Written by Dr Boyeun Lee
To explore this critical question, we designed and delivered a series of in-person workshops- one on 15th July at Turing Innovation Catalyst (TIC) in Manchester, UK and one on 20th September at Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) in Seoul, South Korea. In collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin, the TIC, and the KIDP, we created a space for practitioners to critically examine how data and AI can support and transform the design practice. More than 50 professionals participated, working in or around service design, UI/UX design, and product/engineering design.
The workshop featured three dynamic hands-on sessions. We began by mapping how AI and data currently inform participants’ design work, identifying both opportunities and challenges across the Double Diamond design process (Design Council, 2008). After lunch, we broadened the discussion to examine the wider implications of AI balancing its potential for value creation with concerns such as lost creativity, and ethical risks. Each team of designers presented their insights, sparking cross-disciplinary discussions and shared learning.
To deepen our understanding of how AI can meaningfully empower design innovation, participants used the Six AI Assistance framework (Lee and Kim, 2025) to categorise their own design activities. This exercise provided a clear picture of how AI is currently embedded in different design disciplines and highlighted the real-world challenges practitioners face when adopting AI tools.
Below is a selection of participant feedback:
“The AI design workshop has been an absolute godsend. Understand the limits, advantages and nuances of AI within business and service. It is impactful and will be looking forward to the collaborating.” TIC participant
“Really engaging exciting discussion into really specific application and potential for AI, in a really important field. Everyone passionate about the topic and sharing. Really diverse group. Awesome” TIC participant
“This workshop gave me an opportunity to reflect on the AI tools I use and examine their usefulness and limitations more deeply within the design process.” KIDP participant
“I wanted to talk with people in the industry about how they use AI. Thank you very much for creating an opportunity like this today. I especially liked the card activity where we captured positive and negative aspects and the reasons behind them.” KIDP participant
Our final workshop in this global workshop series will be held online in January (Central Time) and will focus primarily on product and engineering design professionals. The registration link will be shared soon.
Acknowledgement: This research was supported by the Business School Transformative Research Fund at the University of Exeter.
Read the full paper:
Lee, B., & Kim, J. (2025). AI-led design innovation: understanding design-centric AI methods and assistance types. Proceedings of the Design Society, 5, 469–478. DOI.
