AI has exploded into the creative industry, reshaping how we approach design, photography, and video production. Tools like MidJourney, Runway, and ChatGPT have opened new possibilities that didn’t exist even a few years ago. But while AI is powerful, it also comes with limitations.

At Chase Design, we’ve learned that AI isn’t the artist—it’s simply another tool. Just like a paintbrush doesn’t create the masterpiece on its own, AI doesn’t replace the vision, skill, or strategy behind professional creative work.

Where AI Falls Short

AI tools are powerful but far from perfect. One of the biggest misconceptions is that they produce flawless visuals at the click of a button. In reality, even with well-crafted prompts, it can take many iterations, refinements, and adjustments to achieve the right look and feel.

While AI tools can generate visuals quickly, they often lack accuracy, nuance, or originality. We’ve run into issues like:

• Design precision: AI-generated graphics can look stunning at first glance, but details often break down on closer inspection. Typography, alignment, and brand consistency still need a designer’s eye.
• Photography realism: AI can create near-photorealistic images, but it struggles with human expressions, anatomy, or environments that feel authentic. Small inaccuracies can make the difference between “almost right” and truly professional.
• Video storytelling: While AI makes it easier to generate clips, stitching them together into a narrative that captures emotion and brand identity requires a human storyteller.

This process can be surprisingly time-consuming — and without a designer’s eye, it’s easy to settle for something “good enough” rather than truly on-brand. That’s where human direction and creative expertise become irreplaceable: guiding AI, refining its outputs, and ensuring the final result meets professional standards.

How We Make AI Work for Us

We combine the speed and experimentation AI provides with our expertise in design, photography, and video to create polished, intentional results. For example:

• Using AI to generate mood boards and concept visuals, then refining them into pixel-perfect designs.
• Creating AI-assisted imagery for faster exploration, but enhancing it with professional editing to ensure realism and brand consistency.
• Leveraging AI-generated video scenes (like our homepage hero sequence) and weaving them into larger stories that capture emotion, tone, and brand vision.

Choosing the Right AI for the Job

Not all AI tools excel at the same things. Through experimentation, we’ve noticed that MidJourney and Runway shines when producing more imaginative or concept-driven visuals — it’s great for storyboarding creative ideas or building mood-driven scenes. On the other hand, Google’s Gemini tends to handle realism more effectively, generating visuals that feel grounded and lifelike.

Understanding these differences helps us pick the right tool for each project, blending creativity with realism where it’s needed. But even with the best tools, the secret ingredient is still human direction — knowing when to push a concept further, when to refine details, and how to make it all align with a client’s brand and goals.