Should a design studio hire an AI specialist or train its existing team?

In short: Train the team first, then hire if the volume justifies it. A studio that hires an AI specialist before its designers understand the method ends up with one person doing “the AI part” in a corner, which is the surest way to keep AI out of the actual design. A studio that trains its team on live projects builds the method into the practice and can then decide, with real numbers, whether a dedicated profile is needed.

The wrong question

“Should we hire someone for AI?” assumes AI is a job. In a design studio it is closer to a way of working, like sketching or modelling: something every designer should be able to do at their level, with one or two people who go deeper. Framed that way, the question becomes two questions. How does the whole team acquire the method? And who sustains and develops it afterwards?

Option one: train the team

The team learns on its own projects, with workflows built for the studio's language and a bespoke assistant that carries its standards. The advantages are structural: the method belongs to the studio rather than one employee; every designer gets faster; and the creative director stays in charge of the language.

The limits are also clear. Training takes senior attention for a few intensive sessions, and someone inside must own the method afterwards or it decays.

Option two: hire a specialist

A dedicated profile—typically a designer with strong technological fluency—brings speed of execution and keeps the stack current. In studios with high visual volume, this can pay for itself quickly.

The risk is isolation. If the specialist arrives before the team has the method, designers hand off “the AI stuff”, the language drifts toward whatever the specialist likes, and the creative director loses sight of part of the process. The role works when the whole team already shares the method and the specialist takes it further.

What the right profile looks like

Design judgment. They must be able to tell a good room from a good image. A specialist who cannot will optimise for the wrong thing.

Technological fluency. Comfort with language models, image and controlled-generation tools, and enough curiosity to keep up with a field that changes quarterly.

Systems thinking. The ability to turn a repeated task into a workflow other people can use and document it. This is the rarest of the three and the one that makes the method stick.

The sequence that works

1. Diagnose where time goes and which decisions must stay human.
2. Configure the studio's language, tools and first workflows.
3. Install and apply on two live projects with the whole team in the room.
4. Embed: name an internal owner, document the method and agree review criteria.
5. Then decide on hiring, with the baselines in hand. If the volume is there, the specialist arrives into a studio that knows what it wants from them.

Where a talent partner fits

Finding this profile is difficult because it sits between two job markets. A partner that knows both design practice and technology can define the brief, search across Europe, evaluate judgment as well as fluency, and prepare the person to integrate into the studio's method. At FORZ this is a module inside AI Transformation rather than a separate service, because the search only makes sense once the method exists.

Frequently asked questions