Web Design

Why AI Might Build Your Website—But It Can’t Design It (Well*)

02 Jun 2025

I generated this image of a pizzeria website with AI, and it did a half-decent job. I didn't supply it with my brand guidelines, I didn't give it a budget, I didn't give it some pictures of pizzas I had made.

The web is getting faster. AI tools can now spin up a real working homepage for a website in minutes. Chatbots write the copy. Design bots lay it out. Platforms like Wix, Framer, and Shopify use generative features to automate more of the build process than ever before.

And while that all sounds like progress (and it is, in some ways), there's one thing AI still can’t do (Among other things):

Design with intent.

Because great web design isn’t just how something looks — it’s how it works, who it’s for, and what it helps them do.

At Black Sheep Creative, we’ve worked on hundreds of websites. We’ve watched trends come and go. We’'re now seeing the start of a revolution of AI claiming it can design your website in minutes. And while the claim is accurate, it isn't the entire truth.

Here's why:

Web Design Is About Solving Problems, Not Just Filling Templates

A decent AI tool can throw together a layout. But a great website needs more than layout. It needs clarity, logic, emotion, and flow.

That only comes from a deliberate process, one that understands the problem to solve, who it’s solving it for, and what success looks like.

When we redesigned the Hamilton Zoo website, we didn’t start with templates. We started with real human Zoo visitors. We surveyed real users to understand how they plan a visit, what info matters most, and how to make booking tickets frictionless.

As of today, there is no AI that is capable of extracting the nuance and insight across various interview techniques. That comes from talking to people. Listening. Iterating.

Design Is Subjective — and That’s the Point

AI excels at the average. But good web design is rarely average.

It’s shaped by context. What works for Lodge Real Estate won’t work for a government-funded health provider like WorkWell. One is sales-driven, fast-paced, and competitive. The other needs to feel trustworthy, calm, and practical.

Design decisions — from colours and type to calls-to-action — need to reflect those nuances. And that requires judgment. Not just data, but taste. Not just content, but tone. AI can mimic that, but it can’t originate it.

A Solid Web Design Process Still Matters

Web design isn’t magic. It’s not subjective fluff either. A good process includes:

Discovery & research – understanding users, competitors, and context
Strategy & structure – mapping the site for clarity and conversion
Interface & content – combining copy, visuals, and interactions intentionally
Testing & Refining – validating decisions and refining based on feedback pre go-live.
Ongoing love & Support - Because the day your website goes live is just the beginning.

We used this approach on the WorkWell site, where health resources had to be easy to find, use, and share across multiple types of organisations. Surveys, stakeholder interviews, and heatmapping shaped every design choice — from the homepage layout to the colour contrast on buttons.

Speed is great. But skipping these steps doesn’t save time — it delays success.

Where AI Can Help (But Not Replace) designers.

Let’s be clear: AI is a powerful assistant. We use it ourselves, clearly we used it for the images in this blog. And we often use it for first-draft content, heatmap analysis in Microsoft Clarity, and prototyping ideas.

But we treat AI like we’d treat someone learning the ropes who requires support and guidance:

It’s fast
It’s helpful
It’s wrong… in matters of taste

The key is knowing when to use AI and when to trust human insight. Automation might help you build a site or even make delivering great customer experiences better, but it takes people to design one that resonates, converts, and grows your brand.

The Art and Alchemy of Great Design

Good design isn’t an accident — it’s a craft.

Typography, colour, layout, grid, and imagery aren’t just components; they’re tools used with instinct, intention, and purpose. Designers don’t simply arrange elements on a screen — they shape experiences. They tell stories. They create feeling.

The best designers?
They take that craft and blend it with human insight — empathy, emotion, and a deep understanding of context — to create something truly unique. Something that feels alive. Something that connects.

For AI to replicate this, it would need to do more than crunch data or remix existing patterns.

It would need to understand us as humans.
It would need to follow rules, break them, and then know why that mattered.

And it would need to step through a process that often isn’t logical — one that requires leaps of faith, gut instinct, and emotional intelligence — to produce outcomes that not only look good, but actually deliver results.

Until then, we’ll keep choosing human design.

Because real connection still needs a real designer.

About your Author

Keinen

Keinen is our Studio Director and courageous leader. His passions lie in harnessing design and technologies to solve and improve customer and user experience. Keinens’ experience spans service delivery, product management and business management. Having delivered SAAS solutions for Global enterprise and worked with hundreds of local businesses to establish their success online.

Connect with Keinen

07 838 9321 support@baa.co.nz