2019t replicate<\/a> like curiosity, empathy, critical thinking, and experimentation that will set you apart in a world where automation is easy, but people and human-centered design matter even more<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Note<\/strong>: This article was written by a human (with feelings, snacks, and deadlines). The prompts are real, the AI replies are straight from the source, and no language models were overworked — just politely bossed around. All em dashes are the handiwork of MS Word\u2019s autocorrect — not AI. Kate is fictional, but her week is stitched together from real tools, real prompts, real design activities, and real challenges designers everywhere are navigating right now. She will primarily be using ChatGPT, reflecting the popularity of this jack-of-all-trades AI as the place many start their AI journeys before branching out. If you stick around to the end, you\u2019ll find other AI tools that may be better suited for different design sprint activities. Due to the pace of AI advances, your outputs may vary (YOMV), possibly by the time you finish reading this sentence.<\/em><\/p>\n Cautionary Note<\/strong>: AI is helpful, but not always private or secure. Never share sensitive, confidential, or personal information with AI tools — even the helpful-sounding ones. When in doubt, treat it like a coworker who remembers everything and may not be particularly good at keeping secrets.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
\n