Trust your Instincts
April 16, 2025
Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant theory—it’s here, and we’re curiously experimenting with what it can and can’t do. It’s generating mood boards, sketching concepts, proposing copy, creating wireframes etc. These tools are fast, responsive, and oddly insightful. They offer suggestions you didn’t ask for and occasionally solve problems you didn’t know you had. But with all this new speed and power comes a quiet question: where does your instinct go?
Where does your instinct go?
Welcome to the age of algorithmic intuition.
The tools we use today—Midjourney, ChatGPT, DALL·E, Firefly,Manus—are changing our process. They generate ideas in seconds, often presenting us with dozens of options before some of us have even had our first coffee (mine are quite early). That sounds like a dream. But the more decisions a tool makes for you, the easier it becomes to lose track of your own taste. The risk isn’t laziness. It’s detachment. The work gets sleeker, faster, smarter—but does it still feel like yours?
The risk isn’t laziness. It’s detachment.
This is where intuition becomes essential. Algorithms are trained on history. Your instinct is tuned to the present. It’s what notices that a typeface feels too clinical, or a layout too polite. It’s what tells you when a concept is technically perfect but emotionally empty. AI can’t feel nuance, tension, discomfort, or resonance—but you can. And that’s what makes you irreplaceable.
In the article Creative Confidence, we wrote about trusting your process, especially when you’re unsure where it’s leading. In Small Wins, we reminded ourselves that progress is a daily practice, not an instant download. These moments of self-trust matter more now than ever. Because when you’re flooded with options, clarity is your greatest creative tool.
When you’re flooded with options, clarity is your greatest creative tool.
The trick isn’t to resist the algorithm. It’s to stay alert while using it. Let it stretch your thinking, but don’t let it override your judgment. Use it to explore, not to escape the harder parts of the work. Be suspicious of anything that feels too easy to say yes to. When a design pops up that’s "almost right," ask yourself why it still doesn’t feel like it belongs. That gap—that lingering feeling—is often where your best instincts live.
That gap—that lingering feeling—is often where your best instincts live.
And remember, intuition doesn’t mean working in isolation. It means knowing when to pause, when to question, and when to trust that quiet voice in your head that says, “try something else.” Because in a world increasingly optimized for efficiency, originality often shows up in the moments when we hesitate, reconsider, and go off-script. That’s where design still surprises us. That’s where you still matter most.
In a world increasingly optimized for efficiency, originality often shows up in the moments when we hesitate.
Peace!
