Designers as Co‐Creators: Reconfiguring Workflows and Creative Agency in AI‐Augmented Design

ABSTRACT This study investigates professional designers' integration of AI tools within workflows across five key stages: Discovery, Ideation, Development, Refinement, and Finalization . Semi‐structured interviews with 14 designers reveal varied AI engagement, shaped by creative intent, identity, and AI trust. A heatmap illustrates AI supporting efficiency and creative tasks (such as ideation, content generation, refinement), while interpretive tasks requiring contextual judgment remain under human control. Designers viewed AI as an assistive co‐creator accelerating iteration and automating labor, rather than replacing core creativity. Offloading procedural tasks and early ideation to AI enabled deeper focus on conceptual and critical decisions. Designers used creative agency to reconfigure workflows, fostering reflective, conceptual work. Findings suggest further exploration of human‐AI interaction, on how designers balance human‐centered values and creative performance, maintaining agency and ethics.