Using AI in My Creative Process
How I use AI and some thoughts on the future
Conversation as a Tool for Creativity
Generative AI is a capability that I’ve been excited about as long as I’ve worked in technology.
The thing I love about gen-AI is the conversational aspect. Conversation theory and conversation modelling has also been a deep interest of mine, as it helps me think about designing interfaces as mediums for ‘conversations’ between human and machine, and also helps me think about how to design meetings and workshops in order to get the most out of the conversation.
When I think of ‘conversation’ between human and machine, my ideal future is one where we can speak naturally with our technology so that we’re no longer having to continuously learn and memorize input patterns—but rather interacting with technology in our environment. Conversation between human and machine goes far beyond asking Alexa to play a song or add something to your grocery list—that exchange is more about providing inputs and commands rather than having a conversation.
Whether you are having a conversation with a human who has a brain and a life-time of experiences or with a machine that has access to an endless set of information generated by humans with brains and experiences—conversations can be meaningful and rewarding.
Think about some of the best conversations you’ve had in your life. How do you feel after a really good conversation?
I always feel like a good conversation helps me transcend—it leaves me in a better, happier, more-enlightened state than when I began the conversation.
As both an artist and a designer who works with digital, I’m absolutely captivated by the opportunities that conversational gen-AI can bring with it. As an artist—I can use gen-AI to riff and jam on ideas, like having a creative partner with me always. As a UX designer working on a digital platform, the possibility of enabling customers of our platform to have conversations with the vast pools of data that they work with excites me because I know it will enable customers to make use of their data environments in new and unexpected ways. I think any organization would greatly benefit from learning how their customers would converse with the business—as if the business were a real person. As much as any internal team tries to build things that customers will love—at the end of the day we are detached from the customer. But when customers can get more involved in what we’ve built, the tools and services we build will become far more lovable and better tailored to individuals. Note: My perspective is from someone who has been working in the domain of complex enterprise, B2B SaaS platforms… business software and digital tools.
Conversation is inherently pedagogical which means that as one participant communicates, the other participant learns. This is true both for conversations between humans and conversations between humans and machines. Sure, sometimes conversations hit a dead-end—and not all conversations leave us feeling better. But they do give us more information than we would have had if we had opted out of the conversation entirely.
Here’s how I’m using gen-AI in my creative processes:
Clarifying My Thoughts
My favorite feature with ChatGPT at the moment is the voice chat—it feels a bit like sending voice notes to a friend, though with less meanderings than you would have in an organic conversation. This is helpful, however, as it will tend to stay on the topic of conversation, and it may ask you some clarifying questions on the periphery of the topic.
I use the voice-chat feature in ChatGPT to engage in ‘games’ where it asks me questions about my art and my creative process. This approach, akin to the Socratic method, helps me gain a deeper understanding of myself and refine my ability to express my thoughts when discussing my work with others (humans).
Generating Ideas and Outlines
When I'm uncertain about which topic to cover in my newsletter, I share my initial ideas with ChatGPT and then ask for additional suggestions. Once I decide on a topic, ChatGPT provides an outline that serves as a foundation.
While I’ve tested its capability to write complete articles, the output always feels too generic, so I prefer using it for brainstorming and structuring my thoughts rather than creating outputs that I would publish.
I’m not convinced that Gen-AI will ever be able to produce outputs that a sensitive human like myself would feel comfortable to copy, paste and then publish—but it is helpful at providing some structure, which has been a god-send on a few occasions when I’ve been too tired or ill to conjure up something to write about.
Visioning and Design Ideation with Midjourney
Visioning
I use Midjourney to bring my ideas to life. I noticed early on that people were using AI to create these ‘ideal’ portraits of themselves. It’s like as soon as AI became a thing half of the people I follow on LinkedIn went from having a photo of themselves at a conference to a photo of them looking like a glossy super hero. It was a little weird, but also touching.
Their aspirational portraits gave me an idea of how to use Midjourney for my own goals and aspirations… I realized I could use it to create visions of the future.
The way I see it: Not having a vision is like setting sail with no map or compass.
I think having a vision is essential for moving in a specific direction, it’s far more powerful than words and written-down goals and to-dos. Visualizing what life will be like when some thing is achieved, and using that vision to guide you, is profound and powerful.
We use visions at work to drive development of our digital platform with globally distributed teams. It would be impossible to encourage multiple teams to coalesce at a specific point in the future if you can’t show them what that future looks like.
In the same way vision can help steer a complex org to move in one, focused direction; Vision helps me achieve my goals. Midjourney makes this easy. You can do it in any way that works for you—from uploading a photo of yourself and asking Midjourney to place you in new, envisioned contexts, to asking it to draw you as a cartoon or render vignettes or symbols to represent successfully achieving whatever goals you have.
I’ve used Midjourney to visualize success in various ways—like a peek into my future art studio, or a ‘photo’ from my book launch event.
Having a vision helps to trick our brains into thinking our goals are real and achievable. I use Midjourney to make my vision boards now. No more generic images, just AI generated photos of my successes.
Design Ideation
I’ve also used Midjourney to riff on some graphic design ideas. As someone who used to be a graphic designer, it can take ages to iterate on ideas! My process used to be doing a bunch of small sketches (aka thumbnail sketches) over and over until something started resonating, then I’d take a few ideas develop them further. I would then return to the drawing board to do the process again because the first few ideas weren’t really working… It’s a meaningful, but tedious, process.
The point of thumbnail sketches is to get all of your ideas out of your head—the good, the bad, the ugly. It is a generative process. With Midjourney, I would still start with some sketches, but it becomes more of a ‘conversation’ with Midjourney as I quickly prompt it to explore more ideas while I’m sketching. I might submit a few prompts back-to-back to render different ideas quickly. I would ask it to generate ideas based on imported sketches. It is like having a partner working with you in your studio.
Once I honed in on a direction I want to take, I’ll get som final ‘drafts’ from Midjourney then move my work into Adobe Illustrator to flesh it out properly.
Again, with Midjourney, it’s not rendering graphics and designs that I’ve ever felt comfortable using as a final design—but it is useful at helping me to springboard my ideas into something more.
The Less-Scary Future
With a background in technology, I am aware of the concerns surrounding AI, particularly regarding the misuse of intellectual property (IP). But as someone who lives for innovation and disruption, I know that the discomfort and worry we have now of “AI taking over” is only a stepping stone to a better future. We can be sure that solutions will arise that enable us to maintain provenance over our IP. We may never find a perfect solution—impersonation, theft and copyright violations will always be a problem—but, I have faith that meaningful progress will be made that gives creators more control over our IP.
For example, I’ve noticed a new feature in Adobe Photoshop that enables a user to assign a copyright to their digital assets. As digital companies build protocols to enable digital signatures (copyrights) to be usefully attached to digital assets, doors open. It gives us control over our digital assets. Imagine a world where your work is earning fees whenever AI references your image, or a world where copyright violations are automatically prevented?
Innovations will always challenge us, but there’s no use in resisting change—embrace it, move forward, and know that as problems arise, solutions will emerge.
Ally or Threat?
Incorporating AI into my creative process has been transformative. By utilizing tools like ChatGPT and Midjourney, I’m able to generate ideas and refine my visions. I see AI as an ally rather than a threat, and I believe there is a future where thoughtful governance models and data protection standards will make AI a more palatable partner.
What do you think? Are you using AI? I’d love to hear about it in the comments section!
It’s our job to create the relationship that works best with the technology, right? As a supportive tool, a partner, versus a surrogate for what can only ever be best achieved by a human.
So much complexity, obv, but my point stands—you’re modeling a really healthy partnership here!
'Not having a vision is like setting sail with no map or compass.' This alone is brilliant. And then... the mic drop. Using Midjourney for adding another layer of physicality to one's visioning?? Mind, blown.
I just finished my most recent 6 mo vision, which I've been overdue on writing by my own intention. Bringing the 'visual' aspect to the process and end result, is just super exciting, Courtney. I'm absolutely in love with this.