Our graphic designer Ryan recently worked with a business that had created a design for a large scale display using AI. The concept was there and it looked fine on screen. That was until he came to produce the artwork at the print scale needed. Their original file couldn’t be used as the resolution was far too low at scale, meaning Ryan had to redraw the entire design to make it work.
What the client had intended as a shortcut, instead translated into extra work, not less.
Our team uses AI for elements of our work and we think it’s one of the most useful tools available to businesses. However, this job showed where it stops being the right tool, and can end up causing problems.
Why AI designs fall apart at full size
A design can look brilliant on a screen and still fall apart when it’s printed at scale. Resolution is usually the first problem, followed by the technical set-up that print production depends on.
AI image tools typically produce files of around 1,000 to 2,000 pixels across, which is plenty for a social post or a slide. A single pull-up banner of 850mm by 2,000mm needs artwork of roughly 5,000 by 12,000 pixels to print well, and a full display stand needs more again.
Upscaling software can stretch an image to those dimensions, though it has to invent the missing detail as it goes. At stand size, that invented detail shows up as smeared textures and faces that look slightly wrong to anyone walking past.
Text is a common problem too because AI generators render lettering as part of the picture rather than as editable type. Once enlarged it blurs, with no way to correct a word or move it somewhere more readable.
Print shops also typically need files set up in CMYK colour with bleed, and logos supplied as vector artwork that stays sharp at any size. An AI image arrives as one flat layer with none of that groundwork in place.
As things stand, AI doesn’t account for any of this automatically. If you don’t know what to look for, the problem often only shows up at the production stage, when deadlines are tight and fixing it costs the most.
What a designer brings
Hiring a designer means paying for more than something that looks good. You’re paying for the experience to know what will work in production, and to spot what could go wrong before it becomes an expensive problem.
A designer builds artwork like a display stand as a layered file at full size, with logos and type set as vectors. Every element can then be changed on its own, so a new headline or phone number takes minutes rather than needing a complete a re-draw.
That judgement comes from Ryan’s training and years of producing work that has to hold up in print – at any scale – as well as on screen.
There’s also the question of whether AI designs stand out at all. GenAI design tools work by producing the most likely version of whatever they’re asked for, which is why so many business images now share the same glossy offices and smiling people around a laptop.
On an exhibition floor, where every stand is competing for a few seconds of attention, looking like the stand opposite is an expensive outcome. What looked like the cheaper option can end up costing more in both time and money.
Where AI earns its place
Ryan uses AI as part of his job, mostly for repetitive tasks that eat into the day without needing much creative attention. Five years ago, cutting around someone’s hair to remove the background from a headshot could take him close to 30 minutes, now all it takes is a single click.
In a previous role for an estate agency, he could spend close to an hour painting blue skies into grey property photos around the rooflines. AI now does that in seconds, which
frees up his time for the parts of the job where experience matters most.
That’s how we think AI works best in business, as an assistant that handles the routine tasks while skilled people make the calls that need judgement. Sometimes the most useful advice we can give a client is that AI will do the job perfectly well, and part of the same job is telling them when it won’t.
If you’ve got an exhibition coming up and want artwork that holds up from screen to stand, let’s talk – talk@encore-communications.co.uk
