'AI is the new plastic': highlights from the first AIR Salon
Lessons on building a creative practice in the age of instant generation, from mental gyms to Disney magic
Hello again from humid Brooklyn, the hot new sub-tropical destination.
I’ve been a little too busy wrapping a few cool things (content strategy for the redesign of stanford.edu with Big Medium, product strategy and design and management for the launch of the American Yoga Council, product R&D for the innovation team at Link Logistics, the syllabus for a UX Essentials class in SVA’s Products of Design MFA).
But I made it out to a great event last week, the first salon at Collaborative Fund + Fictive Kin’s AI Residency (AIR) program, and wanted to share some highlights.
AIR program director Carly Ayres (ex-Figma/HAWRAF) hosted Poetry Camera co-founder kelin carolyn zhang (who was my very first podcast interviewee here), Gin Lane/Pattern founder Emmett Shine, and former Nike/SSENSE design director Eric Hu. They talked about how they use AI in their creative work and how we all might use AI without losing our humanity.
I listened with an ear to shaping my upcoming UX Essentials class: how product design practices are changing, how to practice and teach them. My thoughts on that track follow each list.
My favorite highlights from the AIR salon:
Kelin Carolyn Zhang
Former designer at Ueno and Twitter; current co-founder of Poetry Camera
AI is the new plastic
Products with Disney-level magic are now possible
Enable pro-social behavior, not anti-social
Walking, talking, thinking, and new inputs are still better for brainstorming (GenAI only creates averages, not outliers)
Students have no frame of reference for difficulty or process; let them teach you new ideas
Which made me think: Look at Disney magic examples and pick your favorites to recreate with AI. Look for the patterns, the reusable Lego blocks. Learn/practice/teach a classic thinking process, with optional AI assistants at each step (remembering Brooks’ Law: more assistance may actually worsen outputs). Double down on ethical critiques, slowing down to make time to think about the second order effects. Leave space in any plan to FAFO.
Emmett Shine
Founder of Gin Lane and Patterns; current designer and entrepreneur at Little Plains
AI is a blank canvas right now, which intimidates most people
AI and creative direction are the same: you have no technical skills, you just give good prompts
Find as many excuses to test as possible: mood boards, text content, vibe prototypes, 3D renders, photo direction
Meet the standards where they are; the state of the art now is getting hi-fi feedback faster and cheaper
The work is to build your own unique world — tap into that crazy and then test the crazy
Which made me think: Learn and teach through testing over theory. Vocabulary is the asset to build. Discernment is the end goal, but craft is still how we get there. Instant production removes the training ground for creative careers; to preserve the talent pipeline we have to keep investing in junior designers. Help them define their own vocabulary, principles, and processes through increased exploration and iteration.
Eric Hu
Former design director at Nike and SSENSE; current creative director at large
Skepticism is natural for anyone with something to lose
Switch answer mode (playing defense) into question mode (curiosity)
Everything’s going to feel like a video game: logos will just become symbols, typography becomes language, it all just becomes expression
When creative results are instant, we’ll need a gym for the mind
Taste is your negative space for desire — saying NO is increasingly important
Which made me think: When do I think I have answers, when I actually need questions? Vernacular design and subcultural references are often more valid or impactful than traditional design forms. Education is the gym for the mind: from classical liberal arts to modern systems thinking. Work out a clear thought process. AI can be an alternate tool at each step (and we still need 10,000 steps a day). Strengthen the skills of editing, rejecting, rethinking.
All three emphasized: don’t lose your humanity, have a code of conduct, know your non-negotiables. We can’t just be creators, we’re governors and leaders in this new world too.
Have any thoughts about any of this? Would love to hear them!
