How Designers Envision Value-Oriented AI Design Concepts with Generative AI
For HCI and AI design researchers, this work reveals novel value tensions in AI-mediated design practice and extends Schon's reflection-in-action framework, though it is an empirical study without quantitative results.
This study investigates how 18 designers navigate value tensions when using generative AI as both a tool and material in AI-enabled design. It finds that designers engage in reciprocal reflection-in-action, surface multi-level value tensions, are more attuned to harm recognition than positive value articulation, and exercise anticipatory judgment about how tool assumptions propagate into designs.
As AI integrates into design practice, designers increasingly use generative AI tools to envision AI-enabled solutions, positioning AI as both design tool and design material. This dual role creates recursive value tensions distinct from traditional design work. We engaged 18 designers in a concept envisioning activity and interviews to understand how they navigate values and recognize potential harms in this context. Our analysis reveals that (i) designers engage in reciprocal reflection-in-action with AI; (ii) this process surfaces multi-level value tensions across tool, designer, and concept; (iii) designers demonstrate greater attunement to harm recognition as a primary design signal than to articulating positive value fulfillment; and (iv) designers exercise anticipatory judgment through meta-design reasoning about how tool assumptions risk propagating into designed concepts and future use contexts. We extend Schon's reflection-in-action framework and discuss implications for redesigning AI-mediated design tools, supporting harm-centered reasoning, and positioning design as foundational to AI development.