Slow by Design: why AI's speed demands human slowness
To state the obvious, everything in our industry is moving so fast right now. And so we're always sprinting. And that's bad. It's no wonder we're seeing critical rates of burnout right now.
AI promises 10 times the speed and 1,000 times the possibility. But are we really seeing better outcomes? Designers (myself included) are building an endless parade of identical chat interfaces. It’s strange that, in a moment of boundless possibility, the creative floor sometimes feels like it’s shrinking.
Is this progress? Have we confused acceleration with innovation? Maybe we're losing the skill of slowing down to think. And design without thinking isn’t really design.
As the stories go, Einstein's theory of relativity emerged while he was daydreaming during breaks at his patent office. Beethoven's symphonies crystallized during aimless countryside walks. Our brains solve big problems during stillness, not during scramble. Our creativity kicks in only when we slow down and step away.
So what if the edge isn’t in how quickly we move, but in how intentionally we pause?
Maybe the future belongs not to the fastest prompters, but to those of us who can balance digital acceleration with analog reflection. Those of us who understand that sometimes the most productive thing you can do is absolutely nothing at all.
And with that, I'm going back to bed.
