Why Creativity Must Shape the Future of AI
Beyond efficiency, and into meaning
I’ve spent more than two decades designing experiences that live in the liminal -
between interface and instinct, code and colour, what we build and what we feel.
And now, as AI systems begin to define more and more of the creative process,
there’s something essential we’re in danger of forgetting:
Creativity isn’t an afterthought.
It’s the architecture.
It doesn’t follow function.
It gives function form.
When we talk about AI in design, the conversation often centres on acceleration:
streamlining workflows, generating content, automating decisions.
But that’s not where the real potential lies.
The real work is deeper, quieter, and more human.
Creativity Is the Soul of the System
Not just what it looks like.
Not just what it outputs.
But what it means.
The tools may be artificial.
But the intention? The resonance? The emotional architecture?
That’s still ours to define.
Bringing the Poets Into the Prototype Phase
Too often, AI is shaped by engineering logic alone:
What can we build?
What can we automate?
What can we optimise?
But those aren’t the only questions.
They’re not even the most important ones.
What does this feel like?
Who is this really for?
And what happens when the system touches someone’s life?
This is where design belongs.
Where creativity belongs.
In the beginning - not the end.
Designing the Invisible Brief
Every creative act begins with more than a task.
There’s always something unspoken - a tension beneath the surface.
An invisible brief.
Not what the product looks like.
But what it means.
Who it’s really for.
What it’s quietly trying to change.
This is where creativity becomes more than aesthetic.
It becomes ethical. Emotional. Experiential.
It shapes:
What AI chooses to notice
What it amplifies
What it forgets!
Creativity isn’t there to decorate the edges.
It’s there to define the soul of the system.
What Comes Next Must Feel Like Something
As generative systems scale, we risk flooding the world with content that does everything -
except make us feel.
This is where the creative act becomes necessary. Urgent.
Not to resist the machine - but to remind it what matters.
Ask yourself:
Why are we building this?
What is the emotional truth beneath the task?
What would this feel like if it were alive?
Because the future of AI will be defined not just by capability -
but by care, by memory,
by design that still carries humanity within it.
And that, always, begins with creativity.
— Best, Alexandra
Welcome to my ‘Humanity in Pixels’ Series
This is a lens, a journal, a small act of resistance.
A reminder that design is culture-making, memory-shaping, and meaning-building.
Let’s design what truly matters,
for now, and for what comes next.
— Best,
Alexandra
Reflections on design, storytelling, and human futures by Alexandra Jugović. © 2025