Designed by humans, accelerated by AI

Evolve 26 was held this summer at the Brighton Centre. As well as exhibiting at Brighton's biggest and best technology expo, Greg was asked to give a talk on design and AI.

After a lot of rumination and procrastination, Greg eventually put together the talk "Designed by humans, accelerated by AI".

Here's what it was about. AI has handed every business access to the same tools. Anyone can spin up a website, generate a logo or produce pages of copy in seconds. So why do some brands still cut through, while others disappear into the noise?

In the session, Greg explored why brand fundamentals matter more in the age of AI, not less. Drawing on real client work, including the website that helped sell the conference itself, he showed where AI tools fall short, where they shine, and what businesses need in place to use them well.

Here are the main ideas, each with a short clip from the day.

First impressions are fast

People decide whether to trust a website almost instantly, then skim rather than read. So a site has two jobs: win people over straight away, and then make everything feel easy.

The sameness problem

A first impression only counts if it's different. Because AI builders all learn from the same material, they tend to churn out lookalike sites, a trend Axe Web has written about.

When businesses blend together, customers stop comparing quality and start comparing quotes.

Greg put three popular AI tools to the test with the same brief. The results speak for themselves.

Real work, real results

Two client projects showed what changes when a brand properly reflects the business behind it. For DEG, an engineering firm, it meant finally looking as good as their work.

For Dyslexia South, it meant designing around the people actually using the site, which took them from a busy website to a busy diary.

A plot twist

The catch is that AI only amplifies what you bring to it. Good judgement in, good work out.

Tools aren't the point

The cheapest option isn't always the cheapest in the end. Greg used an everyday example to explain why.

A view from inside AI

Of course a designer would say people still matter. So Greg turned to someone building the technology, who said much the same.

The takeaway

Use every tool going, but make sure someone knows what good looks like.

Three quick checks to try on your own website:

1. Time how long your homepage takes to load on your phone.

2. Read your homepage copy out loud.

3. Give a stranger 30 seconds on your site, then ask what you do.

Want to go further? Take our brand and website checklist to download the Good Looking Design playbook, or get in touch for a coffee.