ReProducing Gendered Space and the Male Gaze: Experimentation With AI Image Generation in an Interior Design Studio

The Midjourney Artificial Intelligence (AI) image- generating tool was introduced to students in a senior interior design studio for early ideation. It was employed on a competition project, which required a two-week timeline from research to presentation. Midjourney was used to rapidly translate concept ideas, atmospheres, and keywords into images for use as inspiration. The project topic was to create a mental health respite space on the students’ university campus. The end results for the project were promising, but a collection of generated images representing gender and stereotypes made it clear that I needed to integrate intentional analysis of text-to-image software and strengthen of visual literacy in design students when introducing image generators.