By Katelyn Obermiyer / Jambar Contributor
As generative artificial intelligence changes the way business, healthcare and other industries function, the technology is also changing the way people see graphic design.
Within the department of art at Youngstown State University, professors and students in graphic and interactive design are addressing the skills, ethics and professional future of generative AI use with an upcoming course for upper-level design students.
Sebastian Giraldo, assistant professor of graphic and interactive design, said the course, titled Design + AI, will focus on AI ethics to help students evaluate appropriate use in design.
“[The course is] more about how you can use [AI] in a way that overhauls your workflow and then understanding the ethics behind it, understanding all the considerations that need to happen in order for you to use it appropriately for your work, for your clients,” Giraldo said. “Like where it fits in your tool belt as a designer.”
Giraldo said the department allows students to use generative AI to brainstorm concepts but prohibits use in actual designs to help students build foundational skills in drawing, layout and critical thinking.
“You don’t want to use AI without the critical knowledge and the literacy that comes with doing things yourself, and learning when the layout works, when the typography works, when the color works — you want to learn to do that manually,” Giraldo said. “You want to … develop that critical eye for understanding.”
Michelle Nelson, professor of graphic design, said she thinks AI can improve how designers effectively approach design business, such as scheduling or writing freelance contracts. However, she said AI cannot replicate the human elements in design.
“The reality is graphic design is about communicating human to human,” Nelson said. “And that’s something AI doesn’t understand. They don’t understand … what different groups of people might be attracted to and visually excited by.”
While Nelson said she experiments with AI to recommend design elements or course activities, she cautions that AI should not be used to complete all work.
“Taking the easy way out is always gonna get you less of an experience — an educational understanding — and that will show in your work. Whether you write, whether you design, whether you code, if you’re taking the easy way out, it’s gonna show up,” Nelson said.
Giraldo, who said he experiments with AI to speed up the conception process for designs, said he feels being trained with AI as a tool can help students make decisions that benefit their process.
“But as far as the industry goes, it’s not going anywhere. It’s gonna be there and more and more people are using it,” Giraldo said. “It’s better to be trained on how to use it, even if you don’t like it, because that way you can make an even more informed decision.”
Deion Martin, junior graphic and interactive design major, said he feels generative AI can be used for brainstorming but not to replace creative parts of the design process.
“If they use AI, they should only use it for ideas,” Martin said. “If you just use AI for any type of graphic design, or just any art in general … it looks bad, and people can instantly tell how bad it looks, and it kind of ruins the artistic flow too, ’cause it’s supposed to be creative.”
With the new course to debut in spring 2027, Giraldo said transferable skills learned in graphic and interactive design curriculum will equip students with career versatility.
“There’s gonna be room for multiple design avenues, and it’s gonna be up to the designer personally to understand where they would like to go based on their ethics, based on their preferences, their knowledge of the tools and a bunch of different factors,” Giraldo said.
Sources:
- Sebastian Giraldo, assistant professor of graphic and interactive design, 234-263-8093, sgiraldo@ysu.edu
- Michelle Nelson, graphic design professor, 330-881-7936, mnelson@ysu.edu
- Deion Martin, junior graphic and interactive design major, 330-707-5381, dmmartin02@student.ysu.edu