August 13, 2024

AI Typography

Every day there's some new feature introduced to generative AI that has potential uses outside of what was planned. Like, I doin't think Adobe was even thinking about Typography when they introduced their take on structure references within Firefly.

This isn't super new, it's been a few months since I started seeing people use AI to stylize single words, but I wondered how far could you push it? Well, apparently more than I realized. Here is what I did in Illustrator and what it looked like after I sent it over to Firefly.

May 17, 2024

Cat Typography

I wanted to explore what the process would be to create a bespoke font using AI. I probably should have picked something easier because cutting out cat hair on a cat is already a pain, but everything else should be easier by comparison.

Adobe Firefly was my generator for each letter, then each finished and arranged in Photoshop the old fashioned way. I'm not sure how long something like this would have taken to do in Blender or Cinema 4D, but I don't know either so I guess the answer is an infinite amount.

April 29, 2024

AIDC Redux

I posted about my AIDC boxes on LinkedIn last week and the post had a minor blowup. 30k+ views and almost 250 likes with lots of well wishes and compliments. Not too bad for the investment.

April 11, 2024

AI Directors Club

If everyone is focusing on cold emailing and LinkedIn messages to reach out to people, maybe the way to cut through is to get something physical in their hands.

Enter the Artificial Intelligence Directors Club, a parody of the Art Directors Club. I built a welcome kit of sorts and targeted five high-level creatives at some of the top agencies in Los Angeles.

Storyline

The AI Directors Club has created an AI based on each creative's career and that AI is being inducted into the inaugural class. The kit then invites the creatives to meet their AI doppelgänger (pictured in the included photo) by scanning a QR code. Once scanned, they are taken to a hidden page on my website with a personalized message, some bullet points about myself and my portfolio. An added advantage was that my site analytics could track if/when each journey was completed.

Process

Each box took about 3-4 hours to make with an additional 2 hours each assembling all the other physical and digital components. Each base box was purchased from Michael’s for $7. I created a stencil of the design on card stock and then traced it onto each box. I then wood burned and carved the design before staining and lacquering each.

Completed Boxes

I used Brothers as my base font for the insert and modified it for the first name while leaving it standard for the last. I filled them with hatching to create texture. Four of the kits were oriented vertically with one horizontal, the insert layout was adjusted accordingly. I shredded black and white card stock (4:1 ratio) to create the base the frames would rest on. I used twine to secure each box closed and then attached a hand cut tag.

Portraits

The portraits were made with Midjourney and finished in Photoshop. The frames were purchased off Amazon for $7 each.

Delivery

The boxes went out on April 11. I dressed up as a courier and drove to each agency. Apparently nobody questions you if you are holding a clipboard and a semi-official looking form.

Results

As of present 4 of the 5 recipients opened the box and scanned the QR code. That's nearly twice the standard open rate for most direct mail campaigns (42.2% according to the Print and Mail Communications Association). The open rate for e-mails is around 21.5%. I also talked to a recruiter from one of the agencies two days after I posted about the boxes.

March 23, 2024

Generative AI

I wanted a better way to show off my generative AI abilities so I built a new page on my site to showcase the things I've made. I also made a new image in my series of my daughter after a few months of not adding to it. You can see the page here and the new image below.

October 27, 2023

Street Fighting Baby

Some more fun with Izzy.

September 7, 2023

Generative Baby Art

Last week my wife and I welcomed our child into the world, which honestly provides an opportunity for me to play around with the generative fill feature in the Photoshop Beta.

August 25, 2023

There’s plenty of Crying in Advertising

I really do believe that certain "taboo" subjects should be talked about more openly so they won't be taboo anymore. I've done it in the past when I posted about pay ranges for full-time and freelance and I thought it was time to do it again for one of the mental health issues plaguing the industry.

You normally only see people posting about crying in the office on places like Fishbowl where they can be anonymous. Everyone in advertising fears being seen as weak. I thin it's funny though, because to be truly great at it you have to be empathetic. You need to be able to feel emotion and relate to how others are feeling as well.

Being honest about being humans is the first step, so we should be able to talk about those moments of humanity we have without fear or being seen as somehow lesser than those who don't. And that's before we even get into the underlying conditions at agencies that cause it to happen to begin with.

August 4, 2023

Family Matters

With the baby coming soon, I took some time to reflect on what it meant for my career. Seems to have resonated a bit.