Phoenix Design Aid welcomes AI with open arms
Lars Jørgensen, Head of Production (left), and Dennis Lundø Nielsen, CEO of Phoenix Design Aid. Photo: Azra Mujačić.
Phoenix Design Aid is not afraid that artificial intelligence (AI) will make the company unemployed. Together with the Alexandra Institute, they have explored where in the organization AI can create the most value in relation to both the bottom line and sustainability, and the company has initiated the first initiatives.
Phoenix Design Aid is the first graphic communication agency to receive formal approval for its work with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDGs 4, 12, 13 and 17. The company serves international and intergovernmental organizations, including United Nations (UN) and European Union (EU) agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and public authorities, and sustainability is part of the company’s DNA.
“The more efficient we are, the better we can support our clients in their important work. We want to take the lead when it comes to the use of AI,” said Dennis Lundø Nielsen, CEO of Pheonix Design Aid.
His radical attitude reflects SDG 12, which is one of the SDGs that Phoenix Design Aid is working with by promoting sustainable consumption and production.
Exploring the potential of AI
At the beginning of the year, Phoenix Design Aid embarked on an AI project with the Alexandra Institute which involved interviews and a workshop with key stakeholders among Phoenix Design Aid’s management, employees, partners and clients. The project was led by an AI project group consisting of the CEO (Dennis Lundø Nielsen), the COO (Louise Lund Harpøth), the Head of Production (Lars Jørgensen) and the Communication Specialist (Azra Mujačić).
The aim was to understand all parties’ perceptions of AI and ML (machine learning) and explore the areas where these emerging technologies could be used productively both in the company’s internal workflows and as part of its client services.
The Alexandra Institute then prepared a catalogue of ideas with detailed themes and focus areas for the potential adoption of AI and ML at Phoenix Design Aid. This included tendering and sales, communication and marketing, production and internal tools for project management and administration.
Phoenix Design Aid has continued to work with the areas of the catalogue and presented it to the company’s board of directors as well as its priorities for what the company intends to start with which is within tendering and production.
Help with both the administrative and creative work
Since Phoenix Design Aid’s clients are UN and EU agencies as well as NGOs, the company participates in many public tenders that are relatively time-consuming. Lars Jørgensen, Head of Production at Phoenix Design Aid, noted that it was therefore natural to investigate how AI can streamline the work of preparing tender documents.
“We have extensive knowledge and experience stored in several places in our system, which we, of course, draw on in various bids and projects. Therefore, there are many descriptions of processes etc. that reoccur,” said Lars Jørgensen, adding:
“Even if an AI cannot make the tender for us, it can probably save us a lot of time and thus make us more efficient.”
The company also plans to use AI in the creative area. Here, Lars Jørgensen mentioned illustrations and infographics as an example, which is an area where Phoenix Design Aid sees an AI potential. Lars emphasized that the understanding of data and interpretation of numbers visually is a type of task that AI probably will be able to do both well and quickly.
“Of course, we are still responsible for ensuring that the AI’s interpretation is correct, so our graphic designers will, of course, have a task of checking and quality assuring the output. It is much more efficient, and I see a huge potential for saving time and resources in that regard,” said Lars Jørgensen.
AI is the future
CEO of Phoenix Design Aid, Dennis Lundø Nielsen emphasizes that this consistent utilization of emerging technologies serves a higher purpose.
“Our customers are all working to make the world a better place, and it is our job to make our own efforts as lean and efficient as possible,” said Dennis Lundø Nielsen.
For the time being, it is the tender work and parts of the graphic design that will be supported by AI, but the ambitions do not stop there.
” Our service areas are developing constantly, and we hope to be able to offer AI and/or ML as a part of our services in the future,” said Dennis Lundø Nielsen, adding:
“For now, we will use the technologies to increase our efficiency and productivity. For example, we hope that AI can be used to enhance the uniformity in our procurement work.”