Artificial Intelligence (AI) is rapidly revolutionizing businesses across all industries. It allows designers to visualize concepts in seconds that once took months to create, offering remarkable potential to streamline the creative process. However, “designers need to build experience prompting AI tools to be able to extract useful results from the AI’s output.”1
Crafting an effective AI prompt
Steven Grotell, design director at Delmar Jewelers, believes crafting the right prompt for an AI design journey is an art form. He emphasizes that a deep understanding of your customers significantly enhances the outcome. In a recent project using Midjourney, Grotell tapped into insights derived from consumer data. He used sales data to create several core personas, one of which was a woman in her mid-20s from Middle America shopping for a Mother’s Day gift for her 50-year-old mother. By identifying popular ring styles within this demographic, the team developed a targeted prompt:
Sketch a gauche rendering of a diamond ring featuring a 1.00-carat oval white diamond with a halo of round white diamonds, set in 18k yellow gold, as a Mother’s Day gift for a 50-year-old mother of three residing in middle America.
Turning AI designs into tangible creations
Grotell’s next task was transforming the AI-generated visual inspiration into a unique design. He says the key is to look beyond the flashy, polished imagery and focus on the imperfections within the AI’s output. “Any good AI image generator can produce an impressive picture of a piece of jewellery,” he explains, “but as a designer, your challenge is to identify what stands out and use it to create something truly original.”
While on the design quest for his ring, Grotell was inspired by a specific AI design output, “I was captivated by a particular image and pondered, what about this inspires me? It was a subtle detail on the shank—an innovation hovering between bezel and prong settings, a concept I would have never conceived. While its realization may pose challenges, its inspiration was undeniable.”
This insight inspired Grotell to create a decorative element combining a prong and a bezel setting. The result is a beautifully feminine and flowing detail that resonates with the target demographic—women seeking the perfect Mother’s Day gift. “I would have not come up with this on my own had I not seen this first,” Grotell said.
Transforming concepts into real-world products
Although the AI-generated concept sparked his creativity, it was far from a feasible real-world product in its original form. It’s the designer’s role to transform such inspiration into a viable and tangible product.
After the initial design process, the digital blueprints were turned into 3D models to test their feasibility. Currently, this is done manually, but multinational corporation and technology company NVIDIA, in collaboration with Shutterstock, has introduced an AI that converts images into CAD-ready drawings in seconds.2 Though still in its early stages, this technology promises to revolutionize design and manufacturing.
Grotell also recommends using AI to create new designs inspired by current bestsellers. While the AI suggestions aren’t flawless and are often technically unfeasible, they offer intriguing possibilities. Focusing on small details from these outputs could spark ideas for an entirely new collection.
Shaping tomorrow’s design landscape
Grotell sees AI as a modern sketchbook, facilitating composition, manipulation, and inspiration for himself and the production team. AI symbolizes the fusion of technology and artisanal craftsmanship, transcending the bounds of imagination. “AI creates happy accidents, and it’s my job to find them. It’s about where you get your inspiration from. I used to get inspired by random images in movies, catalogues, and books; now I can use AI,” he says.
While AI will never replace human creativity or the collaborative spirit essential to product development, it opens an exciting new frontier in the creative process. AI’s output is still not feasible to translate directly into a real-world product, and it requires the designer’s expertise to bring it to life. However, when used thoughtfully, AI can propel designers beyond the limits of conventional thinking, unlocking a world of endless possibilities and innovation. Ultimately, the future belongs to those who know how to fuse human ingenuity with AI’s potential, harnessing the best of both to shape a new era of creativity.
References
1 Sadow, T. (2022). How AI is changing jewellery design. Jewellery Design & Management International School. https://jdmis.edu.sg/tanja-sadow-jewellery-blog/how-ai-is-changing-jewellery-design.html
2 Shutterstock. (n.d.). Generative AI in 3D: Revolutionizing creative possibilities. Shutterstock. https://www.shutterstock.com/discover/generative-ai-3d
