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 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 5, 2023

More Baby Art

One of my challenges to myself is looking at the various photos I've taken of Izzy and trying to figure out what her pose reminds me of. Then I take the photo into Photoshop and use a combination of Generative Fill and good old fashioned manual workmanship to make the image. I posted one the other week, but here are a bunch more since then.