People
Make ideas Happen
AI is here to stay, and we must evolve alongside it. While I have integrated various machine learning models into my workflow, I view them strictly as tools and never as the decision maker. I am the art director utilizing a suite of tech to bring our ideas to life, whether that is an algorithmic data visualizer, custom photo generator, or AI coding assistant. I believe that as soon as a creative yields control of the process to an algorithm, they cease to be a designer and become a prompt operator.
My Workflow may look like this:
LLMs can make this process rapid and get the creative juices flowing along with looking at examples and inspiration.
AI generators are trained on the general aspects of the internet. They know what is most popular, generic, and expected. My value is my relationship with the client. I know the context. I relate work to the target audience, direct the art to best meet the project brief, and brand guidelines.
Maybe I will use generative fill (faster clone stamp tool), AI to help shorten a headline (faster thesaurus), upscaler (just a utility) or I won’t use AI at all.
AI can’t build Relationships
We Can
My work is fundamentally human-centered. AI takes directions literally, but it cannot feel the nuance of a relationship. Often, a client’s request is just the starting point; my job is to look beyond the guidelines to uncover the ‘why’ of a project, translating what they want into what they actually need. Algorithms struggle to find the soul of a brand message because that requires skills beyond technical execution: negotiation, empathy, strategic insight, and storytelling.
The Hierarchy
Make the VP of Marketing feel confident enough to sign off on a risky budge.
Sorry, I can help you with some guidelines but the rest is on you... Let Vandal get you there.