The honest truth about AI in my design workflow
Let me be upfront about something: I use AI. Not to replace my work — but to do my work better.
There’s a lot of noise right now around AI tools for web designers. Some people act like AI will replace designers entirely. Others pretend they never touch it and act like it’s cheating. I’m somewhere in the middle — and I think that’s exactly where most honest designers are.
So let me show you what my actual workflow looks like. What I hand to AI, what I keep for myself, and why that line exists in the first place.
What I actually use AI for
Research & Strategy
This is where AI earns its place in my process. Before I ever open a design tool, I need to understand the client’s market, their audience, and what’s already out there. AI — specifically Claude — helps me get up to speed fast.
I’ll feed it a client brief and ask questions like: Who are the competitors in this space? What messaging patterns do coaches in this niche use? What are the biggest objections this audience has?
What comes back isn’t a finished strategy — it’s a starting point. A jumping-off place that I then shape with my own experience and knowledge of the client. This alone saves me hours per project.
Idea Generation
Blank page paralysis is real. When I’m stuck on a headline, a section concept, or a content structure, I use AI as a brainstorming partner. I’ll throw out a rough idea and ask it to give me ten variations. I never use what comes back directly — but somewhere in that list is usually a spark that leads me to the right answer.
This is one of the most underrated ways to use AI tools for web designers. Not as a copy machine, but as a creative sparring partner.
Copy Drafts
I use AI to produce first drafts of website copy — especially for sections that follow a clear pattern, like testimonial intros, service descriptions, or FAQ sections. I give it the client’s voice, their offer, and their audience, and ask for a rough draft.
Then I rewrite it. Every single time. Because a draft is not a deliverable. The AI gives me structure and momentum — the actual words that go live are mine.
SEO Research
Figuring out the right focus keyword, checking if a phrase has real search intent, or understanding what questions people are Googling — AI speeds this up massively. Combined with tools like Rank Math, this part of my process used to take a full morning. Now it takes twenty minutes.
Where I draw the line
Here’s where it gets important. Because as much as I value AI tools for web designers, there are parts of my work where AI simply doesn’t belong.
Strategy is mine
The actual thinking — what a client needs, how to position them, what their website should accomplish — that’s not something I outsource to an algorithm. AI can give me information. It can’t give me judgment. And judgment is what clients are paying for.
When I sit down with a coach and help them figure out what their homepage should say, that comes from years of experience, real conversations, and a deep understanding of how people make decisions online. AI can support that process. It can’t replace it.
Design is mine
I don’t use AI image generators for client work. I don’t use AI-generated layouts as final designs. The visual thinking — the choices about space, hierarchy, color, and feeling — that’s a craft. It takes taste that’s built over time. An AI can produce something that looks fine. I’m not interested in fine. I want websites that feel intentional.
The Client Relationship is mine
AI can help me prepare for a client call. It cannot have the call for me. The trust, the listening, the understanding of what someone is really asking for underneath what they’re saying — that’s human work. Full stop.
Why I'm telling you this
Because I think the conversation around AI tools for web designers is too black and white. Either you’re all-in and automating everything, or you’re proudly hand-crafting every pixel like it’s 2015.
The smarter approach is knowing what AI is actually good at — speed, volume, pattern recognition — and what it’s not good at — taste, strategy, relationship. Use it where it helps. Protect the parts of your work that are actually yours.
For me, that means AI handles the groundwork, and I handle everything that matters.
What this means for your website
If you’re a coach or creative working with a designer — yours or me — it’s worth asking how they use AI. Not because using it is wrong, but because the answer tells you a lot about how they think about their work.
A designer who uses AI tools for web designers thoughtfully will be faster, more informed, and better prepared. A designer who uses AI to skip the thinking entirely will hand you something generic that looks like everyone else.
You deserve better than generic. And so does your website.
Fazit: AI is a tool, not a designer
A hammer doesn’t build a house. A skilled person with a hammer does. That’s exactly how I think about AI in my workflow. It’s one of the most useful AI tools for web designers available right now — and like any tool, it’s only as good as the person using it.
I’ll keep using it. I’ll keep being honest about it. And I’ll keep drawing the line where the real work begins.
Want a website built with strategy — not just software
If you’re ready for a website that’s been thought through — not just generated — let’s talk
👉🏻 Book your free strategy call and let’s build something that actually works for your business.
Written by Daria — Web Designer & Digital Strategist for Coaches and Creatives at skm.digitals
