Six months ago, a client asked me to design a full brand identity — logo, color palette, social media templates, website mockups — in three days. A project that normally takes two weeks. My first reaction was to say no. My second reaction was to open Midjourney.
That project launched my journey into AI-assisted design, and it fundamentally changed how I think about creative work. Not because AI replaced my design skills, but because it eliminated the tedious parts I never enjoyed anyway.
If you’re a freelance designer worried about AI taking your job, this guide is for you. Spoiler alert: AI won’t replace good designers. But designers who use AI will replace designers who don’t.
The Uncomfortable Truth About Design Work
Let’s be honest about something most designers won’t admit publicly: a significant percentage of our billable hours aren’t actually “creative.” They’re spent on:
- Creating mockup variations that the client will reject anyway
- Resizing assets for 15 different social media platforms
- Finding stock photos that don’t look like stock photos
- Creating placeholder content for wireframes
- Removing backgrounds from product images
These tasks require skill, but not creativity. They’re production work. And AI handles production work brilliantly.
How I Use AI Tools in My Design Workflow
Midjourney: The Mood Board Machine
Before AI, creating a mood board meant hours of browsing Behance, Dribbble, Pinterest, and stock photo sites. Now I describe a visual direction to Midjourney and get 20 unique visual concepts in 10 minutes.
I don’t use Midjourney output as final designs — that would be lazy and unethical to my clients. Instead, I use it for three specific things:
- Client communication: “Here’s the visual direction I’m thinking. Does this feel right?” Having concrete visuals to discuss saves multiple revision rounds.
- Color and texture exploration: Midjourney generates color combinations and textures I would never have considered. About 30% of my color palette choices in the past six months were inspired by Midjourney outputs.
- Concept art for illustration direction: When I need to brief an illustrator, AI-generated concepts communicate the vision better than written descriptions.
Cost: $30/month for the Standard plan. It paid for itself the first time I skipped a revision cycle because the client could visualize my concept early.
Canva AI: The Production Workhorse
Canva’s AI features aren’t glamorous, but they’re insanely practical. Magic Resize alone saves me about 3 hours per week. Design something once, and Canva adapts it to every social media format automatically.
Their background remover is also better than most standalone tools I’ve used. I used to spend 15-20 minutes per image in Photoshop, carefully masking around hair and complex edges. Canva does it in seconds, and the quality is good enough for 90% of use cases.
For the remaining 10% — complex compositions, transparency in hair strands, semi-transparent objects — I still use Photoshop. But that’s 10% of the work, not 100%.
Cost: $13/month for Canva Pro. Every designer should have this, period.
Adobe Firefly: Integrated AI That Respects Creatives
Adobe’s approach to AI is worth highlighting because they trained their model on licensed and Adobe Stock content. If you care about ethical AI — and as a creative, you should — Firefly is the most responsible option.
Generative Fill in Photoshop is genuinely magical. I recently needed to extend a landscape photo that was too narrow for a website hero section. In the old days, I’d spend 30 minutes clone-stamping and content-aware filling. With Generative Fill, I selected the empty space, typed “continue the mountain landscape,” and got a seamless result in 10 seconds.
Cost: Included with Creative Cloud subscription ($55/month). If you’re already paying for Adobe CC, you have no excuse not to use Firefly.
The Line I Won’t Cross
AI is a tool, not a replacement for creative thinking. Here’s where I draw the line:
I never present AI-generated images as my original work. If Midjourney creates something that inspires my design, I credit that inspiration. When a final deliverable includes AI-generated elements, I tell my client.
I never skip the strategy phase. AI can generate beautiful visuals, but it can’t understand business goals, target audience psychology, or brand positioning. A stunning logo that doesn’t communicate the right message is a beautiful failure.
I never stop learning traditional skills. AI tools will evolve, change pricing, or disappear. My understanding of color theory, typography, composition, and visual hierarchy will always be relevant. AI amplifies design fundamentals — it doesn’t replace them.
Practical Tips for Designers Getting Started with AI
Start with one tool, master it, then expand
Don’t subscribe to every AI design tool simultaneously. Pick the one that addresses your biggest time sink. For most designers, that’s either Midjourney (for concept exploration) or Canva AI (for production efficiency).
Create a personal AI prompt library
Effective AI use is largely about effective prompting. When you find prompts that generate great results, save them. I have a Notion database with 200+ prompts organized by project type, style, and purpose. This library is now one of my most valuable professional assets.
Use AI to learn, not just produce
When Midjourney generates a composition I like, I analyze why it works. What’s the color balance? Where’s the focal point? How are the elements arranged? AI-generated images have become one of my best learning tools because I can rapidly iterate on visual ideas and study the patterns.
Set boundaries with clients
Some clients will say, “Just use AI and charge me less.” This is a trap. Explain that AI is part of your professional toolkit — like a faster computer or better software — not a discount lever. Your value is your creative judgment, not your keyboard speed.
The Future for Creative Freelancers
I know designers who are terrified of AI. I know others who think it’s the best thing that’s ever happened to the profession. I’m somewhere in the middle.
The designers who will thrive are those who embrace AI as an amplifier while deepening their human skills — empathy, strategic thinking, storytelling, and creative vision. These are the things AI can’t do, and they’re the things clients actually value most.
If you’re spending most of your time on production tasks, AI is about to give you a massive competitive advantage. If you’re spending most of your time on creative strategy and client relationships, AI will free up even more time for the work that matters.
Either way, the answer isn’t to fear the tools. It’s to pick them up and start building.
