Think Smarter: Use AI Tools to Conduct Design Using the WYPIWYG Process

“What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”  - Steve Jobs, Founder Apple Computer

The creative process has always been a dance between human ingenuity and the tools we wield. As a designer who has crafted iconic work for iconic brands like Disney, Sony, and Coca-Cola, I’ve witnessed firsthand how the right tools amplify talent, streamline workflows, and elevate outcomes.

Today, we stand at a pivotal moment where artificial intelligence (AI), specifically large language models (LLMs), is reshaping the creative landscape. But here’s the revelation: AI doesn’t replace high-level talent—it demands it.

To produce work that rises above the predictable and mundane, we must become conductors of these powerful tools, orchestrating their capabilities with our specialized knowledge and nuanced expertise.

This is where a new concept I’ve coined—WYPIWYG, or "What You Prompt Is What You Get"—comes into play. To understand its power, let’s first rewind to a transformative idea from the past: WYSIWYG, or "What You See Is What You Get."

WYSIWYG and “Think Different”: The Revolution That Empowered a Generation

In the 1980s, Steve Jobs and his team at Apple embraced WYSIWYG as a cornerstone of their vision for personal computing. This simple yet profound concept—where the screen mirrored the final output—democratized design and software development.

It removed layers of abstraction, allowing creators to see their work unfold in real time. Jobs often spoke to its significance, famously saying:

“What a computer is to me is the most remarkable tool that we have ever come up with. It’s the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.”  - Steve Jobs

For Jobs, WYSIWYG wasn’t just about visuals; it was about empowerment. It turned computers into intuitive business tools, shortening the gap between idea and execution.

And that bicycle analogy got a turbo boost with “Think Different,” Apple’s 1997 campaign that became a mantra for innovation. Jobs urged us to break molds, defy norms, and imagine the impossible—a mindset that turned tools like WYSIWYG into catalysts for iconic software and devices.

WYSIWYG streamlined workflows, empowered creators, and made technology a partner in bold, boundary-pushing work. Designers, developers, and everyday users could iterate faster, refine with precision, and produce results that were once unimaginable.

WYSIWYG transformed workflows, making creation more efficient, thorough, and knowledge-driven. It was a leap forward that redefined how we interact with technology, bringing us applications that spurred the widespread use of computers as everyday, accessible, helpful devices.

Enter WYPIWYG: Conducting AI and “Think Smarter”

Fast forward to today. AI tools, particularly LLMs, are the new bicycles for our minds—but they require a rider with skill and vision to steer them. Today, LLMs are our bicycles—and they’re fast. But speed alone doesn’t produce innovation, and this is where WYPIWYG (what you prompt is what you get) comes in.

Unlike WYSIWYG’s focus on visual fidelity, WYPIWYG describes, rather than defines, a dynamic interplay between human thought and intent, and AI output. "What you prompt is what you get"—and the quality of the LLM output hinges on the expertise behind the prompt.

Without a skilled hand to guide them, AI outputs can feel formulaic—making the AI generated outputs, and the humans behind the prompts appear, frankly, a bit boring.

LLMs are remarkable. They can generate ideas, tighten concepts, iterate designs, and even suggest solutions at lightning speed. But here’s the catch: they’re also coded to "fill in the gaps" for amateur-level input. This makes them accessible, yes, but it also risks producing predictable, uninspired results.

Without a skilled hand to guide them, AI outputs can feel formulaic—making the humans behind the prompts appear, frankly, a bit boring.

This is why the role of the designer-conductor is critical. High-level creatives—those with deep industry knowledge, nuanced instincts, and a mastery of their craft—can "conduct" LLMs to producing work that stands out and brings their unique talent, a human element, into view. Think of prompting AI like an orchestra: the AI is a symphony of instruments, capable of incredible range, but it’s the conductor who shapes the sound into something transcendent that is capable of touching the human soul.

By injecting a curation of specialized expertise, vision and insights into prompts, a designer-conductor is iterating with higher purpose, and leveraging AI to inform and render unique, well crafted outputs. With the shortened timeline, it's giving the design process the possibility to deepen the quality of the work and execution, and informing the work with possible reach potentials, which commands higher value in every industry vertical.

Evolving the Think Different Process: Think Smarter

Conducting design with AI tools allows us to step beyond the "Think Different" realm into a “Think Smarter” existence. This new process is not about working harder; although it can encompass results from doing so, it’s about working in a mores focused, sharper manner. Working with data, employing effective strategies and techniques, enhancing cognitive design processes that lead to more efficient, insightful, designs, strategies and solutions.

When we "Think Smarter", we're using resources and data more efficiently to inform results. We open the door for greater innovation to occur and introduce the human mind to creative new ways to use their baked in visionary skills, critical thinking and decision making capabilities to both perceive and solve a range of complex problems.

The WYPIWYG design process of conducting a symphony of AI capabilities—tightens concepts, accelerates research, suggests solutions—while layering in the human nuance that makes design sing. WYPIWYG is a framework: a repeatable, results-driven workflow where talent meets technology head-on and is primed to produce innovative results.

“Think Smarter” in action uses the WYPIWYG process to harness AI as a collaborator, not use it as a crutch. And it's part of the process of how Floh Creative is delivering for the world’s top brands; orchestrating layers of insight into work that deeply resonates, is iconic, and creates lasting value.

The Designer-Conductor: Orchestrating Iconic Results

At Floh Creative, I’ve seen this firsthand. Designing for top-tier brands requires layers of nuance—cultural resonance, emotional impact, visual potency—that generic AI outputs can’t replicate on their own.

But when a seasoned designer steps in as a conductor, the process transforms. AI becomes a collaborator, tightening up rough ideas, accelerating research, and offering iterations that spark new directions. The production timeline shrinks, but the depth of insight grows.

“Generate a logo concept for a luxury brand rooted in minimalist Scandinavian aesthetics, infused with subtle nods to Norse mythology, and optimized for digital scalability.”

Take a branding project, for instance. A designer-conductor might prompt an LLM with: "Generate a logo concept for a luxury brand rooted in minimalist Scandinavian aesthetics, infused with subtle nods to Norse mythology, and optimized for digital scalability." The specificity of that prompt—born from years of keen observation and design experience—yields a starting point far richer than a vague prompt of: "design a luxury logo."

From there, a design conductor can refine, adjust with other toold, and layer in their expertise; orchestrating a final product that’s produced with efficiency, vision, and highly relevant with the potential to be introduced into the "wild" as iconic, recognizable, and highly memorable.

This is WYPIWYG in action. It's a repeatable, results-oriented workflow that marries human thought and experience with AI speed and fine-tuning capabilities. Generating design with AI LLM tools does not come with an intent to replace human thought, talent, or imagination—the tools are being used as a means for amplifying it.

Why WYPIWYG Matters Now

Just as WYSIWYG elevated software development for a previous generation, WYPIWYG redefines creative production for ours. It’s a surface-level concept with profound implications.

A designer-conductor who can wield AI tools with precision and vision is capable of elevating the design process within the constraints of shorter production timelines. The result? Workflows that are faster, smarter, and more impactful—without sacrificing the human spark that makes design resonate as authentic, impactful and that becomes part of the cultural zeitgeist.

LLMs in the hands of experienced designers, renew and expand creative solutions. They free designers from several levels of grunt work, letting them focus on the big picture—strategy, touching emotion, and innovation. In the same way Steve Jobs used WYSIWYG to empower a generation of creators and developers, WYPIWYG empowers us to orchestrate a new existence where humans and AI co-create at new speed and unprecedented levels.

The Future of Iconic Design

The world doesn’t need more cookie-cutter solutions. It craves the bold, the unexpected, the unforgettable. That’s where the designer-conductor steps in, wielding WYPIWYG to transform how we perceive the world and use AI tools to create startling solutions.

At Floh Creative, we’re already living this reality, crafting designs that are both innovative and stir a harmonic chord of feeling that stand up to the test of time for the world’s most iconic brands. WYPIWYG is a design blueprint and mindset for perceiving the future of how humans interact with technology and how Floh Creative rides the bicycle for our minds and see where generating campaigns and iconic designs that are future ready will take us.

Get Ready for the AlwaysOn™ Future Now

Contact us today to learn more about how Floh Creative can help you develop a future-proof brand strategy for your business. Floh Creative's proven AlwaysOn™ process is geared to set your business up for growth and success.

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Written by Mary Ellen Schrock for Floh Creative.

Mary Ellen is the Chief Disruptor of Floh Creative. A bright, intuitive creative she has a passion for solving complex design and business challenges, and brand storytelling. Mary Ellen’s 20+ years of business strategy and creative problem-solving experience working with Corporate, Fortune 50 and Entertainment giants has created household name and recognizable identities for Coca-Cola, BMW, Sony, Nike, Oprah Winfrey, and Disney. She's been the creative force behind the successful brand launch campaigns for Lotus Cars, Disney - The Lion King Broadway, and launched the DVD era for Warner Bros. Entertainment.

Floh Creative partners with brands and businesses to developing strategies to produce measurable results and grow business.

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