5 AM Wake-Up Calls, Verizon Beyoncé, and Time Travel (Sort Of)

Take It or Leave It Creative Advice

Welcome to Take It or Leave It—our weekend newsletter where we share advice and the things inspiring us right now.

Got a question? Drop it in our Substack Chat, reply to this email, or leave a comment. We’ll do our best to answer!

Let’s dive in.

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*deep breath*

Diana, I hear you. Every day, there’s another headline about AI taking over creative jobs, and honestly? I’m in the same boat. Some days, I think AI is an incredible tool for creatives. Other days, I wonder if it’s a ticking time bomb. So let’s talk about it.

First, My Honest Take on AI: I flip-flop on it daily.

On one hand, I use it all the time. It’s built into my workflow—I rely on it for spelling/grammar checks, quick feedback, and Photoshop’s generative tools to speed up tedious tasks.

When I started making graphics full-time for Create.Repeat, Photoshop’s AI tools had just launched. And I won’t lie—it was a game changer. Background removal, content-aware fill, automatic resizing—these tools helped me move faster, create more, and refine my style along the way.

The days of manually selecting objects or cloning out distractions feel ancient, even though it was only a few years ago.

But when it comes to fully AI-generated images? I’m out.

Not even for some moral stance—I just find them boring. AI-generated art, at least right now, feels sterile. It lacks the raw, messy, human imperfections that make real art powerful. The best creative work moves you. AI, as it stands, doesn’t.

So what do you do as a designer? You’ve got two paths: