The AI approach that makes top 1% designers future-proof

AI is something I’ve been meaning to talk about for a while now.

But I wanted to do so in a manner where I can actually help you make sense of it all. There are just so many people and so many opinions about this topic, that it can become really hard to separate “signal” from the all “noise”.

AI is advancing faster than one can keep up with.

There are new tools every week. New capabilities every month.

And it is very valid to sometimes go down the spiral and feel paralyzed with the uncertainty.

Is it scary? Is AI coming for our jobs?

It ABSOLUTELY is.

But after today’s newsletter, you won’t look at AI from confused (maybe worried) eyes.

I’ve spent months experimenting with AI in my own design practice and I can tell you: designers aren't going anywhere.

Especially if you learn how to leverage AI to supercharge your powers in unimaginable ways.

So today, we’re decoding 3:

• The 3 biggest mistakes generic designers are making right now with AI

• The 3 ways in which Strategic Brand Designers approach AI differently

• A 3-step practical framework for implementing AI into your business without losing your competitive edge

Ready to unlock the power of 3? Let’s dive in.

3 biggest mistakes generic designers are making while implementing AI into their business:

Mistake 1: Not using AI (ignoring it)

I know designers who are convinced this is a phase.

That AI will plateau. That their clients will eventually see through the "hype." Maybe they're right. But I wouldn't bet my business on it.

Every moment you spend on the fence:

• Your competitors are stealing your business

• The value of your time is getting diluted

• You're missing opportunities to scale and grow

In a world that's moving at breathtaking speeds, staying still is as good as moving backwards!

Mistake 2: Lazy implementation of AI (low quality)

I see this with designers who haven't really accepted AI, but don't want to say that they didn't try.

So they go in and put like one sentence: "Help me do this one thing." As a result, they get mediocre and useless replies from AI. But that immediately makes them go, "Hey, it doesn't work!"

When you actually work with AI thoughtfully:

• providing context,

• refining prompts,

• giving examples of what good looks like

I can guarantee you, you’ll be blown with the response. But you aren’t going to get there if you give up after the first "meh" result.

Being lazy with AI is the same as not using it at all.

Mistake 3: Non-strategic implementation of AI (all or nothing)

This is the sneakiest mistake because it feels productive.

Losing your strategic edge while using AI.

AI doesn't KILL the need for strategy, it AMPLIFIES it.

Because if you use AI to generate "all the things," you let it handle your branding recommendations, your creative direction, your unique frameworks…

… your work will look like everyone else's.

Because it is. You're all feeding the same tool the same prompts, getting similar outputs.

What you need is a strategic combination of the two.

An approach that magnifies your unique strengths while leveraging the crazy automation and implementation skill of AI.

Use AI to get all non-you work done, so that you can create space to your creativity, and be the most authentic version of YOU (which is what the world needs!).

And Strategic Brand Designers understand that AI is your very fast intern. It's incredibly capable at execution, but it can't replace the thinking, the strategy, or the human connection you bring to your work.

That said, it IS changing the design industry in 3 ways that you need to understand, in order to make the most of it:

Change 1: AI is allowing designers to accelerate their growth in the skills that actually matter

The barrier to learning ANYTHING has come down significantly with AI.

Think of all the skills you have to do outside of design, to run a successful business.

Skills that you've never touched before like content creation, sales, lead generation, offer creation, pricing, project management, etc.

Yes, you are AMAZING at what you do. But usually, it’s these other business skills that’s the bottleneck for a designer’s business!

With AI, you can now skyrocket your rate of learning. Ask it to:

• Review and summarize your client calls.

• Create first versions of content

• Build personalized learning plans

• Break down complex concepts

• Generate Competitor Insights

Think about how much time (or money) this would’ve taken you before!

Change 2: AI is helping designers crystallize their process and scale their expertise

You know how you work. You know your methodology. But it lives in your head, not on paper.

Which means you can't scale it. You can't teach it. You can't leverage it beyond what you personally can deliver.

AI changes this.

You can take your past client work, your strategy notes, your project frameworks, and feed them into AI. Ask it to help you identify the patterns.

• What are the steps you're always taking?

• What's the underlying methodology?

• What's unique about your approach versus other designers?

Once you've crystallized your process, you can use AI to help you execute it at scale.

And above all, you can easily get someone up to speed with your process, in case you plan to hire team members as you grow.

Change 3: AI is allowing designers to systemize their work and reclaim their time

How much do you get for every unit of time you put in? AI is revolutionizing this ratio every passing day.

Your job, as the Strategic Brand Designer, increasingly shifts from doing the work to figuring out HOW you do the work and HOW you create value.

The moment you build systems, automations take up the manual doing of the tasks so that you can focus more and more on:

• Strategic thinking and taste

• Creativity and innovation

• High-value problem solving

• Human connection and relationship building

Suddenly, the time you spend in your business maps directly to value. You're not spending eight hours on administrative tasks. You're spending your time on the work that actually moves the needle.

Business is meant to give you freedom. And AI promises to be a game changer in giving you back your time, energy and mental capacity.

And with this foundation, let’s talk about:

How Strategic Brand Designers actually use AI in practice (and you can do it, too)

Think of AI as three different roles that you can assign to it, depending on what you need.

Role 1: AI as a research assistant

This is the lowest hanging fruit and the perfect place to start.

You don't need to spend hours scouring through content anymore. Whenever you start working on a client project, go to AI first and ask it to:

• Extract key insights from strategy calls

• Turn your raw call notes and brand details into polished brand statements.

• Go through competitor websites and identify positioning gaps

• Synthesize all of this into a strategic brief

The time you save here is staggering.

Role 2: AI as a thought partner

AI is EXCELLENT at 10xing your ability to generate ideas and solve problems.

Whenever you need to brainstorm positioning strategies, work through a branding challenge, or explore new angles on how to communicate a client's value proposition, you can go to AI first.

Whenever you want to generate:

• Proposals for next client projects

• New social media content

• Fresh angles to explain problems to clients

• Creative solutions to business challenges

Some of those ideas will be obvious. But usually, one or two spark something.

It's like having an intelligent business sparring partner available 24/7.

The strategic thinking is still entirely yours. But you're thinking faster and more expansively because you have this tool to bounce off.

Role 3: AI as a free employee

Lastly, AI is like a very smart but completely inexperienced employee working for you for free.

Any task that you've done 100+ times and it has become a draining chore, immediately outsource it to AI.

Write a detailed prompt outlining what the task is and why it's important. Walk through step-by-step how you want it done. Share relevant examples of good work. Include your specific requirements and preferences.

The output will blow you away. And once you do this a few times, you'll never go back to doing that task yourself.

Because why would you, when there's a robot army at your disposal working tirelessly 24/7 without any complaints?

That’s it.

Bottom line: AI isn't going to make good designers obsolete. But it absolutely will make average designers obsolete.

But you now know how the industry is changing, what not to do, and what to do.

The designers who will thrive in this AI-powered world are the ones who combine their unique expertise with AI's capabilities. They're not afraid of the technology, they're leveraging it strategically to build better businesses and better lives.

Your competitors aren't waiting. Why should you?

Start experimenting this week.

Quick caveat to end on:

Use AI, make your life easier, speed things up… that’s the whole point. But don’t hand your entire process over to it. The second you stop thinking for yourself that's when you start sounding like everyone else.

AI should support your process, not replace your judgement.

Let it help you come up with the first draft, then go back in, refine it, add your taste, your ideas, and your perspective because that’s the part clients come to you for!

Chat soon,

Abi 😊

Sign Up

How I can help you ⬇️

​The Ultimate Operating System for Brand Designers ➡️

If you're ready to save hours on admin work, start confidently taking on more projects, and deliver consistently professional results, these proven templates and systems are your answer.