In the world of design and branding, reports Fast Company, “so many projects utilizing AI tend to be more novelty than novel: Think Coca-Cola’s “Create Real Magic” campaign, or, say, Heinz’s “Draw Ketchup” project.

As with any tech advancement, the gimmick phase precedes the working application phase—but behind the scenes, many studios are inching toward putting AI to real use. Pum Lefebure, cofounder and chief creative officer of (D.C.-based) Design Army, wanted to experiment with incorporating AI into her agency’s output on a practical level—so she bypassed all the (valid!) is-this going-to-replace-my-job conversations that dominate the subject, and logged into Midjourney.

“Design Army—known for its typographic, fashion-slanted output for such clients as Adobe, Bloomingdale’s, Disney, Netflix, PepsiCo and many others—has worked with Georgetown Optician for years, continues Fast Company, ” supporting the company as it went from a lone store in Washington, D.C., to a multilocation retailer owned by the luxury corporation, New Look Vision Group. The eyewear purveyor has seemingly always afforded the studio a long leash, as exhibited in such campaigns as “Eyes Say More Than Words,” a promo that’s more Wes Anderson than LensCrafters.”

As Georgetown Optician prepared to open a new store, states Fast Company, “it asked Design Army for a creative campaign to accompany it, just four weeks out. Lefebure says that in a typical project like this, she would hire models, makeup artists, and wardrobe specialists, scout and secure shoot locations, and ultimately it would take at least three months to execute. So without time and a sizable budget, she figured it was time to see what AI was capable of—and Georgetown Optician gave her the thumbs up.”

The campaign features a number of models but, states Fast Company. “they’re all 100% fake. In fact, everything in the campaign is AI—except for the type and the eyeglasses, the latter of which are actual Georgetown Optician frames added to the scenes. Lefebure estimates that some of the results came out 80% complete while others rendered around 50% or so.

“After finessing the images to final, in a matter of weeks, Design Army had a campaign that Lefebure says would have otherwise taken months—and that Georgetown Optician and its parent company loved.”

More here.

PHOTO: Design Army