How I infuse AI into my workflow
How I infuse AI into my workflow
The ERA of prompting, iconic Sci-fy movie, opportunities & cool links
🔸 Your creative letter is written with care and dedication. Every issue is a selection of inspiration and creative thinking (in life, the creative role, the joy of building and beyond). Dear readers, thank you for being here!
If you enjoy this letter → 💖 put a heart on it. 🙏You can support my writing by sharing, subscribing and/or upgrading to a paid subscription (future access to exclusive content).
👋 Hello enthusiast, how are you doing today?
As a creative do we have to fight the recent evolution of AI?
I have been stumbling upon alarming or praising content regarding AI tools like ChatGPT. As an illustrator using pen and pencil + digital tools to create, I see how transformative AI could be for art, design, communication, marketing and beyond.
I don't feel threatened by these new advanced tools, what I see is better productivity. What AI-generated platforms like Midjourney or Dall.E can do is impressive. The aesthetics of these images are strikingly similar and surprisingly emotional. Due to their high technicity, some pieces draw us in awe. They have this perfect image mashed-up feel. There is a new game of recognizing what is generated by AI and what is human-made, and you can test it out here.
How do I use Chat GPT?
I was intrigued by the buzz around ChatGPT and decided to try it out for myself. And I must say, it is quite impressive. I have found a new assistant for some tasks. Previously, I used Grammarly and Hemingway for writing improvements, but now I add ChatGPT to the process. It enhances the material I give it and "tries" to respect my voice, but I don't blindly accept everything it suggests. Some word choices and formulations don't feel like me, I make my judgement. I use some improvements, but if my voice is absorbed and erased, I keep my manually improved words.
You have to be mindfully in command of these advanced tools, especially since they are infused in many creative and technical platforms. For example, Substack now proposes generated images, Notion has an AI for writing improvements, Descript has an AI-generated voice, and many more. I don't know if Adobe or Procreate have started infusing AI into their products, but it will happen.
Beware of the dosage: there is a fine line between being absorbed by the voice of AI and using it just enough. Balance is the word.
As creatives, there is no turning back. The democratisation of design tools, education and principles will only continue. The real question is how we keep adapting and owning our spaces, even in the midst of impressive creative AI.
So how do I infuse ChatGpT into my creative workflow?
Correct and enhance your writing. I know it will not write for me. I don’t ask it to write for me. I use it in the process, but it is not the material. If the result of a prompt doesn't match my voice, I keep it my way, with its imperfection and playful wording.
Inspiration for mood boards, references/research: ChatGPT is great for listing references, books, articles, designers, and artists. If you are working on a specific theme and need references, you can prompt it and start the analysis process. It is a great way to save time in your research. It cannot generate images, but who knows what future updates may bring.
Repurpose content: a blog piece can be summarized in shorter ideas and themes. From there, you can adapt and focus on using these mini pieces of your longer content. You can also prompt for an updated version with specific SEO goals. I don’t use this yet, but it can be useful.
Summarize the potential of products: I use ChatGpt to navigate comments on Amazon. I discovered this through a YouTube video, and it works well. Collecting positive and negative feedback and prompting ChatGPT to organize these comments can underline key pain points. As a result, it can highlight specific angles to inspire your creative process and help you understand what people are looking for in a particular niche.
Expand the subject and new ideas: this tool can generate a vast number of ideas for topics, products, and articles. The more specific you are, the better it will respond. While I don't use Chat GPT to generate ideas, I prefer following my intuition and observations, it can be a useful tool for brainstorming.
I don’t use AI to create images. As an illustrator, designer and maker of images, I prefer to use my own illustrations. I also prefer to use pictures from Unsplash and other quality spaces. Recently, I saw some interesting plugins for designers in Figma (icons, avatars…) that can serve creatives.
Now, If an AI can create a typeface from a prompt, we are in trouble 😂
The era of prompting / the art of prompting
The process of these AI* tools starts with a prompt, and there are many ways to ask for a request. The magic lies in the parallel between the diversity of responses and the precision of the starting prompts. People can adjust their texts to see what these tools make of them, and there lies the art of asking.
With tools like MidJouney, you cannot predict that a prompt will generate the specific image you have in mind. You have to be clear and straight to the point about the result you want. It pushes us to be ultra-specific.
However, for me, the level of detail required before creation, as a creative, is somewhat mechanical. The space for maturation is essential in the creative process, allowing details to unfold naturally.
I also remember It was engineered by people who think in formulas, coding, and mathematically result-driven tasks. An action determines a certain logic of result.
Not every creative will adhere to this, as we are sometimes logically illogical, allowing unconventional solutions to disrupt the plan.
We have reached a crossroads of what it means to create, even more than before. The magic of mistakes and refusing certain logic for a more profound expression is different in the AI world*. The images are not perfectly rendered, there are some inconsistencies, but as a code, it will perfect itself. We’ll see.
*For the most advanced tools. Those who succeed in bridging the gap and creating confusion between what is human-made and AI-generated.
As a creative, AI could feel like a new threat, generating images with an artificial, perfect feel, all having the same glow, light effect, and futuristic melancholic angle. The market may want to adapt to it and impose a visual statement.
→ What can we do?
No worries, keep creating ‘‘your thing, your way’’ but be aware of the technological progress. Why not collaborate with these tools and see how they can improve your creative process without sacrificing the core of what you do?→ A new title creative prompt engeneering
As creatives, we have access to the ins and outs of what creating a project means. including intuition, vision, tools, training, understanding, and the ability to play with mistakes. We excel in storytelling. However, tools like MidJourney can now generate combinations thanks to our ideas and proactiveness. As creatives,
we should be aware of this and experiment with what could come out of this collaboration. I am not reluctant to do test. I am currently educating myself about these tools and will give them a creative try. It has always been about the
idea + execution = impact. Today, we have one part of the formula that is done by tools like MidJourney. Let’s stay aware, experiment and adapt.
You can read here my take on the topic with a Branding eye.
Sending mindful Wednesday vibes 🌞
Iconic: Soleil vert (Soylent Green)
Soylent Green is one of my favourite sci-fi movies, one of a kind that sheds light on our inability to survive as humans. Made in 1972, it portrays a 2022 era where humans are suffering from the consequences of climate change to such an extent that our humanity reveals the obscure solution to the survival of the haves and the have-nots. The movie serves as a timeless awakening, but do we learn from all the great art created by pioneers to alert and bring change? Perhaps there lies the illusion of entertainment. While it inspires, much more is needed to become a global act of radical change!
🐎 Opportunity knocks
In every letter, I share opportunities I stumbled upon. There are so many cool grants, funding, competitions, and more to enter to experience progress. I hope the list of the week will be useful.
Study abroad travel grant (inspiring grant from the founder of Packs Light)
🇫🇷 A call for poets in Paris (in French & possibly in the subways → deadline April 15th)
Residency Open Call: RACOR (grant in art, science & tech)
Submit your art to Artupon (illustrations, photography and more)
Scholarship application in marketing for good (the programme supports companies and individuals)
Pépites music
🤩 Cool links to click on
Maryanne Chisholm is my artist coup de cœur (you must watch her work, it is mesmerizing! Hand-painting animations meet AI elements in some pieces)
Art is everywhere, meet Rupert (I met Rupert while on a walk, he was transporting by foot his piece ‘‘La Peau de chagrin’’ from Paris to Tours. We had a talk about his creative process and upcoming exhibition).
🇫🇷 Première étoile noire de l'Opéra (Guillaume Diop, the first black principal dancer of the Opéra de Paris)
🇫🇷 1lettre1sourire (send positive vibes to our elderly)
The power of shorts, food and charisma (Abirz Kitchen is making food cinematography)
💡 It's a Prompt
Light up your creative fire this week • 💎 Prompt of the week
• Experiment with infusing AI into your creative workflow
Take one of your designs, art pieces, or sketches, and ask one of these tools to interpret them.
→ ✏️ Give it a try on your most striking pieces, and see how they challenge AI
* How do you feel? Do you like the interpretation? Do both of them work as a duo?
Creativity is in every little curious experimentation
I hope you enjoyed the read of the week. If yes, share it with peers, friends and family. Sharing is loving.
Yours creatively,
Keva.