Human work carries evidence that each decision was chosen on purpose
To Camille Imbert, “human” is not a texture pass or a preference for imperfection. It is taste and intent. Human work carries evidence that each decision was chosen on purpose: what to emphasize, what to remove, where to slow down, where to leave tension, where to add warmth. AI is great at completing a task. It reaches “done” and stops. But human-making has a different endpoint: it stops when the maker feels something in the outcome—satisfaction, excitement, clarity, or even relief. That emotional check is not in the brief, and it is rarely measurable, but it is real.
In this interview, Imbert discusses the difference between something that is correct and something that is owned. A human keeps iterating past adequacy because they are chasing a standard only they can feel. That does not mean the work is messy; it means it is alive. The most human part is the judgment: when to break the pattern, when to hold back, when to let the user breathe. AI can replicate patterns, but it struggles to replicate that instinct to keep going until meaning appears and then to stop at the exact right moment.
Imbert also argues that emotion is a business lever, not a creative indulgence. Conversion tells you if an experience worked once; emotion tells you if it will keep working over time. The brands people stay loyal to are the ones that made them feel something: excited, safe, seen, confident. That feeling creates retention, word-of-mouth, and resilience. You have to create desire and trust before you can efficiently capture action.
On craft, Imbert believes you cannot automate what does not exist yet. Craft is how you discover the emotional core. In a client relationship that demands volume, she protects craft by making it a named phase with clear purpose: invent, systematize, then scale. Craft is not a one-time investment. You bring it back in pulses—when the work starts to flatten, you return to craft to invent the next moment the brand needs.
1. What “Human” Means in an AI Era: As AI generates more design work, what does “human” actually mean in a product or brand experience? Is it about imperfection, about intent, or about something else entirely?
To me, “human” isn’t a texture pass or a preference for imperfection, it’s taste and intent. Human work carries evidence that each decision was chosen on purpose: what to emphasize, what to remove, where to slow down, where to leave tension, where to add warmth. AI is great at completing a task. It reaches “done” and stops. But human-making has a different endpoint: it stops when the maker feels something in the outcome, satisfaction, excitement, clarity, or even relief. That emotional check isn’t in the brief, and it’s rarely measurable, but it’s real.
In product and brand experiences, “human” often shows up as a point of view. It’s the difference between something that is correct and something that is owned. A human keeps iterating past adequacy because they’re chasing a standard only they can feel, an internal sense of “this is it.” That doesn’t mean the work is messy; it means it’s alive. The most human part is the judgment: when to break the pattern, when to hold back, when to let the user breathe. AI can replicate patterns, but it struggles to replicate that instinct to keep going until meaning appears and then to stop at the exact right moment.
2. Designing for Emotion in a Data-Driven World: You’re interested in designing for emotion. Most digital products optimize for efficiency and completion rates. How do you convince a client to prioritize an emotional response over a conversion metric?
I don’t think it’s a choice between emotion and conversion. They’re not opposites, but they operate at different altitudes. Conversion is typically lower-funnel. It measures whether someone clicked, completed, purchased, or signed up. Emotion is higher-funnel and longer-term: it determines whether people trust you, remember you, return to you, and recommend you. Conversion tells you if an experience worked once; emotion tells you if it will keep working over time.
I see emotion as a business lever, not a creative indulgence. The brands people stay loyal to are the ones that made them feel something: excited, safe, seen, confident. That feeling creates retention, word-of-mouth, and resilience. Users are more forgiving and more willing to choose you again. So the strategy becomes optimize conversion at the moment of intent, but first earn the moment. You have to create desire and trust before you can efficiently capture action. Emotion is what makes the funnel sustainable, not just efficient.
3. Human Craft vs. AI Speed: As AI accelerates production, human craft becomes more scarce and therefore more valuable. How do you protect time for craft in a client relationship that demands speed and volume?
You can’t automate what doesn’t exist yet. Craft is here to create what will later be automated. If you rush to automate before you’ve defined what’s distinctive, you just scale generic work faster. Craft is how you discover the emotional core: the point of view, the signature moves, the details that make an experience feel owned rather than assembled.
In a client relationship that demands volume, I protect craft by making it a named phase with clear purpose: invent, systematize, then scale. We craft first to establish the standard and create the “why.” Then we use automation to scale what we’ve earned, repeatable content, variations, localization, production throughput, without losing coherence. And crucially, craft isn’t a one-time investment. You bring it back in pulses: the moment the work starts to flatten, when it becomes too efficient and too expected, you return to craft to invent the next moment the brand needs. Craft becomes continuous, just strategically deployed.
4. The Unexplored Opportunity: Where is the biggest opportunity for brands to create memorable digital experiences that hasn’t been fully explored yet? What are most brands still ignoring?
The biggest opportunity is for brands to stop building digital experiences that only sell and start building experiences that actually give something real back to people’s lives. The brands that last won’t be the ones that just deliver a product faster or market it louder. They’ll be the ones that show up with utility, identity, belonging, and momentum, things that live beyond the transaction.
Take this language app I love, Unedo. Instead of turning Spanish into a streak-based game, it teaches you through culture and travel. It puts the reason you want to learn Spanish inside the experience—so you’re not just completing lessons, you’re connecting to a life you want. Or look at Nike Run Club. They’re not selling a shoe in the app. They’re giving you a reason to run, structure to improve, and people to run with. That’s meaning. And it creates loyalty in a way discounts never will.
Right now, most brands are fighting for attention: more content, more notifications, more “engagement.” Almost no one is fighting for meaning. The unexplored opportunity is designing digital experiences that make the brand feel like a positive force in someone’s day, something they’d miss if it disappeared. That’s what becomes memorable.
5. The Role of Imperfection: Perfection is cheap in the AI era; software can generate flawless execution instantly. Is imperfection (human quirks, hand-drawn elements, visible craft) becoming a luxury good? How do you sell that to a brand accustomed to polish?
No one wants imperfection, but no one wants expected results. What we call human imperfection are the detours the creative process takes: the side quests, the wrong turns, the constraints, the accidents that reveal a better idea than the one you set out to make. I would never show a design to a client and call it imperfect. But I do want them to be surprised by the results, because surprise is usually the signal that we’ve escaped the default.
Human imperfection isn’t the mistakes, it’s the choices a machine wouldn’t have been able to make. The edit that’s driven by taste instead of precedent, the moment of restraint where you remove something that “tests well” because it dulls the feeling, the slightly unexpected rhythm that makes the experience feel alive, the detail that’s more emotional than efficient. In an AI era, expected is cheap. Surprise is what we sell.
