Photo by Izabella Árvai from Pexels

Traditionally, the process of creating a solid brand and visual identity involved teams of designers and marketing experts working together to develop a cohesive aesthetic that accurately reflects a company’s mission and values.

But can this process become much more streamlined and efficient with AI?

As someone who has always been passionate about technology and an ardent believer that science and technology have the potential to improve our lives in countless ways, I had reservations about the role of AI in branding and visual identity.

Since many brand-related decisions tend to be based on creativity and the ability to connect with consumers’ emotions, a significant limitation exists in the reliance on data and analytics alone to inform these decisions.

While data can provide valuable insights, it does not always capture the full range of factors influencing consumer behavior and decision-making. Therefore, it is unlikely that AI will ultimately replace human designers in the near future.

For example, a brand’s values, mission, and purpose may be just as important to consumers as its products or services. Data analysis can not easily quantify these elements.

However, I have been pleasantly surprised by the recent developments in the field.

Despite my scepticism, I have recently seen some examples of AI-powered design tools that have convinced me that AI has a role to play in branding. These tools can generate a vast array of options, allowing businesses to quickly and easily experiment with different designs until they find the perfect fit.

And while they may not be able to capture the unique spirit of a brand on their own, I believe that they can be a valuable tool for designers looking to create effective and consistent branding materials.

In this article, I will show you three branding projects created using AI design tools by renowned designers and branding experts. And I invite you to decide whether these tools can be a valuable addition to the design process or not.

1. Nutella’s new Packaging

Nutella employs an algorithm to design its packaging.

Generative AI has been around for a while, and it has been used in a variety of different applications.

In 2017, Ferrero, the company that produces Nutella, teamed up with Ogilvy & Mather Italia, its advertising agency, to develop a strategy to increase Nutella sales.

As part of this plan, they employed an algorithm to design the packaging for the product.

The company provided the software with a database of patterns and colors that they felt fit with the brand.

The algorithm generated 7 million unique jars sold throughout Italy. Some of which you can see down below.

Source: Youtube

While this was a limited project, it demonstrates the potential of generative AI to create visually appealing designs.

Robots have been contributing to graphic design for a long time now. As AI technology advances, we can expect to see even more examples.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind taking one home just for the aesthetic.

2. Fizuy Lub

Richard Turley and team create a fake soft drink brand and present it to investors.

In this article from It’s Nice That, Richard Turley outlines a process for creating a new soft drink brand. Instead of simply designing the packaging for a drink, they took a more holistic approach to the brand creation process.

The first step was testing some logo ideas using the AI Glid3. This gave them a sense of what the AI could generate and provided some reference points.

Source: It’s Nice That

Next, they looked at the packaging and used prompts such as “cyberpunk” to generate ideas. The AI didn’t produce anything definitive at this stage, but that’s one of the benefits of using AI — it can explore a wide range of directions.

Source: It’s Nice That

They wanted to incorporate some history into the brand, creating visuals featuring menus and customers from different periods.

Source: It’s Nice That

This didn’t generate much, so they turned to AI writing tools to generate buzzwords and associated words that could be used in the naming process. This is where they came up with the brand name “Fizuy Lub.” They then used this name as a prompt to generate images, which produced a wide range of results.

Source: It’s Nice That

Next, they used AI to generate logo options based on the name Fizuy Lub and some visual prompts. This took them in different directions, which they narrowed down to a final design.

They then briefed Commercial Type, one of the leading type foundries in the world, to create the wordmark based on the AI-generated prompts. The final result was a logo similar to the AI-generated version but with the added precision and expertise of a human hand. This example shows that while AI can be a valuable tool in the creative process, there are still areas where human expertise is necessary.

Source: It’s Nice That

After developing the logo for their new soft drink brand, the team turned their attention to the design of the Can. They selected some of the options they had generated earlier, such as colorful tongues and bubbles, and used these as prompts for the AI to generate more ideas. They combined these elements to create a cohesive design but then passed it on to skilled operators to bring it to life.

Source: It’s Nice That

Jae Yeon Kim, a 3D artist, used the outputs from the AI and the finalized logo as inspiration for the Can design. They then united the logo and background to create a prototype can. The team then used this prototype to pitch the idea to investors and showcase their plans for the new soft drink brand.

Source: It’s Nice That

3. Nuclear Branding by &Walsh

Source: &Walsh

A renowned American creative agency, “&Walsh”, create the branding for a website using the famous AI image generator, DALL-E 2.

This is the first example from 2022, which is not just an experiment but a direct implementation of AI in the field of branding.

A New York-based studio &Walsh, created a brand identity for a client named Isotope. Isotope is a Brazilian model who has taken on the goal of becoming the world’s first nuclear energy influencer. The Studio leveraged AI in the creation of assets for this brand identity.

Source: &Walsh

Jessica Walsh, the studio’s founder, remarked, “As Isodope is such a major proponent of the use of technology to solve problems in daily life, we decided to enlist the creative help of Artificial Intelligence tool Dall-E to bring this branding to life.”

Studio’s use of AI in creating Isotope’s brand identity differed from other AI-driven projects. Instead of using AI as a design tool with predetermined stylistic results, the team at &Walsh used Dall-E as a source of inspiration. They would input prompts into the program, then use the outputs as further prompts to generate ideas, or manipulate them using other design tools.

In an interview, Jessica explains that AI is still a relatively new technology requiring much human input and curation. However, they found that the visual directions inspired by AI were beneficial. She also mentioned that in the future, AI tools might be able to generate complete branding visual languages based on a given strategy in the future.

From a brand perspective, I believe the design of this identity is noteworthy. It effectively conveys Isotope’s unique position as a nuclear energy influencer. Using AI to create the assets adds a modern and tech-savvy element to the brand, further emphasizing Isotope’s forward-thinking approach to her work. Overall, the brand identity effectively captures the essence of Isotope and her mission, making it a great example of a successful brand identity.

When asked about AI and its role in branding and creating a visual identity, Jessica said —

“In my opinion, this is very exciting and will lead to more democratization of creativity and entrepreneurship….I get it, it’s scary. However, AI is already here and it will continue to have an exponentially large presence in creative work. We can choose to fight it but it will still push forward, and those of us who don’t learn it could possibly become outdated by it.”

Source: &Walsh

If you made it this far, you’ve got a glimpse of the practical potential of AI-powered tools in creating branding material and visual identities. These examples showcase the wide range of possibilities that AI can explore and the unique solutions it can generate.

However, it is important to recognize the limitations of AI and the role of human expertise in the design process. While algorithms are meant to improve and facilitate different tasks through automation, their use may also entail certain challenges. Espoused values are a crucial part of brand identity and image, and they are difficult for AI to imitate directly. If an AI proposes these values, employees and stakeholders may have a barrier to adopting them because non-human tools often struggle to understand human emotions and affection.

Designers should use AI as one of many tools in their toolkit rather than relying solely on AI to create the visual identity for the brand. While AI can be a helpful tool for generating ideas and prototypes, it is ultimately the designer’s job to refine and polish the final product, ensuring that it effectively communicates the brand’s values and message to the target audience.

By combining the best of both worlds, designers can create effective brand identities that capture the brand’s essence and resonate with its audience.