AI as an ideation tool: Dall-E outdoor baby carriage


AI as an ideation tool: Dall-E outdoor baby carriage

In this medium post I will showcase a quick example on how to use an AI as Dall-E as a tool in the ideation process.

The object we want to design is a outdoor baby carriage for hiking.


Simplified version of an ideation process

diagram showing the differences between traditional and ai ideation

Example of Traditional ideation

As a designer you might create a moodboard to help you communicate a direction for yourself or others. Followed by drawing some quick ideation sketches. Finally you then highligt your best idea with a more refined sketch.

(Apologies for the quality of my example sketches 😅 Since I have transitioned to UX I haven’t done much product drawings.)

Moodboard

moodboard of outdoor objects

Idea sketches

rough analog sketches of baby carriagers

Direction sketch

digital sketch of a outfoor baby carriage

Dall-E examples

Below you will see how I try different variations to point the AI in the direction I would like to explore.

The prompt sentenced used is written below the generated images.

ai generates images of a outdoor baby carriage
A photograph of a muddy rugged baby carriage designed for outdoor experiences on a trail in the woods on a sunny day
ai generates images of a outdoor baby carriage
A product render of a rugged baby carriage with big terrain wheels inspired by outdoor clothing
ai generates images of a outdoor baby carriage
A product render of a rugged and waterproof baby carriage with three big terrain wheels inspired by hiking bags with pockets
ai generates images of a outdoor baby carriage
A product render of a rugged and waterproof baby carriage with dirt bike wheels
ai generates images of a outdoor baby carriage
A product render of a hiking baby carriage designed by the north face
ai generates images of a outdoor baby carriage
A product render of a hiking baby carriage designed by Arc’teryx

Exploring a direction with AI

Similar to the traditional ideation when working with AI you can refine a direction. With Dall-E you can create variations from a selected output.

Above is the selected output and below is the variants generated from it.


Dall-E with an image prompt

Besides text inputsDall-E can also take a image combined with a sentence as input. It looks like this:

A product render of a rugged baby carriage with big terrain wheels
A product render of a waterproof and rugged baby carriage with mountain bike wheels

Use outputs as inputs

In my opinion AI is fascinating and inspiring — but very hard to stir in the right direction. So for now I would not use AI output as final output, but instead combine them with the traditional way and include the most interesting AI outputs in front of me when beginning to draw.

( I however do believe the AI beat me in this round )