The rise of the Prompt Designer: transforming design in the era of generative AI

The Prompt Designer, or AI Designer, is a figure not yet well known in Italy, but one that will become increasingly relevant in thedesign field in the next 5 years: according to 42% of designers and companies it will allow them to optimize project development time, while according to 37% it will increase the possibilities of product customization and improve services and user experience. These are the data from a survey by the Symbola Foundation, which also shows that currently only 33.7 percent of designers and 9.2 percent of companies are familiar with the figure of the Prompt Designer and that only 3 out of 10 designers make habitual use of it.

From our daily experience at the intersection of design and technology, we believe that one of the reasons for this low awareness lies in a still widespread fear thatAI can replace the creative, hence a lack of willingness to embrace the opportunities and experiment with the practice of Prompt Design. In reality, as has been the case with various technologies in the past (from digital cameras to software for developing 3D environments), these are tools that support the designer’s work, without replacing it but rather allowing them to increase the efficiency of some operational practices by freeing up time for creativity and strategy.

In this article we will give a definition of the role of Prompt Designer, clarifying the difference from the Prompt Engineer and the developer profession, and then describe the opportunities emerging from theapplication of AI in the daily work of the designer, also emphasizing the need to approach these technologies with a new mindset, both compared to that of the traditional designer and for those with a more technical background. Finally, we will see how generative AI tools can become valuable tools available to designers who, by giving detailed guidance in the form of prompts, can entrust AI with the creation not only of images and text, but also of websites, apps and innovative user interfaces.

The Prompt Designer is an evolution of the traditional designer who harnesses the power ofgenerative AI to create innovative and impactful design solutions for businesses and organizations. A Prompt Designer is thus a figure who specializes in writing prompts or instructions that guide generative AI models in the creation of specific outputs, which can range from visual content, to written content and even complex data analysis or the creation of entire websites.

Before we delve into the importance of the Prompt Designer, let us first clarify some definitions: what a prompt is, what we mean by Prompt Design, and what is the difference with Prompt Engineering and the work of the developer.

As reported by Tech Target, in the context of generative AI, a prompt is defined as “a mode of interaction between a human being and a large language model (LLM) that allows the model to generate the desired output. The interaction can take the form of a question, text, code snippets or examples.”

Due to its probabilistic and nondeterministic nature, an artificial intelligence model can in fact provide different outputs depending on the wording of the prompt, which can be as simple as a word or sentence, or as complex as a paragraph. The goal of the prompt is to provide the artificial intelligence model with enough information to produce a relevant output.

In other words, prompts can be defined as the explicit instructions given to an artificial intelligence model to enable it to produce the desired results.

According to Google‘s definition, Prompt Design is “the process of creating prompts that elicit the desired response from language patterns.”

Writing well-structured prompts can be an essential part of ensuring accurate, high-quality responses from a language model. The process of repeatedly updating prompts and evaluating model responses is sometimes called prompt engineering.

Again as defined by Google, prompt engineering is an iterative, test-driven process that can improve model performance. When creating prompts, it is important to clearly define the goals and expected results for each prompt and test them systematically to identify areas for improvement.

In most nonspecialized use cases, however, as Google itself points out, the models often work well without the need for an immediate engineering process.

This is where the Prompt Designer comes in, who is not directly concerned with the engineering aspect of creating prompts, but with fine-tuning strategies for getting the desired results from generative AI models, whether textual or image-generating.

In essence, the Prompt Engineer deals with the artificial intelligence model itself, while the Prompt Designer deals with how users interface with and use the artificial intelligence model through natural language interactions.

Finally, it is important to distinguish the role of the Prompt Designer from that of the programmer or developer.

If programmers are figures with vertical skills, an analytical approach, and a technical background with specialized training, that of the Prompt Designer is a hybrid figure with cross-cutting skills, a creative approach, and often a humanistic background in which continuing education is essential.

In other words, if the programmer “writes code,” the Prompt Designer “writes prompts.”

This paradigm shift not only speeds up the design process, but also opens up new possibilities for creativity and problem solving.

The basic features of the Prompt Designer can thus be summarized as:

1. Creativity-essential skill for any designer;

2. Cross-disciplinary training-as a figure born with the advent of generative AI, at present the training of the Prompt Designer can only be the result of multifaceted and multidisciplinary training, evolving as models evolve;

3. Mindset-along with creativity, an open and flexible mindset is indispensable for the Prompt Designer, as it enables him or her to adapt to changes in context, continually exploring new ideas and approaches, fostering innovation and experimentation;

4. Knowledge of models -knowing the distinguishing characteristics of each model allows one to effectively choose the most functional one for obtaining the desired result;

5. Clarity and conciseness-that is, the ability to communicate to the model the information necessary and sufficient to obtain the desired result, eliminating unnecessary variables that could affect the quality of the output;

6. Ability to test and evaluate – the ongoing testing and evaluation of results is part of an iterative process that every designer is familiar with

7. Aptitude for continuous improvement-the drive to get better and better results in an increasingly efficient manner;

8. Knowledge of data bias –awareness that no matter how powerful models are, they suffer from biases and distortions related to the training data;

9. Aptitude for collaboration-as with the traditional designer, that of the Prompt Designer is a collaborative role, involving continuous confrontation with many other professionals, both internal and external to the company;

10. Daily update – models evolve and improve almost every day, so it is critical to stay abreast of what is new.

Together, these characteristics outline a clear profile in which a“designer’s” approach is combined with a not necessarily “engineering” working knowledge of AI models.

Prompt Design and the figure of the Prompt Designer will be of significant importance to companies and enterprises in the competitive landscape of the coming years. Here are some key reasons why Prompt Design is becoming indispensable:

Like any technology-driven paradigm shift, Prompt Design raises important ethical considerations. Designers and organizations must ensure that AI-generated designs are in line with ethical standards, respect intellectual property rights, and avoid perpetuating harmful biases or stereotypes.

Transparency in the design process, clear guidelines for AI use, and ongoing ethical evaluations are key to addressing these challenges responsibly.

In conclusion, Prompt Design represents a significant evolution in the field of design, enhanced by the capabilities of generative AI. As companies increasingly recognize the value of rapid iteration and creative exploration, the role of Prompt Designers will continue to grow in importance.

Generative AI is not meant to be a technology that replaces the designer, but rather provides him or her with new tools to do his or her job more efficiently, innovatively and creatively, from the aforementioned chatbots and text-to-image tools to more specialized tools such as AI generators of landing page structures and websites and vertical tools for UX Designers such as Galileo.AI.

Indeed, the adoption of this new paradigm not only unlocks efficiencies and innovations, but also paves the way for a more collaborative and dynamic design ecosystem by combining human creativity with the power of AI.