The A.I.-Design Aesthetic That's Taking over the Internet(www.newyorker.com)
14 pointsby Michelangelo118 hours ago4 comments
  • jabroni_salad3 hours ago
    A lot of design is kind of rote and boilerplate and has been for ages.

    The original cliparts were paper books. Designers would clip out the pictures they want, glue them to their master document, and then run it through a photocopier. Then later we had the big hero web templates and stock images. Even though every person involved has an excellent camera in their pocket, the thought of using it was unbearable compared to just downloading a stock image. Then we got canva which was basically the perfection of cliparts and stock images.

    Now we have AI web design. It's just the newest step of the least exciting 'something needs to exist but its form is mostly without value' category of "content", which is itself a category so devoid of meaning that nobody doing it even bothers to give themselves the title of 'designer' or 'writer' or 'illustrator', instead self labeling as 'content creator'.

    For what it's worth though, I find AI designs to be mostly okay? They aren't exciting but at least the ultra low contrast design era is finally over and I can finally have usable scrollbars and easily find the login button on most websites now.

    • bensyverson2 hours ago
      Exactly… people were complaining about every startup website using the same basic format and shadcn for years before AI-assisted design ever became so prevalent.
  • tayo422 hours ago
    Wish there was some pictures. I've been noticing there's been higher quality but simmilar looking things like ads or promotions material.

    Im curious what the Ai look exactly is

  • elzbardico2 hours ago
    Sometimes I wonder if LLMs have been invented like decades ago and have been used since then as a secret tool to generate marketing copy, PR statements, Digital Transformation Slide Decks and Corporate Desing Illustrations.

    It is far more logical to believe that, than to believe that Memphis Corporate was a thing driven by humans.

  • marsmaps3 hours ago
    "Notably, none of the designers I spoke to are against A.I. altogether. All of them said that the technology is unavoidable..."

    these people are not very bright

    • mycall3 hours ago
      Can you make your terse point more clear? It isn't obvious.
    • elzbardico2 hours ago
      People understand that they can't, in isolation, fight againts hundreds of billions of capital.

      It is better to profess allegiance to their new replacements and eek out a little more time of employment, than to be branded by the powers that be as a contrarian, a luddite, an enemy of progress and get the boot now, not tomorrow.

      • throw310822an hour ago
        This idea that it's about the big bad capital is... also not very bright. Who would want to do a job not because it's necessary or useful but just to produce an empty effort that justifies a salary? I can't see any joy or meaning in labouring every day to produce less and worse products than what could have been made without me. If the point of the charade is to justify my salary, then just give me a basic income and I'll spend my day at the beach instead, or doing something that is just a pleasure hobby.