Have you played around with artificial intelligence, gotten frustrated and given up, unsure what all the hype is about?
If so, you are not alone.
Today’s AI tools are generative, which means they continue to learn and improve. And they learn, not just by gobbling up vast amounts of information from the internet but by training themselves in the habits and preferences of the user. So, the more you use a tool like ChatGPT, the better it can serve you. In short: Time and patience can be your friend on the way to greater efficiency.
That’s one of the lessons interior designer Jenna Gaidusek has learned by using a variety of AI tools in her Summerville, South Carolina-based firm, Jenna Gaidusek Designs. She’s found it helpful for everything from design inspiration to generating mood boards to product design to copywriting. Her favorite AI tools include ChatGPT, Dall-E and Midjourney.
Gaidusek, an AI evangelist, offers AI training sessions through her AI for Interior Designers business and delves deep into the topic on her podcast by the same name.
(For more on how other designers and others in the industry are using AI, click here. To read how kitchen cabinet company Isla Porter is using AI to transform kitchen design, click here.)
Gaidusek, who spoke at the Vacation Rental Design Summit in High Point in the spring, shares some of her best tips for using AI to work more efficiently. They are applicable for interior designers, product designers and others working in the home furnishings industry.
1. Be forthcoming. If you are presenting AI-generated images to clients or posting them on your website or on social media, disclose that. “For me, I just really want to make sure that I’m doing the right thing when it comes to AI,” Gaidusek says. “So, I set some lines in the sand and one of those would be to always disclose when you present an AI image.”
2. Use AI as a jumping off point. You’ll need to set your own guidelines for how to use AI in your work, but Gaidusek will not input other designers’ work into AI to generate fresh room designs. Instead, she will use AI to generate inspiration images or will run images of her own designs through an AI tool to help teach it her preferences and style. “It’s a jumping off point,” she says. “It’s not the end result that you should present to a client.” Similarly, if you use ChatGPT or other AI tools to write product descriptions or web copy, don’t just publish what AI generates. Review and tweak it. “Make it your own,” she says.
3. Pay for the upgrades. Free versions of AI tools can be useful but by paying nominal fees for subscriptions, you’ll get access to more robust features, including customization, that make using them more effective.
4. Compare AI products. Tools like Midjourney and Dall-E have different strengths. Especially when getting started, try the same task in a couple of tools and see which results you prefer. Because AI is evolving so quickly, revisit the tools to see how they’ve advanced.
5. Be specific in your requests for AI. The more precise request you give an AI tool, the better the results will be. So, instead of asking Dall-E to generate “a coastal-inspired living room,” Gaidusek would ask, “Design a Charleston, South Carolina-inspired living room, using a color palette that includes pinks, navy blue and greens. Preppy and trendy design that includes tropical plants and a cool vacation vibe.” A request for a similar mood board would be even more detailed: “Create a flat-lay image showcasing an interior design material board for a tropical getaway theme. The board should include a variety of textures and materials commonly used in home decor, emphasizing a vibrant and trendy aesthetic. Feature wood samples that complement checkerboard patterns, alongside fabric swatches and paint chips in pinks, navy blue and greens. Incorporate elements that suggest soft curved furniture. The color palette should focus on pink, navy blue and orange. Add a generous amount of tropical plant elements to convey a lush, vacation vibe. The overall look should be preppy, trendy and interesting, capturing the essence of a stylish tropical retreat.”
When just beginning to use AI tools, you can start with a basic prompt (like generate “a coastal-inspired living room”) and then refine it as you go, adding more specifics until you get the result you seek. You’ll learn along with the AI what prompts work best for you.
6. Find what it’s best at doing. Whether rendering flooring or textile patterns, AI like Midjourney can do so quicky and efficiently. Gaidusek then takes the AI-generated patterns and tweaks colorways and other details in Photoshop to make them her own.
7. Create bots. Gaidusek has trained AI bots to do repetitive tasks that she doesn’t enjoy, like creating hashtags for Instagram photos. “I’m creative but I hate writing all that text. So, I upload the picture and it will give me 30 hashtags to choose from that I can copy and paste,” she says. Gaidusek has similarly trained another bot to write product captions for her e-commerce site. “I don’t want to write the captions, but I need them to be SEO optimized,” she says. “So, I’ve trained a new (bot) to say, take a photo of my pillow and give me a name for the pillow and … all the information I need for a product description.” And then, as she does with fabric patterns or mood boards, she tweaks that text before posting it online.
Gaidusek’s main message to designers and others reluctant to try AI is to not fear it — and not get frustrated by it. And remember: AI works best as a tool that helps you do your work; it’s not a replacement for your valuable work.
