Before You Prompt, Try a Pencil.

By: Iley Gramm

Not everything needs to be automated.

Your brand deserves creative work that comes from real people who understand your business,
your vision, and your audience. While AI can be a useful tool, it doesn’t truly understand what
makes your business unique. It draws from patterns across existing information and uses them
to generate ideas and designs. The result can be convenient, but it can also feel generic,
repetitive, and disconnected from what makes your brand special.

In other words, it can become what many are starting to call AI slop: content that looks finished
at first glance but lacks originality, intention, and a genuine human touch.

Consider the flyers you see everywhere. Many AI-generated designs rely on familiar layouts,
overused fonts, and generic imagery. They can overlook the details of what makes good
marketing work: who you’re speaking to, what matters to them, and what will motivate them to
take action.

Effective marketing isn’t about reaching everyone. It’s about reaching the right people.

Your business has a specific audience with its own needs, interests, preferences, and
motivations. That’s a good thing! You don’t need to appeal to everyone, and trying to do so can
make your message less effective. Your marketing should reflect an understanding of your
audience and communicate why your business is the right fit for them. That takes more than
generating a design. It takes strategy, research, and thoughtful creative direction.

Your marketing materials also communicate something about your business beyond the words
on the page. A rushed, generic logo can unintentionally signal that little thought went into the
details. If your branding looks like an afterthought, what might that lead potential customers to
assume about the rest of your business?

Designers aren’t going anywhere.

At the heart of good design is a desire to understand your business, tell your story, and
connect with the people who matter most to you. Designers bring strategy, creative judgment,
and an understanding of how visual communication shapes perception. We look beyond
whether something looks good to consider whether it feels right for your brand and speaks to
the right audience.

Hiring someone to help you with design isn’t as costly as you may think. We would love to help
you create meaningful custom designs to help your business grow. Learn more here.

However, if you don’t have the resources to hire someone to create something for you, there’s
still hope! You don’t need to be an artist or designer to make something meaningful. Start with
an idea, experiment with a layout, and ask for help (just not from ChatGPT). Ask your coworker,
a friend, your barista, your mailman, your grandma, or even your crush. Keep that human
connection alive, and embrace the fun of figuring things out as you go.

The goal isn’t to create something perfect on the first try. It’s to create something thoughtful that
reflects your business. AI can help you streamline parts of your workflow, but it shouldn’t
replace the human perspective that makes your brand distinctive.