I can’t remember where I read it, but there was a recent story about Gen Z revolting against AI. “If your poster is designed by AI, we’re not going to your festival.” That line stuck with me.
You may have seen the social media post that went viral around Easter. Every village hall, scout group and school seemed to have used AI to create a poster for its fete or fair. The result was a stream of posters that all looked suspiciously similar.
I’m not expecting scout groups to consider distinctive brand assets, or village halls to appreciate the importance of a consistent visual identity. But the same visual language is slowly leaking onto the high street.
One of my local pubs now uses it to promote its two-for-one burger night. Independent hairdressers, of which there are approximately one million where I live, are using it. Takeaways are using it. Once you notice it, you start seeing it everywhere.
Unlike Gen Z, I’m not planning a revolt. These are businesses with tight margins that probably can’t justify employing a graphic designer every time they need a poster.
But it does raise a question: what was wrong with what they were doing before?
Authenticity still stands out
Recently, I went to a new Japanese street-food restaurant that had just opened in my home town. At the entrance was a line of fabric bunting, with each flag highlighting a different dish.
Next to the serving desk, the full menu had been hand-painted onto the wall in Japanese, I assumed, and English, alongside a few charming illustrations.
It’s unlikely to win any awards for signwriting, but it felt real. It felt distinctive. It gave me a sense that the food would be different too, and it was.
There is a joke that Canva is a tool used by people who are not designers to create designs that look as though they were not created by a designer.
Is AI about to supercharge that problem?
AI is a tool, not a designer
Don’t get me wrong. AI blows my mind every day. The use of AI in graphic design has transformed the creative process, and we use it in the studio all the time. It’s improving frighteningly quickly.
AI has become particularly useful for manipulating images and creating visuals that would previously have required an expensive photoshoot. It helps us produce more, explore ideas faster and attempt things that would once have been impractical.
But our designers aren’t sitting around playing poker. They’re as busy as ever.
That’s because AI can generate an image, but it can’t reliably decide whether that image is right. It doesn’t instinctively understand what is distinctive, what feels credible or what will still look relevant in five years. Good design still relies on human judgement, creativity and a deep understanding of a brand.
I’m not a designer. I don’t have the designer’s eye. But I can spot a crappy AI poster a mile away.
Don’t let your brand disappear
As the technology improves, more corners will inevitably be cut and more slop will follow. From a brand perspective, the danger is not simply that AI produces bad design. It’s that businesses bypass the judgement of designers altogether and gradually begin to look the same.
That’s where the real risk lies. It isn’t AI itself; it’s brand dilution. When every business relies on the same prompts, the same templates and the same shortcuts, they slowly lose what made them recognisable in the first place.
Used well, AI can help brands work more efficiently. Used without direction, it can quietly chip away at brand consistency until everything starts to feel identical.
The strongest brands aren’t necessarily the loudest or the most expensive. They’re the ones that know who they are, have clear brand identity and guidelines, and apply them. AI should support that process, not replace it.
So no, I’m not revolting against AI.
I’m just becoming strangely nostalgic for pub blackboards and rubbish posters set in Comic Sans.
Don’t let AI dilute your brand
AI isn’t going anywhere, and neither should your brand identity. If you’re using AI to create marketing materials, the question isn’t whether you should use it. It’s whether you’re using it in a way that strengthens rather than weakens your brand.
If you’re worried you’re starting to look like every other business, we can help.
