BENGALURU: My 14-year-old niece wants to study design. By the time she graduates, AI will reshape the job market and design looks will be particularly exposed. What should she study? Which skills will continue to be important? Should she fear automation? We asked leading design experts these questions at the 9th DesignUp conference in Bangalore on Tuesday.They agree that now may be the best time to become a designer in any field, at any age, because AI is amplifying rather than replacing human judgment and curiosity. “Design is evolving,” said Alex Skougarevskaya, head of design (content & discovery) at Canva. “Curation, flair, and the ability to meet users’ needs become more important. AI speeds up work, but it doesn’t dictate which problems to solve or which ideas to evolve.“At Canva, we treat AI as a tool. You have to use it every day. Instead of doing two or three concepts, you can consider 50 concepts and still be in charge of what you actually design,” she added. Archana Thiagarajan, who leads design for Adobe’s Experience Cloud, said the role is evolving and the number of titles will continue to grow as the breadth of technology expands. “The beauty of user experience (a prominent design-related profession) is that there’s always a surplus of titles: human factors engineering, user interface (UI), interaction, visuals, user experience (UX). Now it’s full-stack design and product design. There’s no shortage of tools, so you have to contextualize the problem and the space you’re in,” she said. “And if you’re an independent designer, don’t be so quick to beat yourself up. Ask yourself what my superpower is and where I can make the most impact. And lean into it.”For Fonz Morris, an entrepreneur, investor, educator, and former Netflix lead product designer who helped scale Netflix and Coursera, the big impact of AI is to lower barriers while raising expectations for value. “AI is just a tool. It helps designers be more efficient, but it doesn’t work at the level that I do,” he said. “What changes is the designer’s wheelhouse. You’re no longer just one tech guy. You can write, you can research, you can dabble in code, you can talk about market development and revenue. Designers are strategic partners. ” and encouraged students to focus on impact. “You can’t monetize something that has no value. Understand the problem you’re trying to solve and the impact on your bottom line. That way you won’t get fired, and you might even get a promotion. ”When it comes to skills for the next decade, experts focused on first principles rather than tools. “Understand user needs, clarify problems, and prototype early and often,” Skugalevskaya said. “The job your niece will have may not exist now, but people always need great experiences.”
