Lesson 3 of 4 · about 5 min
Guardrails for graphic designers
When you finish, you can use AI in design work while protecting clients, respecting other creators and being honest about your process.
Stuck? Ask the AI tutorClient material and confidentiality
Unreleased products, internal presentations, unpublished campaigns and customer photos can be sensitive. Do not upload them to an AI tool unless your client or employer has approved it. Read your contract for confidentiality terms, and ask in writing if you are not sure.
Be careful with photos of people. Uploading a face to a tool may involve privacy and consent issues, depending on where you live. Avoid using real people's likeness in generated images without permission.
Copyright, licensing and imitation
The rules about ownership of AI-generated images, and about how the tools were trained, vary by country and are still being decided. Some places may not grant copyright to purely machine-made images. That can matter to a client who wants exclusive rights to a logo. Check the license terms of the tool you use and tell clients what you can and cannot promise.
Do not ask a tool to copy a living artist or a protected brand. If an output looks very like an existing work or logo, discard it. For logos, build the final mark by hand so you understand every shape and can stand behind it.
Quality, accuracy and accessibility
Generated images may contain distorted hands, nonsense text, wrong symbols or details that insult a culture. Review closely. Check that any text is real, spelled correctly and legible. Test colors for contrast and make sure meaning does not depend only on color.
Check technical needs: resolution, color mode, vector versus raster, bleed and safe areas. A beautiful concept that cannot be printed is not a deliverable.
Disclosure and saying no
Be open with clients about how you use AI, especially where it affects rights or price. A short line in your proposal works: “I may use AI tools for concept exploration; final artwork is created and finished by me.” Follow any competition, publisher or client rules that restrict AI use.
You can say no. If a client wants an image that mimics a named artist, a fake endorsement photo, or an altered picture of a real person to mislead, decline. “I can create something original in a similar mood” is a better path.
Practice now
- Write a short paragraph for your proposals that explains how you may use AI and what stays handmade, in language a client would understand.
- Review an AI-generated image carefully and write a list of every flaw you can find, from hands to text to cultural details.
Use any AI assistant you have. Do not paste private, client or patient information into it.
Check yourself
1. A client wants exclusive rights to a logo. Why should you be cautious with a purely AI-generated mark?
2. What should you do if a generated image closely resembles a known brand?
3. Which belongs in your proposal?
Ask the AI tutor
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AI-drafted. Checked by an automated validator and a separate AI reviewer; a person has not read every lesson. Translations and tutor answers are AI-made. Found a mistake? Tell us. AI can be wrong. General information only, not professional advice. Not affiliated with any AI company named. Current University is not accredited.