10 Tips for Using AI in Your Web Design Business
Using AI in your business is not about trying to replace your team and employees. It’s about empowering them with better tools so that they can do work more efficiently and productively.
According to a recent study, it has found that AI can improve a worker’s performance by 40% when “used within the boundary of its capabilities”.
Today, AI can deliver the capabilities of multiple enterprise-level corporations at your fingertips. Especially when you have a web design agency with a small team or working solo, AI will give you the tools you need to compete with even the biggest design studios in the world.
Here’s how.
1. Generate Ideas & Mockups
Most design agencies go through multiple team meetings and sessions to come up with the initial ideas for a website design. Freelance web designers spend days seeking inspiration for their designs. It takes a lot of time as well as trial and error to even come up with the wireframe for a website.
With the help of AI tools, you can cut the ideation and brainstorming time by half, or even completely, and jump into the design stage. You can now use generative AI tools like Dall-E, Midjourney, and Leonardo to quickly come up with concept ideas for websites, create wireframes, UI design concepts, and much more.
AI Tools to Try:
2. Generate Code & DeBug with AI
AI is not only capable of writing code but they are also able to debug code quite effectively. You can use ChatGPT for this. The platform now has custom GPTs that are designed specifically for writing code and debugging.
Although, AI-written code is not perfect. These tools still need a lot of work to be able to generate clean code that you can actually use in a client project. However, you can use them to some extent to make your job easier. Like generating code snippets, widgets, and frameworks.
Codacy AI is quite effective at debugging and recognizing errors in your code almost instantly. And it will even provide you with solutions.
AI Tools to Try:
3. Turn Screenshots Into Code
Back in the day, designers imagined being able to magically transform their concept designs and wireframes into code with the press of a button. Thanks to AI, that is now a possibility.
You can now instantly turn your website screenshots, concept designs, and wireframes into code using AI tools by simply uploading an image of the website. While they don’t always generate the best results, they will help save you a ton of time.
AI Tools to Try:
4. Create Design Prototypes
Creating functional prototypes out of concept designs to let the clients see the websites in action is a convenient way to get the client’s approval. Until now, only the big studios were able to spend resources on developing prototypes.
With AI design prototyping tools, you can now easily visualize your design concepts and ideas with less effort. Platforms like Framer and Figma have powerful AI tools and plugins that allow you to easily generate entire pages and layouts using AI.
AI Tools to Try:
5. Write Website Copy with ChatGPT
You don’t have to fill your stunning website full of Lorem Ipsum text, not anymore. Now you can generate actual copy for your website designs using ChatGPT.
And it’s not just for placeholder text either. You can use ChatGPT or Google Gemini to write and refine the website copy, product descriptions, headlines, and much more to use in the final version of the site design.
AI Tools to Try:
6. Generate Unique Illustrations
It usually takes hours of research to find the right illustrations for a website design. Or you have to spend a huge chunk of your budget to hire artists to create unique illustrations and artwork for your websites.
Now, you just have to describe the illustration you want as a text prompt and Dall-E will generate the images for you. You can even specify the style, technique, and arrangement of each illustration so that you can get exactly what you need for each image.
AI Tools to Try:
7. Create Specific Icon Packs
Creating unique icon packs for your websites is just as easy as generating illustrations. This process takes a bit of work and you’ll have to refine your text prompts to create better icons that match each other, but it’s much easier than trying to find the right icon pack from a marketplace.
Adobe Illustrator has a powerful generative AI tool that’s capable of creating beautiful icons. Other platforms like Dall-E and Midjourney are also able to create icons quite easily.
AI Tools to Try:
8. Better Color Palettes
Choosing the right colors is only the first step in deciding on a color palette for a website. You also have to go through a lot of trial and error trying out different accents, choosing the right color balance, and experimenting with color combinations.
Thankfully, with AI tools, you can simplify this process. With AI tools like Huemint, you can not only generate better color palettes but also preview them on an example website design to see how the colors actually look like without having to apply them to your own website design.
AI Tools to Try:
9. Automate Customer Service with Chatbots
No need to waste resources to create complex ticketing systems and forums for your business websites. Instead, you can now integrate AI assistants to answer any customer queries instantly.
Most websites you visit today have a live chat option and these are powered by AI. Platforms like Zendesk and Hubspot have powerful AI chatbots that offer a smooth experience for users to quickly find answers to their questions and problems.
AI Tools to Try:
10. Use AI-Powered Website Builders
If you’re running a web design business by yourself or have a small team, using an AI-powered website builder will make your life much easier. Wix, Durable, and many other website builders now have AI tools that allow you to make websites with just a few prompts.
However, most AI website builders have limited capabilities and they don’t offer you the full freedom to customize the site design. Tools like CodeWP are much better in this regard. It works as an AI assistant to help simplify the process of making WordPress websites.
AI Tools to Try:
Conclusion
With a combination of these AI tools, you can practically create an entire web design studio by yourself. Keep in mind, that as impressive as these AI tools may be, they are at their worst right now. These tools will only get better with time and before you know it, you will be working with AI colleagues, side by side.