As artificial intelligence reshapes the design world, one question keeps coming up: Can machines replace creatives?
Creative Director, Mei Wing Chan, doesn’t think so. He sees a fundamental difference between what machines do, and what designers do: think, feel and make decisions that only humans can make. From the physical craft he learned in art school to the meticulous attention to detail he carries into every project, Mei Wing brings a perspective grounded in something AI simply can’t replicate, humanity.
What do you mean when you say craft is “anti-AI?”
When I think about AI and what it can and cannot do, I always remind myself: it’s still mechanical, it’s still a machine but with digital fingers. Whereas what designers and creatives do is thinking and doing that involves craft. There’s a human element to what we do, not just in ideation, but in the physical creation of bringing something abstract to life. Even though we’re using modern software and technology, it’s still guided by humanity. We’re using our hands, our minds, our taste and style levels. All of which are elements and processes that are innately human and can only be done by humans. AI is still very much a machine —it’s still code; it’s artificial. That’s why it’s called artificial intelligence, not human intelligence.
How does your background in art school inform your view of craft today?
When I was in art school, we were still designing by hand. I was photocopying, scanning, working with paper and found material. It was very hands-on, which reflected in my work, which included collage, 3D objects and photography. I only started learning to use a computer when I started my career, and back then, Freehand was the main drawing program. That learning curve showed me that what we do has always been guided by human ideas and thinking, and will always be so. We’ve never relied on machines to come up with ideas, and history will tell that AI can’t replace us, because what we do is original
What does originality mean in design, especially if AI is drawing from an existing pool?
I liken it to songwriting. Music is composed of only so many notes, yet with a limited number of notes, millions of songs have been written. And it’s the same with design and branding. What we bring to a design project is human thinking and a human-centric understanding that can uncover something distinct about a client and express it in a unique way. Think of the iconic FedEx logo with its hidden arrow—that’s human thinking stemming from a happy accident! I don’t think you can train AI to be witty or discover something accidentally. A lot of classic logos have this element, something unexpected happening through the way we think, draw and visualize ideas.
You mentioned noticing typos more often in the wider world. Where does that habit come from?
Our Executive Group Creative Director is extremely meticulous, and when I first joined Siegel+Gale, nothing could be delivered to a client unless he had read every word. That got me into the habit of making sure everything I create is as accurate as possible. And that attention to detail has shifted from work to my life outside the office. There have been a few times recently when I have been walking down the street and noticed an error in an advertisement or a sign, even though I was not actively reading it. I think that comes down to patterns or noticing an irregular break that catches my eye, and that break could be a typo or extra letter space.
However, what I’m seeing more broadly is an increase in typos in digital media because content is being written and published at such an incredibly rapid pace, without the layers of approval we used to have, such as an editor or multiple sign-offs. Now, it might be one person (or one machine) writing something before clicking publish. That’s why no one’s checking, which inevitably results in small mistakes.
Are junior designers at risk of losing craft, and what’s driving that?
When our design team looks at graduates’ portfolios, they often appear very polished and adeptly rendered, but we know many exhibits are now AI-generated, and with that in mind, we feel there is a danger that craft could be missing from their design education.
One area where I see this clearly is in editorial design. Setting up grids and margins to arrange multiple pages with images and blocks of text in a way that’s beautiful to look at and simple to read takes real skill and expertise.
My advice? Go back to the basics. Learn your design history, look at physical media and visit museums and galleries. Design is a commercialized reflection of art, and all of it originates from human thinking and human ingenuity. I do see a genuine return to physical media happening at the moment. People are once more buying CDs and vinyl again because they’re tired of streaming music they don’t own. The physicality of owning something is an interesting thought. We can get trapped in the digital world, lost in endless scrolling. Going back to something tangible can spark inspiration.
Are there any design tasks where you’d actually want AI to take the wheel?
Yes, tasks like resizing and adapting. When you’ve created a layout and need to produce six versions in different formats, like web banners in multiple sizes, variations with different images, that’s mechanical work. The design is already done; the thinking is done. It’s really just templatizing based on what I’ve already created. I’m fine with AI doing that. I’m also okay with AI helping with desktop research, though I’d still double-check everything it tells me. And I can use AI almost like a sketchbook, to help me think, like a dictionary or a thesaurus. Those are things I’m happy for AI to take care of, mechanical work, so to speak.
Mei Wing Chan is Creative Director at global brand consultancy Siegel+Gale
