The Big Picture - no. 117

A couple of weeks back we did a brand sprint for Matyx (a marketing agency) that was signed off and approved in the first round. My favorite testimonials are the ones that come unprompted. Actual screen grabs from the Matyx team show the direct results of our process paired with design thinking.

It’s not always like this and great projects can and often do follow different paths. But for many this outcome is ideal.

Last week I raced AI.

I had a concept that I wanted to try on a brand we’re working on. Wasn’t sure if it was going to work but I needed to develop it to be sure it was worth pursuing.

It involved birds/bird related things. I dropped a bunch of bird photos and paired them with a bunch of illustration examples in Flora. But then I was like, wait, I could just draw them on paper! With a pencil! Using my own hands!

So while AI worked away, so did I. Its results weren’t so great. I’m sure I could have messed around and got them better but the hand made ones were already done. So no point. But also, if there’s an opportunity to do any of my work with paper and pencil I’m all in. So why would I get AI to do the fun stuff?

Seems obvious in retrospect but I think we have to remind ourselves to use AI for the stuff we don’t like.

Side note. In grade 5 the class clown nicknamed me “scribbles”, I suspect out of envy over the attention my superior drawing abilities took away from his antics. I like to think that in these events I forged my signature style. Who’s laughing now, Matt.

• Visual — Kelly Boys teaches Yoga nidra, a lying-down guided practice that helps you regulate and reset your nervous system, optimize your sleep, and gain emotional and spiritual health. I met her at IP4 and got to take one of her classes. She has some guided meditations for free on Youtube.

• Words — 1,500+ interviews on how creative people actually get work done.

Bolster is a design agency that makes brands, websites, and experiences that work together, so founders and teams can connect who they are with where they’re going. If you need help with this we’d love to chat.