Walkthrough: AI Tools for Creative Designers

In an industry fueled by innovation, AI in digital marketing offers so many opportunities for professionals in all areas, and creative designers perhaps more than others.

In this walkthrough* from the Digital Marketing Institute's chief creative designer, Tania Jackson demonstrates six of her favorite AI tools that she uses in her everyday design work. 

1. ImageSuggest - find high-quality images
2. Shutterstock AI - find and generate ideas and images
3. Freepik - generate vector images and illustrations 
4. AutoDraw from Google - generate icons 
5. LetsEnhance - improve image quality
6. Attention Insight - analyze your page design and usage

ImageSuggest is an AI-powered tool that streamlines the process of finding high-quality imagery for your projects. It's integrated with Google Docs and analyzes your document's text to suggest relevant images sourced from open libraries like Pexels and Unsplash. With a few clicks, you can insert the perfect visual along with a properly credited caption directly into your file. 

Shutterstock AI provides access to a vast library of licensed images tailored through an AI generator. In particular, it excels at creating conceptual icons by allowing users to iteratively refine prompts and visual elements. However, it can't generate vector files directly, requiring designers to download JPEG icons as a starting point.

Freepik is a free image-generating tool. It is great for creating vector images, icons, and illustrations.

AutoDraw by Google Creative Labs enables users to quickly generate icons from freehand sketches, using AI analysis. AutoDraw suggests similar polished icon options based on the sketch. Selected icons can then be edited by changing colors or sizes, and adding text or shapes. However, AutoDraw has a somewhat limited icon library, so it may not always provide the desired result.

Letsenhance.io can increase the quality and resolution of low-res images. Users can select options such as Smart Enhance, adjust output size, remove backgrounds, lighten, and enhance colors. 

Attention Insight provides a comprehensive suite of tools to analyze and optimize designs before launch. By uploading mockups, it generates heatmaps revealing where viewers' eyes are naturally drawn. Users can mark different elements such as headings, images, and calls-to-action, and Attention Insight calculates the percentage of attention each will receive. The platform also allows side-by-side comparisons of multiple design options, complete with detailed reporting that breaks down element attention percentages and overall clarity and focus scores. 

Top tip: You can also check out our walkthrough to understanding heatmaps using Microsoft Clarity.

*This video contains an AI-generated audio track based on the original audio recorded by its creator, Tania Jackson. It's a short example of the type of AI tools available for audio and video content.