At the time, the creative industry was facing its own version of what we’re experiencing with AI today. Excitement. Uncertainty. Resistance. Big predictions about what would disappear and what would replace it.
And I remember thinking: this isn’t the end of creativity – this is a new way to express it.
Pic credit: allaboutstevejobs.com
When I first started using Macs at work in the mid-90s they were huge, clunky machines — but I had never seen anything like them. I completely fell in love. So much so that I’ve never owned a PC since!
Before computers fully transformed the industry, the design process was much more physical. There were presentation boards, foamboard, scalpels and a lot of SprayMount!
Even when computers were being used for typesetting, concepts for magazines and brochures were often mocked up by physically cutting, arranging and mounting layouts onto boards.
Those boards would then be carried into meetings and presented to clients. Looking back now, it almost feels quaint. But at the time, it was simply how things were done.
When Digital Design arrived
As computers became more powerful, the industry started changing again. I was already using tools like QuarkXPress, Illustrator and Photoshop as part of my design work. Then multimedia started to appear.
Suddenly communication didn’t have to sit still. And not everyone liked that. I remember many designers being suspicious of this new direction.
There was a feeling among some that digital design was somehow less serious. There were comments about “desktop publishers” versus “real designers”.
Some worried that opening up these tools would cheapen the industry. I always found that idea interesting. Because ultimately, communication was always meant for people. The audience was the whole point.
The moment everything changed for me
Around that time, I attended a corporate multimedia presentation in an old historic building near Liverpool Street. I remember walking in and feeling like I was about to see something completely new. Then the presentation started.
The Beach Boys’ Good Vibrations began playing. An animation appeared on screen. It started slowly. Building. Growing. Then, as the music reached that first big crescendo, everything exploded.
Images + Words + Movement + Sound.
All working together. I was completely mesmerised. I walked out afterwards buzzing, feeling like I had just witnessed the future of communication.
Would that same presentation impress us today? Probably not. Technology has moved so far that what was groundbreaking then might look simple now.
But the important thing wasn’t the animation itself. It was seeing what was becoming possible.
Learning the next thing
After that, curiosity took over. I signed up for multimedia courses around London while still working full time. Evenings, weekends – whenever I could.
I spent Saturdays in Foyles and Waterstones searching through technical books, buying them (even though they were expensive!) and teaching myself everything I could. I learned Director, FreeHand, Flash and later Dreamweaver.
When I received a bonus from work, I bought myself a G3 Power Mac. I still remember it arriving at my Victorian terrace in London. It genuinely felt like I’d arrived. I set it up in a bedroom and started creating.
The first multimedia animation I produced is still one of the most exciting projects I’ve ever worked on. Not because it was the most technically advanced thing I ever created. But because I felt that spark you get when you realise you’re learning a completely new way to express ideas.
And now, AI
Fast forward to 2023 and I started experimenting with artificial intelligence. And strangely enough? I wasn’t immediately blown away. I did what most people did – I asked basic questions, I got basic answers. And initially, I wasn’t particularly impressed.
But gradually I started using it more. Testing, questioning, experimenting.
And then the same lightbulb went on that had gone on years earlier in that room near Liverpool Street. I suddenly saw the potential. Not because AI could replace creativity. But because I could see how it could expand it.
The tool is never the whole story
Every creative revolution seems to bring the same fear:
“What happens now that everyone has access to this?”
But access to tools has never been the same as mastering them. Owning a Mac didn’t automatically make someone a designer. Having Photoshop didn’t automatically create good design. And having AI doesn’t automatically create original thinking.
The results depend on the person guiding the tool – their knowledge, their experience, their curiosity, their willingness to learn.
Creativity keeps evolving
I don’t know exactly where AI will take us. Nobody does. But I do know that throughout my career, the biggest opportunities have often appeared at moments when things were changing.
Not because change is always easy. Not because technology never causes disruption. But because curiosity opens doors that fear closes.
I’ve reinvented the way I work many times over the years. From drawing boards to Macs. From print to multimedia. From multimedia to websites. And now into the age of AI.
And strangely, after all this time, it feels a little like starting again.
That’s the exciting part.
Because there is always something new to learn.
And if my first digital revolution taught me anything, it’s this: