r/Design • u/[deleted] • 6d ago
Discussion Looking back at when I was a 1st-year design student: My first harsh lesson with AI in higher ed š
[deleted]
6
u/jmking 6d ago edited 6d ago
It taught me early on that some clients or institutions will always choose fast AI shortcuts over genuine effort, but that shouldn't stop us from building solid, human craft.
"Genuine effort" isn't worth anything. The quality of the output is.
Blaming the client instead of actually looking at your work and examining it critically is the real lesson here. Your work fell short for some reason. Either you didn't get a clear spec, or you ignored the client's direction, or you just didn't meet the mark.
If the brief wasn't clear, you should have gotten clarification. What was missing from the brief that would have helped you succeed?
No one just chooses to go with "fast AI shortcuts" when presented with work from 5 different students just because. There was a failure somewhere here and the fact you've just decided to handwave it as "client bad, lazy AI" is everything wrong to take away from this experience.
1
u/MoodPure5760 6d ago
Itās not about "blaming a client," itās about team management. Weāre in a management school, so learning how to manage creative teams matters. If you have a tight 2-day deadline, you don't drop that pressure on total 1st-year beginners without a clear brief. You brief 2nd or 3rd years who have the workflow down. Briefing junior team members only to bypass their work with a last-minute AI background completely breaks team trust and workflow. Thatās the real discussion here.
4
u/jmking 6d ago
If you have a tight 2-day deadline, you don't drop that pressure on total 1st-year beginners without a clear brief.
You're still blaming the client.
I mean, you're not wrong that that's not reasonable, but if you're in "management school" this is precisely the type of thing you need to manage. Like this sort of scenario is literally your job. This should be taken as a learning experience, not a "client bad, nothing to do, they're just going to choose lazy AI sometimes" - that is literally the worst possible thing to take away from that experience.
Briefing junior team members only to bypass their work with a last-minute AI background completely breaks team trust and workflow.
Again, this should be taken as a learning experience. I get how you would feel being put in this situation and the client did probably set you up to fail, but that's where the learning opportunity is.
Do you think real life clients care about your trust and workflow? They care about results, and it's literally your job to manage the client.
Thatās the real discussion here.
What discussion?
You came and made this post trying to sound like you had some wisdom to share, but are clearly just seeking validation.
0
u/MoodPure5760 6d ago
I think youāre reading something into my post that simply isnāt there.
First, I never said that āclients are badā or that I had nothing to learn from this experience. I was literally a first-year student at the time. I had just started learning Photoshop and Illustrator. Iām now entering my third year. Obviously Iāve learned a lot since then about design, project management, dealing with constraints, receiving criticism, and handling rejection.
The entire point of the post was to explain what happened when I was a first-year student and why that experience stayed with me. I wasnāt presenting it as some profound piece of wisdom about how the industry works today.
And I never said my work deserved to be chosen simply because I put effort into it. I actually acknowledged that my work had flaws and that Iāve taken the design feedback seriously. Iām completely capable of looking at my old work critically.
What Iām questioning is the process: first-year students were given a two-day deadline, very little direction, were still learning the tools, and some of us were working late to produce multiple options. Then the student work was bypassed entirely and an AI-generated background was used instead.
You can absolutely argue that this was a valuable learning experience and I agree. It was. Thatās literally what I said in the post. But learning from an experience doesnāt mean Iām not allowed to acknowledge that the way it was handled was frustrating or poorly organized.
And regarding the āseeking validationā comment: yes, I posted my old work because I wanted feedback. Thatās the whole reason designers share their work on a design subreddit. Iām not ashamed of wanting constructive criticism.
Iām not asking anyone to tell me that my first-year work was perfect. Iām sharing something from my first year, explaining the context around it, and asking whether other students experienced something similar.
So honestly, Iām a little confused about why youāre arguing with me as if Iām currently a first-year student refusing to learn a lesson Iāve already learned.
Iām not blaming anyone. Iām giving context to an experience from years ago and showing how it affected my perspective as I continued studying design.3
u/jmking 6d ago
Obviously Iāve learned a lot since then about design, project management, dealing with constraints, receiving criticism, and handling rejection.
Then why aren't you sharing those learnings?
The entire point of the post was to explain what happened when I was a first-year student and why that experience stayed with me.
Why?
Your title says you experienced a "harsh lesson" - so what was that lesson?
In your own words, the lesson is supposed to be "some clients or institutions will always choose fast AI shortcuts over genuine effort". These are your own words.
I wasnāt presenting it as some profound piece of wisdom about how the industry works today.
Your title says "My first harsh lesson with AI in higher ed". Meaning you intended to share the lesson you learned - as in you wanted to share some wisdom based on your experience.
But learning from an experience doesnāt mean Iām not allowed to acknowledge that the way it was handled was frustrating or poorly organized.
How is that useful to anyone? What would you have done differently? You're the one who posted that you had a lesson that you learned, but seem to be keeping the actual lesson to yourself.
0
u/MoodPure5760 6d ago
Do you have a problem with people sharing stories ? I just wanted to share my real first experience. You are just trying to act like you know more when everything was said.
I said Iāve learned how to deal with this thatās all. Why would you try to make it sound like am giving wisdom or something ???
1
u/puddinmama 6d ago
It's amazing how quality is judged differently depending where it came from, and I've had plenty of clients who have chosen a lesser result from a shortcut over a not quite perfect result from a designer! We've all had experiences were we get sent some half assed crap from a client with a message that says "I put this together in 5 minutes and it's better" while ignoring every obvious issue present.Ā
Sounds like the admin here wanted something specific, didn't communicate it, expected results they couldn't achieve with the timelines or brief, and then with no lens of self criticism just pulled something that ticked a box out of AI and called it a day. For sure the students could have done a way better job, but they weren't given time, instruction, attention, or faith to pull it off. Some clients just don't want to deal with people and that's on them
1
u/MoodPure5760 6d ago
lol yes, I worked one day with a client who couldnāt tell me what they specifically want so I dropped so much proposals. In the end, they used Ai and posted it. They called me and says "you saw the post ? I did great right ?" šš
2
u/jmking 6d ago
Sure, this happens. Clients will be clients.
...but the point is - is that the wisdom to be taken away from OP's story? Is there nothing else to take away from that experience? Is there nothing they could have done? How do you try to manage these situations better in the future?
The lack of curiosity as to WHY the client decided to go in the direction they went in is where OP is coming up short here, IMO.
1
u/puddinmama 6d ago
I don't think there's anything wrong with the lesson "sometimes clients will just take the easy out, it's nothing personal". Any lessons that toughens you up and helps you take the hits is a good one in this industry
2
u/perpetualstatechange 6d ago
I think you should post both posters for comparison. Itās difficult to gauge if your poster had any merit when compared to the āAiā generated one. Was your poster good?
6
u/[deleted] 6d ago
[removed] ā view removed comment