Adam Sobocinski, Development Director at Communisis: “My hope is that AI frees up designers to concentrate on adding creativity to the process”

We often find a theme emerging in our interviews with tech leaders, and with Adam Sobocinski, Development Director at Communisis, that theme is “time”. You can see it in the title of this article and dotted throughout his response to our questions.

“From my perspective, the value of technology lies in its ability to speed up the process,” Adam told us. “By deploying the right tools and having a robust procedure behind them, you can cut down on repetitive actions and ensure time and energy are focused on adding value.”

In the case of Communisis, where Adam leads the in-house design and engineering team, that means giving its clients exactly what they need with minimum delay. As the firm specialises in point of sale marketing activation, that’s not always an easy task. So, how can technology help?

“Generative AI is becoming a very powerful technology that will likely impact many areas of business,” said Adam. “In terms of design, it is becoming another tool that needs to be added to the toolkit. At this point, I see it as a means of more advanced and nuanced mood boarding, allowing for images to be created quickly at the early stages of projects.”

But, as Adam points out, this is just the start. He expects generative AI to “automate more elements of the design process as AI develops further, similar to how CAD systems replaced drawing boards previously”.

Read on to discover more on how Adam and his team are using technology to enhance their services – and to save time for themselves and their clients.

Related reading: Abby Lim, Founder and Director of Absolution Private: “AI has helped quicken and improve the processes of translating our thoughts”

When thinking of your creative process, at what point does technology come in? What role does it play in different stages, from concept to final design?

Technology is integral at every stage of our design process – so much so that it’s easy to overlook its importance or take it for granted. We utilise technology from start to finish, using it to collaborate remotely with colleagues across time zones and countries. The tools we use allow everyone involved to share ideas and input instantly, keeping everyone up to date with progress. 

Due to the fast turnaround times of many of our projects, initial design work often starts directly in 3D CAD software. This approach allows us to rapidly reach a point where designs can be reviewed with our customers, generating multiple visuals that show various design directions, colour palettes, functionalities, etc. This work feeds directly into later stages of technical design work and engineering, where technology allows further refinement of designs in a consistent format, eliminating the need to export this work to other systems.

Beyond the final design, we also use other tools to validate the specification after manufacturing. For example, we use a colour-scanning device that measures the accuracy of our printed and painted finishes to ensure we’re meeting the required standards.

What was the most challenging project you’ve worked on in which technology played a critical role?

Working in the retail design sector means we work with various clients, each with their unique product offerings. These clients often value the ability to see their products displayed on our merchandising systems during the design phase.

For example, in a project with a power tool company, we had limited time to develop a solution to display more than a dozen different power tools. Previously, our process involved recreating each product virtually in our CAD system, measuring and modelling them ourselves. The timescale and complex nature of these products didn’t allow this, so we quickly established an alternative method.

Our solution was to incorporate 3D scanning technology into the business – this allowed for a much more time-effective approach, with each item being scanned to produce a virtual replica within a couple of minutes. These replicas were used directly in our design software. In addition to using these models in our visual presentations, they ensured our finished designs would work with the actual products. 

Related reading: Petr Kameník, COO at PUXdesign: “It is important for designers to learn a new skill: prompt generation”

How has technology changed the way you collaborate at work? And in your view, has it improved or worsened navigating creative differences with clients or team members?

From my perspective, the value of technology lies in its ability to speed up the process. By deploying the right tools and having a robust procedure behind them, you can cut down on repetitive actions and ensure time and energy are focused on adding value. This is especially true for collaboration, where information can be disseminated instantly, reducing the time needed for feedback and providing clarity if a project starts to move in the wrong direction. The danger is information overload – when there is so much data available that it becomes difficult to know what is important, or when some of that information becomes contradictory, making it hard to know what to believe. 

Generative AI art has taken the graphic design space by storm — what are your views on the use of tools like Stable Diffusion, Leonardo, Midjourney and others?

Generative AI is becoming a very powerful technology that will likely impact many areas of business. In terms of design, it is becoming another tool that needs to be added to the toolkit. At this point, I see it as a means of more advanced and nuanced mood boarding, allowing for images to be created quickly at the early stages of projects.

This will likely progress into the ability to automate more elements of the design process as AI develops further, similar to how CAD systems replaced drawing boards previously. While these tools can be used by just about anyone to generate something, learning how to utilise them fully and direct the AI toward a viable and innovative end result is a skill many of us in the creative space will need to learn.

My hope is that this frees up designers to concentrate on adding creativity and insight to the process, rather than being replaced entirely by bots in the future. 

Related reading: Google gives all Chromebooks huge AI boost with a barrage of features

What tools or software do you find indispensable in your daily work, and why?

Our team has evolved around a few core pieces of software, which we constantly look to optimise and build on. Primarily, these are SolidWorks for 3D design and Adobe Creative Suite for 2D work. We also use several other programs for more specific tasks, such as rendering visualisations and creating technical documentation. But these are the core systems at the heart of our day-to-day activities, and many of our current processes have been built around their capabilities. This software is always moving forward, often opening up new opportunities for deeper collaboration, time savings or performance improvements. 

We also use Monday.com, an online task and project management tool, which provides a real-time view of what my team is currently working on, how our resources are being used, and flags anything in danger of falling behind schedule. The strength of this platform is in its ability to work with our own process, allowing us to automate various elements of our project workflow. 

I also keep a tablet and stylus close at hand on my desk for whenever I need to sketch something out and get it into a digital format for sharing!

How do you stay updated on the latest design technologies and software advancements, and how do you decide when to integrate new tools into your workflow?

It always starts with the problem – what needs to be solved, improved or adjusted? If a problem can be clearly defined initially, you’re much more likely to find the right tool that will work for you and bring the value you need, rather than starting with the technology itself and trying to make it fit.