I’ll be honest. One of the reasons I was drawn to AI in the first place was speed. As a graphic designer at a digital agency, I’ve made AI part of my daily workflow. I use it to explore ideas faster, generate concepts, build moodboards, experiment with visual directions, create graphic assets, and streamline production.
Tasks that once took hours can now be completed in minutes. Need ten different creative approaches? AI can generate them almost instantly. Need imagery for a banner or campaign? It’s often just a few prompts away.
At first, it feels like a superpower. But once the initial excitement fades, something interesting happens. I realize that generating ideas is no longer the difficult part. The difficult part is deciding which ideas are actually worth pursuing.
The abundance of options can be overwhelming. Instead of struggling to come up with ideas, we now struggle to filter them. Speed solves one problem but creates another: the need to make better creative decisions.
In a world where anyone can generate endless possibilities, the real value lies in knowing what to keep, what to discard, and why.
Why Analog Still Matters
This is why analog practices still play an important role in my process. AI helps me move faster, but creativity doesn’t always happen at speed. Some of my best ideas come when I’m away from the screen: sketching in a notebook, walking through the city, browsing old magazines, or simply paying attention to what’s around me.
A sketchbook won’t generate endless options, but it gives ideas room to develop. While AI can remix existing information, original ideas often come from personal experiences, observations, and curiosity. That’s something no prompt can fully replace.
My Hybrid Workflow
Over time, I’ve stopped seeing AI and analog methods as two separate worlds. In my experience, the best AI creative workflow is one where they support each other.
Most projects don’t start with a prompt. They start with a question, a note in my sketchbook, a rough drawing, or a random thought that feels worth exploring. At this stage, I’m not looking for answers yet. I’m trying to understand the problem and find a direction.
Once I have something to build on, AI becomes a powerful tool. It helps me explore different possibilities, test visual ideas, and move through early iterations much faster than I could on my own. But generating options is only the beginning.
The most important part of the process is deciding what deserves to move forward. Which idea feels true to the story? Which direction creates the strongest connection? Which solution actually solves the problem?
Those decisions can’t be automated. My process usually moves back and forth between both worlds: sketching, thinking, experimenting, generating, editing, and refining. AI helps me expand possibilities, but human judgment gives the work meaning.
That’s why I don’t see AI as a replacement for creativity. I see it as a tool that creates more space for the parts of design that matter most: curiosity, taste, intuition, and decision-making.
What Are Analog Habits?
For me, analog habits are the offline practices that keep creativity active: sketching, observing, collecting references, and exploring without a specific goal.
They’re often where the most unexpected ideas begin. My concern about AI isn’t that it will replace designers. It’s that it might slowly replace some of the habits that make us creative in the first place.
Not long ago, I spent nearly an hour generating visual references with AI. I had dozens of options, yet none felt quite right. Later that evening, while flipping through an old zine at home, I stumbled upon a layout detail that sparked a completely different direction.
It wasn’t better because it was analog. It simply reminded me that inspiration often appears when you’re not actively looking for it.
The convenience of AI is incredible, but it also highlights the importance of exercising creative skills it can’t replace: curiosity, observation, and critical thinking.
In 2025, I started using a portable scanner to document posters, street signage, and other graphic elements I came across. I call this ongoing archive “Graphic Found from the Street”.
What began as a way to collect things that caught my attention gradually became a more personal source of inspiration than any search result. Many of the ideas I’ve used in my work came from these unexpected discoveries rather than from things that I intentionally searched for.
These habits aren’t about resisting technology. They’re about staying connected to the world beyond the screen.
AI helps me work faster. Analog practices help me maintain a point of view. In a world where everyone has access to the same tools, that perspective may be a designer’s most valuable asset.
The Goal Isn’t Efficiency
Working at a digital agency, we’re constantly encouraged to work faster, produce more, and become more efficient. AI certainly helps with that. But I’ve realized that efficiency isn’t the goal. Thoughtfulness is.
Today, anyone can generate impressive visuals in seconds. What makes creative work stand out isn’t speed. It’s perspective. The ability to make intentional choices, tell meaningful stories, and bring a unique point of view to the work.
While reading The Creative Act, one idea from Rick Rubin stayed with me: creativity starts with paying attention. The more I think about it, the more relevant it feels in the age of AI. When tools can generate endless outputs, our ability to observe, notice details, and find meaning in unexpected places becomes even more valuable.
AI can help us create more than ever before, but it can’t replace the experiences, observations, and judgment that shape original ideas.
For me, the future of creativity isn’t about choosing between AI and traditional methods. It’s about finding a balance, using AI to move faster while holding on to the habits that keep our work personal, curious, and human.
Final Thoughts
If there’s one thing to take from all this, it’s that AI works best when it isn’t the starting point. The direction may come from somewhere offline, like a rough sketch or anything around us.
Once that’s in place, AI can stretch it into more possibilities than we could explore alone. But the final call still comes back to us, and that call is only as good as the attention we’ve paid to the world outside the screen.
Because, while people may remember the visuals, what they connect with most is the perspective behind them.