Extended T: Augment your design craft with AI tools (authzed.com)

Designers aren’t being replaced—AI is widening the “T.” The author argues AI shifts the scarce skill from pixel-level execution to exploration and curation: instead of spending days on a handful of concepts, designers can generate dozens of on‑brand variants in minutes and apply human judgment to pick, refine, and ship the right one. The practical payoff is horizontal expansion without losing vertical craft: brand rules, typography, hierarchy and taste still determine what ships, while AI surfaces more viable directions earlier in the process. Technically, the workflow combines model-guided image generation (e.g., Midjourney or a tuned, reference-conditioned model) with a 2D→3D reconstruction tool (Meshy, Rodin/Hyper3D) to produce a starter mesh, followed by Blender cleanup and Bambu Lab P1P printing (PLA/PETG) and hand finishing (Rub ’n Buff). A concrete case: the mascot “Dibs” was turned into front/side/top character turns, reconstructed to mesh, refined in Blender and printed as trophies in under a day—demonstrating faster iteration to production-ready artifacts. Key implications for AI/ML practitioners: models are most useful when constrained by clear systems and references, evaluation/selection remains human-led, and ethical guardrails (use your IP, avoid mimicking living artists, be transparent) plus codified non-negotiables (palette, poses, angles) are essential for consistent, scalable outcomes.