The Brave New World of AI in Brand Building
How we’re integrating AI into our branding workflow, and the harsh future reality of the creative industries.
By Adam Charlton · 16/01/2025
Posted in Insight
— Created, of course with AI 😇
Artificial Intelligence has become one of the most important topics of the time. Across all industries, AI has the potential to disrupt, dissolve and at the very least, change every company that exists today. There is not one industry that will be unaffected.
AI is a double-edged sword, along with improved efficiencies, removing professions and jobs from workflows. Jobs that relied on skillsets which were necessary yesterday, will be irrelevant and redundant tomorrow.
There is a level of sensitivity required when approaching AI in the creative industry. Pentagram, one of the most successful branding agencies in the world, got a huge amount of backlash for their recent work for the US government, for using Midjourney rather than professional illustrators. If one of the most recognised agencies, working on one of the best-funded projects, makes use of AI rather than supporting the creative industries in which they inhabit, then how can other agencies and studios play fair? Aside from the fact that the result of the project lacks imagination and relevance, why the government needs 1,500 individual and unique icons is beyond me, not to mention the memory of the website user.
This backlash showed us that we’re in danger of hiding behind these tools, and looking past the context that defines a project and client. To create work that resonates is purposeful and relevant, we must have two feet on the ground and not slip into the trap of letting this new technology direct decision-making that is fundamental to the design process. As creative practitioners, we would do well not to get carried away with AI, and to remember how good it already is as a tool within our workflow.
— Key visuals generated with Midjourney, edited for Georgiou Partnership
How our agency uses AI
As a branding agency, we are utilising AI for two core functions. We use it to help us research, and we use it to help us execute.
ChatGPT is remarkable for researching vast amounts of articles, research papers. It can point us in the right direction faster, which makes the discovery phase a lot more efficient. Of course, it is not fallible, and we must continually course correct and fact-check.
We use Midjourney to help us create brand visuals, both for our presentations and our client’s content marketing. These brand visuals are nuanced and generated through countless (often hundreds) of iterations. AI is no a golden bullet. Prompting, creation, review and iteration is paramount to creating something that resonates with the client’s brand and what we’re trying to achieve.
— Generated with Midjourney
The bigger picture: what does AI mean for the creative sector?
Graphic design has been put on the list of the most at-risk jobs, by the World Economic Forum. Illustrators, photographers, animators will not be far behind. None of the creative industries are safe from disruption. The real question is how can we utilise the benefits of AI, and minimise the drawbacks. We’re attached to the creative industries, most of the community got into a creative profession for the desire to do what we love. We followed passion. The creative communities around our agency, the mood is conflicted, we’re excited but also anxious and there is an undercurrent of resentment. Fundamentally, we don’t want to stop doing what we love. We don’t want to be left behind. Especially when the tools that could replace us, are training on our slaved over Behance profiles! It’s very meta!
— Generated with Midjourney, edited for HKU CDS
Concept remains king
Great branding communicates the purpose behind your organisation. Great branding resonates with the company’s core values, the staff and stakeholders. Great brands speak to customers and build trust over time. Designing a timeless logo is challenging because the process is complex and iterative. We combine theory and research with our gut feeling and aesthetically critical eye. AI cannot replicate this process, as design is an iterative, communicative process between humans. Great brands are built when clients and designers trust each other, have open and honest dialogue, and are unified in a vision of the future.
Are you a Brighton-based business looking to rebrand or create a new brand? We might have something in common…
We’ve been busy building our sister agency in Hong Kong and recently relocated to Brighton! As we establish our branding agency, we’re looking to partner with local companies that want to refresh their brand. We’re running significant discounts to help build our local success stories.
If you would like more information, please get in touch with us at studio@attendtheway.com
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About the author —
Adam is the co-founder of Attend The Way, a Brighton-based branding agency. Adam helps build brands for companies at every growth stage, from startups to industry leaders. Adam has consulted and built brands for some of the world’s most recognised companies.
