By Carole Maugé-Lewis, Professor Emerita at Kennesaw State University and Principal of MAUGEDESIGN. Her work bridges design education and professional practice, with a focus on integrating emerging technologies into the creative process. She is the author of the So! You and AI series, which explores the evolving relationship between designers and artificial intelligence.
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Teaching Design Thinking in the Age of AI:
Why Assignment Design — Not the Tool — Shapes Student Learning.
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Introduction
We often ask: How should students use AI? But the more important question is: how should students think when using AI?
As artificial intelligence becomes part of the creative workflow, design education is shifting. Much of the conversation focuses on tools—what they can generate and how quickly they produce. But in the classroom, something more important is happening: AI is not replacing design thinking. It is revealing it.
In a freshman-level course introducing prompt-based image generation, students were asked to create, refine, and reflect. The goal was not simply to produce visuals, but to make thinking visible.
Assignment Design as the Foundation
In AI-supported environments, assignment design becomes the primary teaching tool. Structured prompts, required iteration, and reflection all contribute to deeper student engagement.
When assignments are clearly designed, students move from passive generation to active direction. They begin to understand that AI responds to clarity — and that clarity comes from their own thinking.
The P.A.R.T.S. Model
Prompting – translating ideas into language.
Alignment – clarifying concept and audience.
Refinement – editing and improving outputs.
Testing – iterating and comparing results.
Self-Reflection – evaluating the process and authorship.
Student Evidence
Student work demonstrated two approaches: one emphasizing conceptual depth through refined prompts, and another emphasizing execution through structured iteration. Both revealed that AI does not determine quality — thinking does.
Student reflections further reinforced this pattern. One student noted that their initial prompt, which used the word “professional,” resulted in an unintended corporate aesthetic — demonstrating how AI can misinterpret ambiguous language. A s the student refined their wording — adding specific stylistic direction and compositional cues — the results became increasingly aligned with their original intent.
The student concluded: “Your true intentions with the art aren’t exposed to the viewer unless you take the time to truly refine the prompts you are using until you get something that matches your original vision.”
This level of awareness highlights a critical shift: students are not simply generating images — they are learning how language shapes visual outcomes
Conclusion
AI does not diminish creativity—it demands more of it. In a world where anything can be generated, the designer’s role is to decide what is worth producing.
Design education must prioritize thinking, authorship, and intention — now more than ever.
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An Exemplary Student Project by Lauren Ray, Kennesaw State University:
“For this project, I designed a promotional poster for a fictional exhibition called Color Lab, an immersive event centered on color theory and interactive visual displays. We were asked to use AI as part of the process, so I used Adobe Firefly in Illustrator to generate an organic shape that became the main visual element. From there, I built the entire poster around that form, creating the layout, typography, spacing, and overall visual identity myself. Using AI helped spark ideas I might not have considered on my own, while still letting me stay fully in control of the final design. Overall, the project let me create a world and brand concept that felt unique and imaginative.”
Her work is published in published Carole Mauge´-Lewis’ book “YOU and AI: Exploring Collaboration in Design”.
AI-generated color studies created through prompt iteration, used as the foundational visual element.
Intermediate composition showing integration of AI-generated forms within a structured typographic layout.
