DON'T PANIC

Artwork generated by AI and embellished by Sean Mosher-Smith. 
Words by Anna Varshavsky

Singularity

“Apocalypse is near, we are being replaced!” Every time new tech is introduced, humanity panics. 

This probably happened when the telegraph or the printing press were invented. I wasn’t alive then, but I do remember that when the first computer models were unveiled, there was a panic. And I panicked when I had to learn DOS, QuarkXPress, and Flash—clunky and awkward, these platforms felt apocalyptic and made me contemplate a career in food service. But these programs were a step up from Letraset and Rubylith, and eventually evolved to user-friendly iOS, InDesign, and AfterEffects.

All sci-fi movies aside, our lives have been improved by technology as long as we’re willing not only to learn how to use it, but to use it wisely—to assist and improve our work and personal lives. Tech is, after all, a tool—a tool made for and by humans.

Midjourney

At first, using Midjourney was intimidating and frightening. The images were good, and are getting better with constant improvements. The portraiture is pretty incredible. And, the copyright legalese, or at least what we read thus far, is workable. And, yes, prog bands have found their new source of inspiration. Most ad people will laugh at this, but prog bands and the music industry is one of the sectors we service, so for us this is personal. So, we asked the age-old question: Will we be out of a career? 

The Answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything

However, once the panic abated, we began thinking more strategically. Firstly, AI is here to stay. Plus it is a cool new toy. So how can we use it to our advantage, and how can it optimize our performance as an agency—as creatives? 

We took a step back from panic mode and outlined our creative process, trying to identify exactly where this AI can fit. 

Usually, after being briefed by clients, we delve into the problem that we were challenged to solve. We look at our notes and try to make some sense out of them. That leads to the thumbnail stage: identifying key words and/or phrases from the brief, airing initial thoughts, and letting those scribbles evolve into doodles. These are “knee jerks” rather than anything that is a complete idea. We call this "the creative sneeze."

The second step is crucial to igniting the creative spark: looking at eye-candy inspiration. It enables us to switch gears and get inspired. The resources can be anything from Warhol to Pollock, from Arbus to Sherman, from Vaughan Oliver to Neville Brody. 

Then, and only then, do we sit down to actually ideate and create something, inputting keywords to find appropriate photography from Getty or Shutterstock, selecting fonts, and even paying homage to some of the inspiration we’ve seen during the process. 

There are obviously steps in between: let's face it—for us creatives, there is a procrastination phase. But the initial process is where Midjourney can assist. It is not Midjourney that comes up with the solution to the problem from the brief, it is not the AI that gets an idea of how to resolve said problem, it is not the AI that comes up with keywords, the style, etc. It’s the human. Us. That’s what we’re paid to do. Ideate and create. AI is there to help us along. It’s a step up from Getty or Shutterstock. We wouldn’t use that art exactly as it appears in royalty-free. It’s there as a foundation for us creatives to embellish and build upon.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

The faces Midjourney produces have become quite incredible—a combination of many resources—but are they a replacement for a photographer working with a human subject? We don’t think so. AI will not understand nuance. AI will not make a subject’s eyes sad while their face smiles. AI will not understand how to emote: I just got a cancer diagnosis—I’m scared, but have to keep living. However, what AI can do is supply something tangible so you may have a reference point when presenting to a client or brainstorming with a photographer. 

That said, for those clients who will use AI illustrations without any modification, it will lead to generic creative, much like we see today when royalty-free photography and illustration are used without modification. Custom imagery is the flavor of the brand and of the concept—without it, it’s like a meal without salt. 

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To illustrate my point, pardon the pun, we ran a few keywords describing creative that we’ve done at ACOMPANY.NYC for healthcare/pharma clients. We were interested in how AI would illustrate our ideas. The faces are great, but AI can’t understand what: (1) Man trapped inside his heart means. It is a Dali-esque concept, an abstract visual metaphor. The same with (2) A woman diagnosed with the BRCA gene in a hospital gown in a lifestyle situation. And, we threw one in that was obscure AF: (3) A diabetic senior enjoying life in outer space. Ok, the last one is weird, but we were curious. As you can see, AI struggles with visual metaphors, at least for now. But there are elements within its repertoire that we can use in our concepts.

As for prog bands, they certainly can use the platform and keywords from their creative process, but that’s creating in a silo and only seeing one point of view. A designer and/or illustrator listens to the music, then the band’s input, and forms an impression, bringing another point of view into the process. That third catalyst contributor parlays all that info into a visual idea that has an extra layer of context—something more emotional and nuanced than AI can produce. 

There is a designer whose name we’re not able to use for privacy reasons. He used two AI platforms as his reference point and produced amazing creative for Nike. We were further convinced how great this new tech is by seeing his work.

So, we will use this new toy, and are actually really excited to get a concepting project soon so we can play. If for nothing else than for portraiture and lifestyle imagery of seniors that is current and isn’t of them doing yoga or gardening. And, of course, we’ll keep reading and watching sci-fi, just to keep an eye out on any type of Matrix or Terminator anomalies.