A client recently sent over a new project with one line I wasn’t expecting: please don’t use AI on this. He’s not a stranger — he’s a friend, and one I’ve worked with for years. My first reaction was almost alarm: you know me, I wanted to say. And he does. But the more I sat with it, the more I realized the request wasn’t really about me. It was about a question everyone in creative work is getting asked right now, whether their clients say it out loud or not.
Yes I use it, but not for design.
Whether it’s a logo, a brochure, a full website build, or a single Instagram template — I am the one making the decisions that matter: composition, color, typography, hierarchy, the thousand small calls that add up to something that looks right and works. That’s been true since I started this business, and it’s still true today. Nobody is typing a prompt and getting your brand out the other end. That’s not a service I offer, nor would I want to.
Creativity is Human
That’s more than a tagline for me — it’s the whole reason I do this for a living. From the time I was little, the biggest boosts to my self-esteem came from being praised for my artwork — from kindergarten drawings to winning design competitions later in life. Nothing is as life-affirming as having my creativity noticed and praised, and I’ve spent a lifetime in continuous pursuit of building and improving that skill.
I paid for my fine art degree by working at a print shop where I learned graphic design on the job. Since then, I’ve built a long career as a solo designer, taking me to London, then Chicago, and back to my home town in Milwaukee. My goal was to find a way to earn a living using my creativity. I found a path, and then spent decades training it: testing it against real problems, learning what it can do under a deadline. It’s not something that shows up fully formed, and certainly not something I just fell into. It’s a skill like any other, developed the slow way, and not always on schedule. Some mornings it’s sharp and some mornings it’s cranky. That’s part of what makes it human instead of automated — it has moods, off days, and the kind of instinct to know when something’s right before I can explain why. That instinct is the product. It’s what you’re paying for.
How AI works for me
I want to be specific about where AI shows up in my process, because vague reassurances aren’t actually reassuring. And I’ll also say this plainly: I’ve been a solo operator for decades, and the amount expected of someone running a one-person studio has only grown — more channels, more formats, more software, same number of hands. Of all the tools I’ve picked up along the way, AI is the one that’s consistently helped me work faster and smarter, not instead of the skill I’ve built but alongside it. That’s not a small thing when there’s no one else on the team to hand things off to. So, here’s how I use it:
- Research: I use it to research ideas and solutions — pulling together reference points faster when I’m scoping a new problem or exploring a direction.
- Writing and editing: I use it to draft and edit text for proposals and for my own marketing copy. The kind of writing that isn’t the design work itself but has to happen around it — including, yes, an early draft of this very post.
- Limited coding: I use it to help troubleshoot display issues on sites I’m building or maintaining — mostly CSS, sometimes a bit of JavaScript, when something is behaving strangely and I need a second set of eyes on the code.
That’s it. That’s the list. I’m a designer, not a professional writer nor a coder. I’d rather spend my good hours drawing than staring at a blank page or waiting on another party to fix a small display issue. I’d rather take the solution in front of me, so I can move on.
That last point has a direct dollar value for clients: without it, a CSS fix often means bringing in a developer, which adds both time and cost to your invoice. Using AI to help me work it out keeps that cost off your project and me in production mode.
No assistants were harmed in the making of this business.
Here’s the way I think about it: AI is a tool. It is the omnipresent, well-versed assistant I never had. After decades of doing it all myself, now there’s something that offers immediate help at any hour, without me needing to hire for it. I’m leaning into that. Responsibly — with clear lines around what it touches and what it doesn’t — but leaning in all the same.
I’ve done this solo since 1998 and never planned to hire one. But for what works out to about $200 a year, I effectively have one now — and it’s been genuinely handy.
What I don’t do
I don’t give AI tools or bots login access to any site I work on. Client platforms stay in human hands — mine, and whoever else is authorized to be there. And I don’t hand off the actual design thinking to a machine and call it mine. If a design has my name on it, I made the decisions in it.
I think this distinction matters more than the blanket yes-or-no version of the question. “Do you use AI” isn’t really what anyone wants to know. What they want to know is: did a person make this, on purpose, with judgment and taste and twenty-some years of knowing what works? For anything with my name on it, the answer has always been yes, and it still is.
My friend’s request didn’t offend me, once I got past the first reaction. If anything, it’s a fair thing to be asking right now, and a fair thing for me to be clear about — for him, and for anyone else who’s wondering the same thing before they ask.
