Utilising AI and Rapid Prototyping in Web Design

Written By Elwyn Davies

In this blog post, we will explore one of the fascinating chapters from our course on becoming a Squarespace designer. The Moonshot Programme is a rigorous six-week training pathway designed to equip you with the necessary skills to become a professional web designer using Squarespace as your main platform.

Today’s post is timely given the rapid advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its increasing incorporation into diverse services, including web design.

Our goal is to demonstrate how you can leverage AI (which is entirely free) for rapid prototyping during the website briefing process. This technique can be beneficial whether you’re working on a personal website or a client project.

Tools for Rapid Prototyping

We’ll use several free apps to create our brief in a swift format. First, we’ll need a brief document, which will be made available on the course. You can customise this document according to your own business needs, allowing for a personalised approach when dealing with clients. We’ll be splitting the whole process into two sections to avoid overloading the AI system with too much data.

The AI system we’ll be using is ChatGPT. Although there is a paid version that allows access to the more advanced GPT-4 model, we’ll be using the GPT 3.5 model for this demonstration, which is available in the free version.

The Briefing Process

We start by setting the scene with ChatGPT to explain what we’re doing before we put the template for the brief in. We prompt it to start, ensuring the AI chatbot understands what we’re going for. We then paste the first five questions from our brief document.

We then move on to recording our responses using Otter.AI. This tool will provide an audio recording and transcript of our responses. The transcript can then be copied into ChatGPT, which will process the conversation and answer the questions in our brief.

Once we have these answers, they can be copied into our business’s empty brief document. Now, we have everything we need for this brief to be able to start the actual design process.

Improving Content with AI

The real magic happens when we use ChatGPT to turn the content from this brief into compelling website copy. With a few prompts given to ChatGPT, it can provide us with website copy that is accurate, engaging, and representative of the business’s personality.

Indeed, one of the major advantages of this approach is that it significantly reduces the time usually spent on creating content manually. Moreover, it provides an opportunity to impress clients with the ability to quickly generate high-quality content.

Step-by-Step

Here is a step-by-step process of how to utilise AI and Rapid Prototyping in Web Design:

 

Step 1: Access a brief document

  • You’ll need a brief document as a starting point, which you can customise based on your own business needs.

Step 2: Split the process into two sections

  • To avoid overwhelming the AI system with too much data, it’s advisable to split the whole process into two sections.

Step 3: Set the scene with ChatGPT

  • Explain what you’re doing before you put the template for the brief in. Give it a prompt to start, ensuring that it understands what you’re going for.

Step 4: Paste the first five questions from your brief

  • Start by pasting the first five questions from your brief document into ChatGPT.

Step 5: Record responses using Otter.AI

  • Use Otter.AI to record your responses. This tool will provide an audio recording and transcript of your responses.

Step 6: Paste the transcript into ChatGPT

  • Copy the transcript from Otter.AI into ChatGPT. The AI system will process the conversation and provide answers to the questions in your brief.

Step 7: Copy answers into your business brief document

  • Once ChatGPT has provided the answers, they can be copied into your business’s brief document.

Step 8: Use ChatGPT to turn brief content into website copy

  • With a few prompts given to ChatGPT, it can turn the content from this brief into compelling website copy.

Step 9: Review and tweak generated content

  • Review the generated content and make necessary tweaks to better suit your business’s personality and needs.

Step 10: Implement the content on your website

  • Take the finalised content and implement it on your website, ensuring it aligns with your overall branding and business goals.

 

Integrating AI into your web design process can streamline your operations and enhance your content creation efforts. It’s an exciting time to be in web design as AI continues to evolve rapidly, offering new opportunities to improve efficiency and provide better client services.

So why not try to see how it can enhance your web design practices?

Elwyn Davies
Previous

Discover How We Build Websites in Just 4 Hours with our Workshops
Next

Squarespace Fluid Engine: A New Era in Web Design