Example Use of AI in a Web Design Course

Here's an email I just sent my students encouraging them to use AI in their final projects.

If you’re having trouble finding images or text to use in your website redesigns, here are two AI tools that can help.

Adobe Firefly (firefly.adobe.com)

I requested access to Firefly yesterday and got in today. Because we recently critiqued the design of a donut shop website, I have donuts on my mind. So, I decided to try out Firefly’s Text Effect tool using the words “Rise and shine.” For the effect, I typed in, “glazed donut.” Here’s the result.

This could be a great hero image for the homepage, but we’d probably want to bring this into Photoshop and play with the scale of each word and the overall layout. Then, we could combine this with any secondary text (more on that below) and a clear call-to-action (CTA) button.

If you’re looking to spice up your hero images, here are some illustrations I was able to generate using the prompt “Two friends laughing while eating a donut.” 

ChatGPT (chat.openai.com)

If your homepage currently has a generic “Welcome to business XYZ” message, a tool like ChatGPT can help you come up with a more unique, meaningful message that makes better use of the “above the fold” portion of your homepage.

I just tried this by going to chat.openai.com and typing in the following prompt:

I'm working on the homepage of a website for a donut shop in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Give me a headline (5 to 10 words) and two to three sentences of additional text to put on the homepage that tells website visitors something about the business. 

Here’s the response I got. The text is a bit too long, but you could easily trim this down so it fits in the space above your call-to-action button. 

Headline: "Indulge in Sweet Delights at Our Lincoln Park Donut Haven!"

Additional text:

"Welcome to our charming donut paradise nestled in the heart of Chicago's vibrant Lincoln Park neighborhood. At [Business Name], we pride ourselves on serving freshly baked, mouthwatering donuts crafted with love and creativity. From classic glazed and fluffy cake donuts to unique gourmet flavors that push the boundaries of deliciousness, our tempting treats are sure to satisfy your sweet cravings. Join us for a delightful journey of flavors and make every moment a joyful celebration of sweetness!"

ChatGPT could also help if you need to generate or improve the text on your website’s “About” page.

Other Tools

Keep in mind there are plenty of other AI content generators out there you can try. For example, the Microsoft Edge browser now has integrated AI and forefront.ai has an option to use GPT4, which is an upgrade from what’s currently available for free with ChatGPT. You can also try a tool like DALL-E 2 for image generation.