Introduction

As an AI-powered design tool meant for professional designers, we remain vigilant for ways to engage with professional designers in order to improve our tool for real world usage. We had recently met with Cycle, a small company led by Volkswagen industrial designers Matthieu Lanternat and Simon DeFoort, dedicated to connecting students with the latest design tools and empowering them to be creative in the modern age. Once we met with the pair, we knew this would be an incredible opportunity to connect with the latest cohort of design students and get a sense of their latest design workflows and where Vizcom can supercharge their creative process.

Vizcom sponsored the February 2023 cohort of their workshop called Creative Camp, which created a heads-down pressure intensive environment where design students could get real world professional experience designing on a deadline, with a mix of old and new tools. We spent some time introducing where AI-powered design tools like Vizcom could fit into their design process.

Students at Rubika, a design school located in Valenciennes, France. Students are shown here testing out Vizcom, sketching their product designs.

As students ideated and rendered their concepts quickly on Vizcom, we asked for feedback on their experience with the AI overall as well as their opinion on Vizcom’s take on AI. We were thrilled to find that many of our design students loved using Vizcom. They were impressed with how intuitive and easy to use it was, and they found that it helped them to create better designs more quickly, and have “happy accidents” when the AI showed them something they previously would not have thought about.

"(Vizcom) is way better compared to other AI tools because it’s really in touch with the world of design and not too artistic like other AI image generators" - Student at Rubika

Conclusion

Looking back, we can see that the partnership with Cycle was an incredible opportunity to meet young designers and understand their specific design process and opinions around AI. The transparency around the fears and doubts around AI were needed to understand how we can better make technology for real people, and not replace but empower real designers. Vizcom is focused on creating an ethical, empowering tool that professional designers will love. We thank Matthieu, Simon, and the students at Rubika again for a memorable workshop.