Pedagogy 2025

Abstract

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly being adopted as a tool in communication design. However, its effectiveness and pedagogical value are yet to be determined through systematic studies that can rationalise their role in design studies and education. Sequential visual narratives represent one of the popular areas where GenAI is widely used for design and development. Although teaching narrative design with GenAI is still uncommon in design schools, it presents both merits and limitations. This study examines these issues through the work of four design apprentices who each produced sequential visual narratives using GenAI. In sequential visual narratives, sketching and drawing skills remain essential as they enable design apprentices to understand frame-specific requirements and manage transitions with precision. This practice also helps apprentices to formalise their concepts, since sequential structures require careful organisation of visual storytelling. In many instances, however, GenAI barely maintains such sequential connections, particularly in terms of form, emotion and image transformation consistency. Here, three of the four narratives diverged significantly from the intended designs, revealing the challenges of employing GenAI in this context. The study further explores the learning of using GenAI and compares the emotional and sensory qualities of fully and partially AI-driven narratives. This paper therefore investigates the critical aspects of both the qualifications and disqualifications of AI-generated frames and considers how they may be adapted to meet design requirements.