Pixlr's AI Image Generator is a welcome relief for black web writers
BlackTechLogy: Could AI photo software be hurting black graphic designers?
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I think web content creators and graphic designers can all agree that photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop is handy. With that said, I’ve been BFFs with Pixlr for the past few years. I’ve used Photoshop before, but I found Pixlr to be more user-friendly, quicker and cheaper than other photo editing software. Even better, I don’t have to download anything to start editing. Founded in 2008, I didn’t know about Pixlr until about three years ago and was pleasantly surprised when I learned that it was free.
Considering the amount of photo editing I do for various clients and my own work on Medium, Substack and Pinterest, I was unphased last year when Pixlr started charging $0.75 per month for ad-free, unlimited saves. The annual subscription was $8.99.
ADVERTISEMENT ~ Amazon
As an Amazon affiliate, I earn a percentage from purchases with my referral links. I know some consumers are choosing to boycott Amazon for its DEI removal. However, after thinking about this thoroughly, I choose to continue promoting intriguing products from small businesses, women-owned businesses and (specifically) Black-owned businesses who still feature their items on Amazon. All five of my Substack publications now include a MINIMUM of one product sold by a Black-owned business. (I have visited the seller’s official site, not just the Amazon Black-owned logo, to verify this.) If you still choose to boycott, I 100% respect that decision.
Even when Pixlr pulled a Fat Joe (“Yesterday’s price is not today’s price”) I paid the new annual rate of $11.88 in 2024. This year, I noticed something new though: 960 AI credits. What was I supposed to do with artificial intelligence credits?
I ignored this option altogether and just kept choosing “Open AI Photo Editor” instead. Pixlr Express is my go-to 99.9% of the time. That is, until yesterday, when I went through an hourlong search of trying to find promo images for a client project. Unsplash, Piqsels, Pixabay, Pexels and Burst didn’t have anything I wanted. And as much as I like CreateHER Stock and Nappy, I’d used all the images I wanted on there. I think I’ve used just about every image on the Jopwell Collection, along with having the time of my life perusing and downloading images from the now-defunct SHOTS BY PRIIINCESSS photo site.
Recommended Read: “The Diversity Question All Graphic Designers Must Answer ~ Does this material match our target client base?”
But I needed images, and I needed them fast. I went back to Pixlr to see what in the world I had 960 AI credits to do. I typed in random image ideas just to see what would happen. As is the case on almost all image sites (minus the ones listed above), non-black people dominated the photo options. So I started getting really specific about the kind of images I wanted to see. (Too often, on photo sites, if you type “African,” all the images look like travel ads for Ghana or Nigeria.) I wanted a larger photo search option (full lips and noses included) with African- and African-American people, and I got it!
And now that I have the artwork options I want for myself and other clients — some of which need “diversity” images while others don’t — I’m both excited and wondering am I now doing the same thing that hiring managers are doing with AI writers. Am I helping to put black graphic designers out of business?