AI Trends in Marketing: How AI is Redefining Design.

Storytelling and content creation have been on an exciting journey in recent years. From apps that make editing and content production accessible to anyone, to platforms that allow storytelling at scale, we’ve seen a democratisation of design. What was once the domain of trained professionals is now open to anyone with a smartphone and an idea. This shift has given rise to the era of the influencer. Individuals without formal design training are now building personal brands by creating content that resonates with social audiences and online communities.

The ability to produce, edit, and publish at speed has blurred the lines between creative enthusiasts, influencers, and design professionals, reshaping how audiences consume and connect with content and, in turn, challenging the role of traditional designers.

Whilst the gap between creative enthusiasts, influencers, and design professionals has narrowed, those with a design background are uniquely positioned to embrace this shift. By adopting AI, they can widen the gap once more, combining attention to detail and originality with faster delivery and the ability to test ideas at scale. What might appear to be a threat is instead becoming a powerful extension of their creativity.

Let's explore the different areas of the design process...

Ideation and AI

For those naive enough to rely solely on AI, be prepared to be challenged — and even called out for laziness. But for those who embrace AI as a creative partner, the opportunities are endless. AI can critique ideas, test narratives against an ICP (ideal customer profile) or audience groups, and suggest new angles based on audience data.

Beyond text generation, AI is now stepping into the concepting and storyboarding stage, giving marketers and designers faster ways to visualise ideas. By simply uploading a partial or completed script and adding prompts to guide the storyboard, users can edit and refine until the concept feels right.

A few examples worth exploring:

Storyboarder AI offers straightforward upload or text prompts can be enough to create professional looking storyboards.

Storyboarder AI has an impressive range of interactive examples.

StoryboardHero is backed by a corporate video agency, though access to demos is limited and the positioning feels more like a lead generation tool than a design solution.

Storyboard from StoryboardHero

Runway super powerful text-to-video concepting tool with more advanced options. Working with leading film studios including Lionsgate.

If you are looking for something special then look no further than MidJourney  It's more expensive but for good reason, it excels at creating high quality concept art and mood boards.

Finally is Leonardo AI, one of the best freemium tools, offering strong outputs for rapid ideation without heavy costs.

Might be worth mentioning Boords which looks like it has some potential but, if i'm totally honest, their website seriously lacks the examples that showcase what is possible with their technology.

The Creative Process and AI

Who else remembers when AI first crept into design and the phrase “that’s AI” was casually thrown around in the creative industries? A few years on, some of those early, sloppy executions are still out there, but the overall quality has improved with every development cycle. AI is no longer just a tool for inspiration, it has become part of the hands-on creative process, an enabler that frees up time by taking on repetitive or time-consuming tasks, leaving more room for strategic and imaginative work.

AI tools now allow designers to rapidly prototype, generate multiple design variations, and keep assets brand-consistent without starting from scratch. What might once have required several rounds of manual iterations can now be achieved in minutes, giving professionals the agility to test, adapt, and evolve campaigns faster than ever before.

Examples include:

Canva AI, part of Canva, seems to be creeping into every business - a development that's no surprise given decades of using PowerPoint. Not only does it offer a superior experience to slides, but it also integrates AI solutions including copy, image generation, and instant layouts for quick campaign mock ups.

Khroma is a little bit niche compared to some of the more well rounded tools, but it learns your colour preferences by selecting a range of shades or importing documents. It can speed up early branding and campaign processes, though at present (September 2025) it is still in beta and lacks the ability to enter hex codes or filter palettes efficiently. An interesting concept at a the start of the creative process.

For copy I would look no further than Jasper or Copy.ai. I was first introduced to Jasper by a PR agency in Amsterdam. If you are still relying on ChatGPT for copywriting, Jasper is worth a look. It is pricier, but its speed, output quality, and style preferences make it a true marketer’s platform.

Copy.ai is a cheaper alternative to Jasper, better suited to smaller tasks. Where Jasper excels at bigger challenges like brochure copy, SEO, and large-scale comms, Copy.ai offers broad integrations that make content creation and implementation much simpler for smaller teams.

Uizard recently launched Autodesigner 2.0, ideal for product marketers and UX practitioners. It takes text ideas, sketches, or screenshots and converts them into editable design prototypes, perfect for sparking inspiration, testing UX improvements, or even analysing competitor creative.

Something recent in September 2025 is the new release of Figma AI Copilot. Figma has closed much of the gap between Adobe tools and design enthusiasts. Copilot accelerates design by generating components, automating workflows, and supporting prototyping, all without the steep costs and training often required with Adobe.

These tools do not remove the need for a professional eye, if anything, they demand it. But they also contribute to a very real fear: that designers, copywriters, UX practitioners, and product marketers could be replaced if they fail to incorporate AI into their skill set. At the same time, they show how clients, SMEs, and leaner marketing teams can be empowered by AI rather than overcharged by agencies working on traditional time and tools models.

AI means fewer manual hours, which creates a cost saving for businesses, but also a dilemma for traditional agencies whose business models are built around billable time.

AI in Post Production

Post production has traditionally been one of the most time intensive stages of the creative process. Editing, audio tuning, voiceovers, and final polish could take days or even weeks, more often than not requiring multiple specialists. AI is (again) reshaping this another stage of the design process. AI in post production is making it faster, more cost effective, and more scalable to get the job done, while still delivering professional quality.

AI driven tools can fine tune audio, clean up video, generate voiceovers, and even replicate voices with astonishing accuracy. They allow marketers and creators to repurpose content across formats and platforms, producing multiple variations from a single asset. For businesses under pressure to deliver more with less, this shift is a game changer. IF, you know where to look and hopefully this helps: 

Descript an AI powered audio and video editor with features such as overdubbing, filler word removal, multi track editing, and automatic captioning. It’s one of the tools I am considering so I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Murf AI generates natural sounding voiceovers for ads, explainer videos, and e-learning, with a wide library of voices.

Similar voice AI solutions to consider include Resemble AI which offers advanced voice cloning and localisation for creating consistent brand voices or adapting content across languages.

Some other interesting post production AI include:

• Aiva used to compose original music tracks tailored to video projects, presentations, and campaigns.

• Runway is a very powerful video editing solution, including background removal, motion tracking, and style transfer.

• Pictory automatically generates short, shareable videos from long form content, perfect for social media.

These tools bring undeniable efficiencies, but they also raise important questions. If AI can tune voices, edit audio, and generate content at scale, where does the line fall between efficiency and authenticity? For professionals, the opportunity lies in combining the speed of AI with the nuance of human judgement, ensuring that creative work retains originality and emotional impact.

AI in post production is not about replacing editors, sound engineers, or designers — it is about enabling them to focus on higher value creative direction while delivering projects with greater speed and reach.

The Rising Concern of AI

All the opportunities AI brings also come with risks — and these should be considered at every stage of the design process. Nowhere is this more visible than in the movie and independent creative sectors, as highlighted by Moviemaker. Concerns range from whether AI-generated content undermines original artistry to whether deepfake technology could be misused to replicate actors without consent.

The main challenges include:

• Copyright and intellectual property: who owns AI generated work, the user, the platform, or the dataset?

• Ethical concerns: how do we safeguard against misuse and protect original artistry?

• Ownership challenges: when AI contributes to creative outputs, who takes credit and accountability?

• Community and job market frustrations: while businesses are under constant pressure to cut costs and drive efficiencies, AI offers significant potential. Yet a human custodian is still required to ensure legal compliance, brand consistency, and quality assurance.

At the same time, another tension is emerging. Many creatives and communities feel that design enabled through AI is inauthentic because it was not created by human hands, and because it denies opportunities to those who rely on creative work for their livelihoods. There is an expectation in parts of society that businesses should uphold the creative industries by supporting local talent. However, this is an increasingly unrealistic expectation. Rising business rates, utility costs, marketing spend, wages, and broader operational expenses continue to place pressure on EBITDA.

The result is a complex landscape. AI is not simply a creative tool, it is a cultural and economic disruptor. Designers, businesses, and communities will need to navigate not just the opportunities but also the ethical, legal, and social implications that come with adopting AI at scale.