As a mother of 3, most of my dinner table conversations revolve around comics, anime, and superhumans in general.

What I’ve learned from these passionate discussions and debates is that some superhumans are scientifically made or receive their powers by accidental exposure to something. Others got bit by a magical creature. And many are just born…super.

Those of you who watched the live demo of Chat GPT-4 on Tuesday are most likely still walking around in a post-mindblown daze like myself. While the newest release seems to be primarily aimed at developers, since the central current use is text and image-based, there were many exciting nods to how this will affect and support UX researchers, designers, and writers as well.

While things seem to be moving faster than any of us can keep up with, it’s important to recognize that we are experiencing a pivotal moment in history right now.

This is the beginning of a new era of artificial intelligence that is revolutionizing the way we create, build, and interact with each other within the tech startup ecosystem. It has the potential to make us superhuman founders, UX practitioners, and designers.

As leaders in the space, we can either be part of this moment, dive in head-first, and help shape it…or we can sit on the sidelines plugging away at our current process and be forced to play catch-up later.

Since part of my mission with Founders Who UX is to make the design-thinking process accessible to early-stage, underrepresented founding teams, I prefer to be at the forefront.

While many UX practitioners worry that AI will replace us, I believe that we are actually in one industry that will ALWAYS require humans to be at its core. AI is not stripping away the human factor from design. It is stripping away the heaviness and tediousness of UX roles so that humans can move lighter, act quicker, and make decisions with more intelligence.

Think of it as next-gen lean UX.

What were some of the most time-consuming tasks a couple of months ago like searching for the right icon set and data synthesizing, are now being done in just minutes with the power of AI. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. From user insights to prototypes to fully coded websites, AI tools are being released seemingly daily to help us streamline our processes and create more effective design solutions.

But it’s a lot.

A lot to digest.

A lot to wrap our heads around.

If the thought of merging AI with the design process feels scary and overwhelming (maybe even Black Mirror-ish), I invite you to take a deep breath, read this article, and begin imagining the possibilities with me of what would happen if human-centered design and artificial intelligence had a superhuman baby of their own.

How AI is transforming the design landscape

Imagine having an assistant that can understand what your users want before they even know it themselves. That’s the kind of power that AI brings to the table for us.

But don’t get me wrong, it’s not just about relying on AI to do all the work. It’s about using AI to augment our practices and craft as human problem-solvers.

There are 3 main attributes of AI that can greatly enhance the design-thinking process:

1. Speed and Efficiency: AI can analyze large datasets quickly and efficiently, providing designers with insights that would have otherwise taken hours, days, or even weeks to uncover. This allows designers to focus their time and energy on more critical aspects of their craft.
2. Personalization: AI algorithms learn from user behavior and preferences, allowing for more personalized and tailored design solutions. Designers can do things like create more accurate and nuanced user profiles that are based on real data and insights, which in turn helps them create more targeted and effective designs.
3. Innovation and Creativity: AI can be used to spark new and innovative design ideas that may not have been possible through traditional brainstorming or ideation sessions. By feeding AI algorithms with design prompts or constraints, designers can generate a wide range of potential solutions that may have been overlooked otherwise. With the help of natural language processing tools like Chat GPT, designers can generate ideas based on simple text prompts.

Human-centered design vs. artificial intelligence

At its core, human-centered design is a process that focuses on understanding the needs and wants of the end-users of a product or service–aka humans. By starting with the people who will actually be using the product, designers can create solutions that truly meet their needs and provide value.

AI, on the other hand, at its most foundational level, is a technology that can analyze large amounts of data and provide insights that humans may not be able to see on their own. It seems to have the power to bridge cultural and linguistic barriers, amplify our collective intelligence, and unlock new frontiers of creativity and innovation. However, each new tool and platform released will always rely on us–humans–to both prompt and absorb the right outcomes while applying them to our overarching problem-solving strategy.

When these two approaches are properly combined, designers and other UX practitioners will be leveraging AI to gather and analyze user data, while still keeping the human element at the forefront of the design process. A delicate dance between pushing boundaries, saving time, and living by strong design values is required, especially during this early adoption phase.

Design smarter, not harder: The AI tools every UX practitioner needs to know and how to integrate them into your design process, step-by-step

As I write this article, I’m also discovering and experimenting with every latest AI tool and platform I can get my hands on to understand which best support design thinking and bring value to UX professionals.

What I’ve come to realize is that despite the hype, most of the very latest AI tools are still in their infancy stages and in my opinion, add more confusion and complexity to our practice than benefit.

After sifting through the noise, I’ve compiled this list of the 7 AI gems for UX practitioners to explore and incorporate into their workflow:

Let’s take a look at how these tools can be valuable for each step of the design process and how we can start putting them to use.

Step 1: Empathize

Tool to try

Chat GPT

Ways to use it

UX designers can input user characteristics, data, and behaviors into Chat GPT, then receive user scenarios, user stories, and even empathy maps that reflect them.

Getting started

Use Chat GPT to help you understand the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors of your target user group. Once you’ve identified who your target users are, input the definition into Chat GPT and ask it some questions to help you get to know your users better.

Some examples of prompts you could use include:

• What are some of the challenges that users in this group face?
• What are some of the emotions that users in this group feel?
• What are some of the motivations that drive users in this group?
• Where can I find the users in this group online?
• What does a day in the life of this type of user look like?
• What are some of the pain points that users in this group encounter when trying to complete specific tasks?

Step 2: Define

Tools to try

Notion AI & Chat GPT

Ways to use them

Once you have a good understanding of the end users, you can begin to define the problem you are trying to solve.

Chat GPT can assist UX researchers in gathering data and Notion AI will help by analyzing it and identifying patterns needed to define the right problem.

Getting started

Steps to define the right problem to be solved using Notion AI and Chat GPT:

1. Start by collecting data on the user’s problem you want to solve. This could be from user research, customer feedback, surveys, and other sources.
2. Organize your data into a database on Notion. This will help you visualize the data and make it easier to analyze.
3. Use Notion AI to analyze your data and identify patterns related to the user’s problem. Notion AI can help you identify correlations, patterns, and insights that may not be visible at first glance.
4. Use Chat GPT to generate ideas and insights based on the data you have collected. Chat GPT can help you identify potential solutions and guide your thinking about how to address the user’s problem.
5. Using the insights and ideas generated by Notion AI and Chat GPT, refine the problem statement to ensure that it accurately reflects the user’s needs.

Step 3: Ideate

Tools to try

Chat GPT and Galileo AI

Ways to use them

With a clear problem statement in mind, designers can begin to ideate potential solutions using AI to fuel the creative process.

Galileo AI will soon be able to assist with ideation by generating a wide range of potential design solutions that are based on user data and other inputs. It turns natural text prompts into high-fidelity designs that are then editable in Figma.

Currently, Chat GPT is available as a fantastic tool to spark innovation and guide brainstorming sessions via text prompts.

Getting started

Some Chat GPT prompts to use in the next ideation session:

1. How might we create a design that addresses [specific user need] while also [specific design goal]?
2. What would happen if we reimagined [specific user task] to make it more [specific user goal]?
3. How might we use [specific technology] to create a more seamless user experience for [specific user group]?
4. What if we designed a way for users to [specific user task] using [specific interaction method] in order to make the process more [specific user goal]?
5. What would it look like if we designed a [specific feature] that anticipates and responds to [specific user behavior] in order to improve [specific user goal]?
6. How might we design a [specific user interface element] that helps users better understand [specific product feature] and how it can benefit them?

Step 4: Design & Prototype

Tools to try

Magician,Galileo AI, DALL-E, and Genius

Ways to use them

Once designers have a few potential solutions in mind, they can begin to design a prototype to test with users and refine. AI tools like Magician, DALL-E, Galileo AI, and Genius can be powerful resources at this stage by automating certain tasks, generating new ideas, and enhancing collaboration and creativity, these tools can help designers create better designs in less time.

As of today Galileo AI and Genius are not available to the full public, but DALL-E and Magician are. Once you have a rough idea of what you want your design to look like, you can use DALL-E to generate photos and images, then use Magician to generate new suggestions for your design overall.

Getting started

How to use DALL-E and the Magician plugin when designing in Figma:

1. After installing the Magician plugin, start creating your design in Figma as you normally would.
2. Use DALL-E to instantly create custom images or illustrations for your design. To get the best results from DALL-E, be as descriptive as possible. Use things like mood, subject, art style, lightness level, and vibe.
3. After you’ve founder your images, next you can start to generate other elements with the Magician plugin by selecting any object or group of objects in your Figma design and clicking on the Magician plugin.
4. This will bring up a panel where you can select the type of design element you want to generate. For example, you can choose to generate a color palette, typography, or icon suggestions.
5. Magician will then generate a set of design suggestions based on your selection. Try out the suggestions until you have the right one.

Test & Refine

Tool to try

Kraftful

Ways to use it

Kraftful is like Chat GPT, but for UX research. It synthesizes user feedback from app store reviews, support tickets, call transcripts, and anywhere else users are sharing their thoughts. With Kraftful, you’ll quickly learn what users need so you can focus on designing the right product. You can analyze feedback through a conversation to gather summarized insights from what previously could only be done with hundreds of hours of manual review.

Getting started

Steps for using Kraftful to synthesize user feedback:

1. Collect user feedback through surveys, interviews, or usability tests. This feedback can include both quantitative and qualitative data, such as user ratings, comments, and suggestions.
2. Input feedback into Kraftful.
3. Kraftful will generate insights and themes based on the user feedback you input. Review these insights and identify any common themes or patterns that emerge.
4. Based on the insights and themes identified by Kraftful, analyze what users need and how their needs can be addressed through design. This may involve identifying pain points or opportunities for improvement.

Closing thoughts

AI isn’t needed, but neither were cars, computers, and lightbulbs when they were first introduced.

When it comes to innovation, nothing is needed–until it is.

If you proactively find ways to adopt AI into your design practice now, you will benefit from its superhuman powers before everyone else does and be more advanced than your competition in the long run.

I hope you’ll join me in making the conscious decision to get ahead of the curve by testing out some of the tips in this article.

If you have any tools or tips of your own, I’d LOVE to hear them. Please share them in the comments below.

Nicole Gallardo has almost 2 decades of experience designing digital products that grow businesses and serve communities. She is the Founder & Chief Design Officer at Founders Who UX, an EdTech company offering immersive UX/UI programs that help founders and their teams design the right product for the right people.