How AI Can Help Your Web Design Business
With the rise of artificial intelligence over the past few years in almost every industry, it comes as no surprise that an online industry like website development would soon be affected by AI. This has brought up a lot of questions about how AI will ultimately affect web design businesses - whether it will help or hurt designers, whether AI will replace web designers or not, and more.
While I don’t think AI will completely replace web designers, I understand this fear and the many questions and assumptions that come with it, so in this article, I want to give all of you web designers a few ways I think AI could help your web design business.
Create a more curated base template to work with using AI site generators
Website builders such as Wix, Squarespace, and others enable people to create website’s tailor-made for them using AI site-generating tools. Generally, the AI tool will take some basic info about your business and design preferences, then it would automatically generate a website for you, complete with dummy text content and imagery. The website is generally include some basic pages based on the template selected, and from there you can add your own pages and custom content to your site.
This allows web designers to create better base templates to customize for their clients rather than having to start completely from scratch.
Generate & improve copy text so that you can hand off better templates to clients
Some web designers may offer copywriting as part of their web design package(s), and others may not. If you fit into either of the aforementioned categories, AI content-writing tools can help you to create and improve the quality of text content, including headings, sentences, and paragraphs.
For instance, in Squarespace, you can use generative AI to write a prompt, such as “Write a paragraph about why hiking is the best form of exercise” and you’ll get exactly that - all at the click of a button. You can even specify the prompt with details such as what page the content is on (like the About page), from what perspective the text should be, and what tone the text should be.
You can also use Squarespace AI tools (and other web builder AI tools) to improve upon content that’s already been written, such as checking for grammar and spelling errors, simplify, shorten, or lengthen copy, summarize existing text, or create an outline based on your text.
This allows web designers to hand off templates with more professional sounding copy to your clients, which is especially helpful if you do not offer a personalized copywriting service. Even if you do offer copywriting, AI tools can improve your copy with little to no effort.
Will AI replace web designers?
Although the idea of your website being created using AI with little to no effort is appealing, I doubt AI will be able to completely replace the benefits a professional web designer can provide.
Now, I’m a web developer, as in someone who focuses on the construction of websites using code - not a designer who specializes in the visual aspects of a website. However, I have worked with and currently work with many web designers in my line of work, so I’m very familiar with a web designer’s role, and as someone who works in the same realm as web design, I think I have a valuable perspective on this topic.
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the field of web designers and developers will increase by 16% (much faster than average) by the end of the decade (2022-32). This is great news for developers and designers.
Given this statistic, here’s why I think web designers are here to stay for a while, even with the increasing relevancy of AI:
As great as AI is, it likely won’t get everything right regarding something as personal and custom as a website. The benefit of strategizing with a professional web designer outweighs the static nature of an AI-generated website.
Humans are inherently social creatures, which means people prefer the benefits of working with people who are better at understanding human emotions than AI.
Technology can be frustrating for business owners who don’t want to focus on technical things like designing and constructing a website. Think about how frustrated customers often get when they have to jump through so many hoops and automated scripts just to talk to a representative when they have a question or need personal assistance with something.
What do you think about the future of web design with the emergence of AI?
