Hi-fi, lo-fi, AI: an unexpected contrast in modern branding - Coley Porter Bell

Hi-fi, lo-fi, AI: an unexpected contrast in modern branding

Featured in The Drum

Written by: James Ramsden, Executive Creative Director

There’s a widening chasm in modern branding between ultra-modern and classic design. What’s driving it?

In the cinema at the weekend, watching the trailers, up popped Saltburn’s gothic mastery with its hand-drawn, gilded graphology. It was immediately followed by an ad for the Google Pixel 8 promoting its AI-enabled photo doctoring, so we can now appear to do the impossible. It was an interesting juxtaposition – and timely demonstration of the divergence creativity is currently experiencing.

As we look at branding in the coming year – and the impact that AI has and will continue to have on creativity – this emerging juxtaposition will be similarly evident in quite different aesthetics and approaches being adopted by brand design teams. And when I talk of AI’s impact, this is no gentle evolution; this is a revolution. It is the most monumental shift in branding talent’s lives, as artificial intelligence connects with human imagination, and that interconnection is felt across the design and branding world.

The result is that we’re seeing on one side hi-fi creativity – iterating and developing ideas and expressions at speed – and on the other a lo-fi direction, celebrating the hand-drawn and often retrospective individuality. So, for every increasingly slick animation or image creation, there is the charmingly crafted hand-drawn illustration or clumsy gif – all parts of the brand expression creative toolkit. As both are embraced, we are reaching a crossroads in creativity where we will explore AI-assisted creation alongside intentionally crafted design.

Read the full article here to learn more.