Galileo AI: Your Junior UI Designer

Today, I want to chat about the ever-evolving world of AI and its role in our work lives. We often hear about AI potentially taking over human jobs, but the reality is quite different—at least for now. While some writers and artists might feel uneasy, for the rest of us, it’s all about staying updated and using AI to our advantage.

AI: Making Us Smarter or Dumber?

The truth is, AI’s impact on us largely depends on how we use it. I’ve tested many AI tools for UI design, and I can confidently say that AI still falls short in creating user-friendly interfaces. Human logic is crucial for developing coherent user flows and proper interactions. AI doesn’t yet grasp how humans interact with UI elements.

Introducing Galileo: A Promising Tool

Let’s dive into Galileo, a tool that has caught my attention. I first heard about Galileo over a year ago on a Silicon Valley podcast. Back then, it was still in beta and alpha stages. Fast forward to earlier this year, and they’ve released Galileo 1.0. With the rapid advancements in AI, I have high hopes for it.

What Galileo Offers

Galileo allows you to create custom UI through a chat interface. You can discuss your requirements, and it will summarize and generate the UI based on your approval. It’s like chatting with a team member. The initial prompts are free, and it uses credits (you get 150 free credits upon signing up) only when generating a UI.

Testing Galileo: Fitness and Home Automation Apps

I tested Galileo with a fitness app and a home automation app. While the tool generates appropriate content and basic designs, it struggles with more complex or unconventional requirements. For instance, when I asked for a home automation app with modern design elements and specific functionalities, Galileo couldn’t fully meet my expectations. It often reverted to generic designs and ignored certain styling requests.

The Figma Integration

One cool feature is that you can copy the generated designs to Figma seamlessly. The structure is proper for Figma, which is a big plus. You can also export the code, which is useful if you’re a developer. However, the tool’s limitations become evident when it comes to creativity and unconventional design requests.

Image to UI Feature

Galileo also has an image-to-UI feature, allowing you to upload sketches or images for the tool to generate UI elements. While promising, it still falls short in creating out-of-the-box designs.

Potential and Limitations

Despite its limitations, Galileo shows promise. It’s useful for brainstorming and ideation, and with more training, it could become a valuable tool. For now, it’s not quite ready for complex design tasks.

Suggestions for Improvement

I’d love to see two features in Galileo: the ability to lock elements within the UI and the capability to convert mobile layouts to desktop layouts within the same conversation. These additions would make the tool much more user-friendly.

Final Thoughts

While Galileo has potential, it’s not yet a replacement for human designers. For starting points and inspiration, I still recommend exploring Figma’s community templates and assets. Galileo is more suited for brainstorming and creating MVP designs for startups or small businesses, provided there’s close collaboration with developers.

Thank you for reading! If you have any topics you’d like to hear about or AI tools you’d like me to test, please let me know. I’m always eager to explore new technologies and share my insights.