Can GenAI Design Like Jony Ive? Here Is A Surprising Update…Product Design Is On Notice!
A year ago, the research team at Mauro Usability Science published a widely circulated article asking the seemingly ridiculous question, “Can A GenAI Design Like Jony Ive?” In our study, we used simple prompt progressions fed into the most robust GenAI at the time, asking it to design a simple consumer product (a toaster) using the design theory and visual design vocabulary of Jony Ive. I note that we did not tell the GenAI anything about Jony Ive or his work.
The answer to our initial question was yes, GenAI could, without any background support, produce surprisingly robust simple consumer product design concepts in the style of Jony Ive. However, there were several massive shortcomings. Most important was the design solutions provided by the GenAI did not appear to link the visual style of the product to actual user interaction features and functions. The layout and function of task-specific controls and displays lacked any connection to simple functional operation.
Specifically, the controls and displays on the products provided were nonsensical or lacked functional indications, such as control labels or other connections between usability and the overall visual form. We include our initial examples in the text and images that follow.
