Why perception still matters in a machine-assisted world.
Learning to draw is often misunderstood. It’s framed as a technical skill … pencil control, shading, accuracy. That misses the point.
Drawing is not about the hand.
It’s about the eye.
To draw is to learn how to see the world. To notice form, contrast, rhythm, proportion and meaning. The pencil is just the interface. The real work happens upstream … in perception.
That distinction matters now more than ever.
Drawing is a way of extracting meaning
A useful metaphor emerged in conversation …
Drawing is like a straw.
A way to draw the beauty and meaning out of life.
When you draw, you don’t copy reality. You absorb it. You slow down long enough to understand what matters, then translate that understanding into form.
This skill lasts a lifetime. Even when you’re no longer drawing, you’re still seeing. Still filtering. Still interpreting.
John Berger articulated this clearly in Ways of Seeing. He argued that seeing always comes before words and before making. What we notice shapes how we think and what we create .
The hidden link between drawing and AI
This is the missing piece in many AI conversations.
AI is not a substitute for perception. It’s an amplifier of it.
If drawing is the straw, AI is the pump. It increases speed, scale and variation. But it cannot decide what is worth extracting. That judgement remains human.
AI excels at execution.
Humans excel at intention.
Design theorist Don Norman makes a similar point in The Design of Everyday Things. Tools are only effective when guided by human understanding and intent. Without that, automation simply produces more noise, faster.
Why some people thrive with AI and others don’t
The difference isn’t technical skill.
It’s perceptual literacy.
People who struggle with AI often treat it as a shortcut. They ask it to think for them.
People who thrive with AI treat it as an extension of how they already see the world. They bring taste, judgement, and context. AI accelerates translation, not understanding.
This is why artists, designers, writers and systems thinkers often adapt fastest. They’ve spent years training attention. AI simply removes friction between insight and output.
What this means for psyborg®
At psyborg®, this idea sits at the core of how we approach technology.
We don’t start with tools.
We start with perception.
AI is powerful, but only when paired with human intent. Strategy, design and creativity still begin with seeing clearly… the market, the problem, the opportunity, the story.
AI helps us move faster.
Human judgement keeps us moving in the right direction.
That balance is the work.
Part mind. Part machine.
Design with intent.
Daniel Borg
Creative Director
psyborg® was founded by Daniel Borg, an Honours Graduate in Design from the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia. Daniel also has an Associate Diploma in Industrial Engineering and has experience from within the Engineering & Advertising Industries.
Daniel has completed over 2800 design projects consisting of branding, content marketing, digital marketing, illustration, web design, and printed projects since psyborg® was first founded. psyborg® is located in Lake Macquarie, Newcastle but services business Nation wide.
I really do enjoy getting feedback so please let me know your thoughts on this or any of my articles in the comments field or on social media below.
Cheers Daniel