A.I. Crash Course: Creativity
In the first part of this series, I wanted to establish some computing and A.I. fundamentals. I’ll get back on those rails again, but because it can be so dry and mundane, I wanted to spice it up.
In this article we kind of jump ahead to the end result for what AI can do. There are still a TON of pieces you’ll have to unpack and learn before you can fully comprehend how these AI systems work. But we can have some fun along the way too. Besides, what’s the point of learning something new if you can’t understand early-on how to apply that knowledge.
So I decided to break-up the content and go into practical applications. We are going to build an Indie Game Company and then a game, entirely with AI. Regardless of your industry or trade, I can almost guarantee that there is something of value in this for you. From operations, to comms, and creative assets: this should demonstrate where AI can help automate or assist your life in some way.
If you’re impatient, above is the end result of my exploration using AI to build an identity. Built almost entirely using bots (I just did the assembly).
Using AI for Operations
You can’t confidently build a successful product (or business) without a plan. Plus I wanted to see how well AI could help with routine operational tasks. At Unicorn, we have base templates for just about every type of project, so I have some strong opinions on what a good product roadmap should look like. AI did a pretty decent job here, and as I’m aiming to do as little human work as possible, I will follow the results or ask for more instruction where necessary.
I knew that I should probably write the prompt with a bit of context and describe the type of work in more detail than I typically would, though ChatGPT rarely needs much in terms of direction to spit out something useful:
Generate a task list for building a choose-your-own-adventure game for iOS which will need a logo, brand, copy, up to five levels, app screen images, and an app icon.
I’ll spare you the copy/paste of the full task list. The tasks are used to inform this entire journey with very little human intervention. I will, however, say that while it was not fully comprehensive, it’s pretty dang close to the milestones I would have started with and was good enough to direct the next prompts. I used this task list almost verbatim as subsequent prompts.
Pro Tip: ask ChatGPT to generate prompts for you when using Dall-e, MidJourney, and other image generative applications. It knows the tools better than you do and can help you instruct the AI.
Ideas for the company brand
Alright, now for some fun stuff: creating an identity. I’ll share the raw prompts with you along the way, but I also did some cleanup to make for easier digestion of the assets.
Generate possible and unique brand names for an indie game studio company that focuses on mobile gaming developed by using AI.
I chose Digital Dominion as it feels like a powerful name. Also because I love the idea that the AI might have a God Complex. lol. Although for a minute it was tempting to go with another recommendation, “Mythical Media,” since Unicorn’s umbrella company is Mythical Creatures Co.
Now that we have a name for our company, we need to brand it before we get into designing our first product. We already know that these AI image generators are not so great with brand work, so we skipped ahead in our task list and established the color and aesthetic first:
What is a good brand for “Digital Dominion?”
The logo should prominently feature the name “Digital Dominion” in a bold Futura font, with the “D” in both words capitalized for emphasis. The logo should feature a crown icon to represent royalty and power.
Okay, winner. We’ll go with that, especially because GPT seems so confident in the recommendation. I think a crown logo has only been used by half of all gaming companies ever conceived.
Building the Brand Book
When Unicorn does brand discovery for our clients, we follow a proven formula based on classic design principles. This can be very tedious work as you go through color theory, understanding personas, and playing with variations in typography and color. It’s a lot of do and redo until you get it right. I was super curious to see what this process would look like using AI tools to try and automate some of the work and presentation.
As I journeyed, I could definitely see where AI would help reduce time, but it’s no replacement for Adobe Color and human eyes.
Color Selection
Hey OpenAI…
What are some good color palettes for “Digital Dominion?” It is an indie game company with a crown logo and Futura typeface.
I actually liked the color choices a lot in Dall-e, but the artifacts and oddities that came with it were a turn off. Plus, how am I supposed to iterate on this with further questions? So I set my sights on GPT, because it hasn’t really failed me so far.
ChatGPT does okay in color psychology with the explanations, but I don’t think it fully comprehends color values in terms of human perception. It’s definition of royal blue looks awfully purple.
Did you know that before the late 15th century, the color orange didn’t really exist? Also, what color is indigo actually? Someone at Crayola probably has an answer.
I would have probably gone with something similar to these suggestions. Cutting down the options it presented us we chose: regal gold and purple and iterated on the hues and shades by asking for nine shades of each brand and accent color. The results got a little weird, but not the worst.
Typography
Hey GPT…
Give me specs for headers using futura as the font. Define a title, small subtitle, and H1 to H6
I was skeptical when I saw the results for typography printed out. Interesting enough, in the ChatGPT UI, the results would initially be styled on the screen and then revert to the base typography, it was interesting to observe. After plugging them into Sketch, I was actually pretty okay with the results. Logos were a lot more fun to explore. I may have fallen down a rabbit hole for an hour or two..
Logo Ideas
Generating the logo was comical on Dall-e. I set sights on MidJourney instead thanks to a recommendation from Zack. Much higher quality and better interpretation with some of the other AI apps. I have to say, I can see all of these tools being a huge leg-up for just about every white-collar job. Your presentations would look much sexier with AI generated art. 😉
Ultimately, I landed on something I loved. First roll, two iterations, and finally requesting the high-fidelity version. Can you believe MidJourney is FREE?! It was super tough for me to choose so I let my wife pick.
This is just the beginning. Stay tuned for the rest of the results. Game theory should be an interesting topic to explore next. Given how well GPT understands principles of psychology, I think it may actually do very well with game design and copy. I know how I’ll be spending the rest of my holiday.
Skipping ahead a bit to App Concepts
I can’t get enough of MidJourney. It’s like, oh so addicting and make me want to just build all these ideas I throw at it. I couldn’t help but see what it can do with UI/UX work when it does such a great job with so many other types of visuals. Designers might just play a role in refining visual design in the future, because no designer can present a mood board or concepts faster than this…
Who knows if I’ll accept the very first prompt I threw at it, but again, this is the type of tech that really should be empowering creatives, business folk, and so many other roles. I think I may start using this to at the very least replace the mood and “what if” portion of Unicorn’s discovery process. I think it’s almost safe to say GOODBYE to expensive and egotistical creative agencies and “hello” to AI! Let’s build something amazing together!
