AI Design Trends 2024: Wildcards

“Prediction is difficult- particularly when it involves the future.” — Mark Twain

One of the more exciting parts of working in design is the opportunity to think about the future, to imagine what is possible and create the "what if". We get to shape the path towards a preferable direction, to create better solutions for the world around us. The Future Cone by Voros and Hancock is a well-known framework, and as we start 2024, there’s a lot of excitement about the near-term future and how emerging technologies like GEN AI, Ambient AI, and Spatial Computing will generate new possibilities. 

The challenge for designers is to balance the possible, plausible and probable to create actionable designs that will activate the team towards the projected future. That's the core of the team's work. Yet, it always feels like something is missing, almost as if the future is predestined and design is just following along with everyone. I remember going to CES every year and quickly realizing so much of design is converging in the same direction. Now all the gadgets have AI as the key ingredient. 

What's missing are wildcards.

It's possible that AI will replace designers, and it's likely more probable AI design tools will improve productivity and enhance creativity. The projected future for AI design is that all aspects of design will be impacted, from Industrial Design to UX Design to Graphic Design, research, typography, motion, design to code - all methodologies, all disciplines, from work to life to school.

What's missing are the Wildcard predictions, the non-linear, asymmetric trends. What if AI can design for zero - experiences that reduce consumption, extend product life, enhance self-care, and create new design outcomes that shift towards preferable outcomes for people and the planet? Designs that move from point solutions, moving from building design systems to designing systems.

What are your Wildcards predictions for AI Design in 2024?