AI in Design: Balancing Creativity and Ownership Rights

AI in Design: Balancing Creativity and Ownership RightsAI in Design: Balancing Creativity and Ownership Rights

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Trisha Purswani

• Jun 16

I've been experimenting with Canva's Magic Layers recently, and while I'm impressed by what it can do.

But it makes me wonder.

What's stopping someone from taking a design I created, making a few edits with AI, changing some colors, swapping a few elements, and calling it their own?

At what point does original work stop being original?

I'm all for tools that make creativity more accessible. I use AI tools myself, and I can see the value they bring.

But as a designer, I can't help wondering what ownership looks like in this new world.

If someone can transform a piece of work in seconds, how do we protect the value of the people who created it in the first place?

I'm genuinely curious how other designers are thinking about this.

Do AI tools feel empowering to you, concerning, or a bit of both?

Trisha Purswani

• Jun 16

I don't know how I feel about this tool. What are your thoughts?

Esther Koubi

• Oct 6

AI didn't take my job. It became my business partner.

Every designer I know is asking the same question right now: what's left for us when AI can make something pretty in 10 seconds?

Here's my honest answer, from branding and from product.

The way I work has completely changed. Moodboards, variations, mockups, even clickable prototypes: what used to take days now takes hours.

But here's what nobody says out loud: people are making a lot of pretty things. And pretty doesn't build a brand.

Pretty doesn't tell a stranger why they should trust you.

Pretty doesn't make your offer clear in 5 seconds.

Pretty doesn't fix the screen where users give up.

That part is still on me. It's actually most of my job now.

So I stopped seeing AI as a competitor. It does the drafts, I do the thinking, and my clients get both, faster.

Designers, how has AI changed the way you work this year?

branding webdesign beautybranding

Mahmudul Hasan Manik

pro

• Oct 6

Wonderful presentation and I like your thought you shared

Zamani - Global-Tech

• Oct 6

Cool AI work

loveablechallenge uiuxdesign UGC Creation

Naledi Sibisi

pro

• Aug 12

For me, it’s cultural context. AI can generate references, but it can’t fully replicate lived experience. As a South African creative, so much of my work relies on instinct, memory, language and the nuances of how we actually experience our culture.

When I’m reimagining iconic...