There’s been a lot of talk lately on AI, especially following the latest OpenAI and Google keynotes on GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5, and it certainly seems that everything is revolving around this new trend nowadays. While opinions on AI’s use cases, accuracy, and social impact vary, in this article we want to talk about the increasing utility of ML technologies in web design and development.
Even before all of the AI stuff going on, web design was already evolving rapidly with new styles, use of cooler and more sophisticated frameworks and growing experience in the field.
Now, as AI tools now are an active part of working processes, it is more appropriate to think of AI as exactly that — tools. And like any tool, they change over time, bringing new skills to master.
It’s honestly a matter of advantage, whatever your thoughts about it may be, companies and individuals that use AI tools are going to have an advantage above those who don’t, but human creativity and contextual understanding will still be required to use it effectively.
So, How Can AI Be Used in Web Development?
1. Research
Every great product starts with research. Understanding your target audience’s needs increases the likelihood of creating something they’ll love, and this is where AI tools might come into play. For example, it can be used to conduct an initial research of your target audience by either feeding it data from your analytics tools or prompting it to simulate or generate customer personas to learn more about a certain category of users.
Additional types of analysis such as sentiment analysis or predictive analysis of user feedback, reviews, and social media interactions can provide valuable insights into customer satisfaction and areas for improvement, as well as anticipate customer needs and preferences.
Of course all data has to be checked and analyzed before use, but it can definitely speed up the process if used correctly.
2. Design
AI is a great ally for designers, especially when overcoming creative blocks. Tools that generate image outputs based on prompts or suggest ideas can be incredibly helpful. You can also ask follow-up questions to refine suggestions, explore unique concepts, or expand on existing ones.
As pointed by Michael B. Stanier in The Coaching Habit: The first answer someone gives you is almost never the only answer, and it’s rarely the best answer. “And what else?” is the quickest and easiest way to uncover and create new possibilities.
This approach works with AI, too. It might seem like an odd place to mention this book, but it’s worth a read!
3. Generating copy
Another cool and interesting way to use AI text generation is generating realistic text for your designs instead of filling up space with lorem ipsum text. Just ask the “Gee-Pee-Tee” to generate some description, key features or reviews for some placeholder products in your designs and quickly notice how this makes your designs look more polished and helps establish a relevant visual hierarchy on the page.
But a word of caution: Don’t use AI to create fake descriptions or reviews online. They lack real meaning and can be easily spotted as fakes.
4. Development
While AI generators can be super helpful in tasks described above, it may not be usually so helpful when writing code. Of course, the first thing that might come to your mind is GitHub Copilot, which, don’t get me wrong, is an amazing tool that many encourage us developers to use, but I wouldn’t bet it to actually write the entire functionality. While it can be useful in writing basic components or features such as line completion or writing comments in code (for the lazy) are very good and often pretty accurate in helping you write that function faster, but as mentioned before, contextual understanding and development know-how is still very much required.
The real great thing about these kind of tools is that they can also explain the thinking behind the code they provide, making it easier for beginners or enthusiasts to improve their coding skills and understand how everything connects.
Conclusion
In conclusion, AI is transforming web design and development, offering tools that enhance our workflows and creativity. By integrating AI into research, design, and development processes, we can work more efficiently and produce higher-quality products. Remember, while AI tools are powerful, they complement rather than replace human creativity and expertise. Embrace these tools, stay curious, and keep pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in web design.
At DART, we’re passionate about leveraging the latest technologies to deliver exceptional web experiences. Let’s build something amazing together!
AI is revolutionizing the web design and development landscape, and we’re here to break it down for you. Whether it’s streamlining research, sparking creativity, or enhancing coding efficiency, AI tools are game changers!