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We asked AI to build a visual identity. This is what we learned.
We asked AI to build a visual identity. This is what we learned.
At Freelancers United, we guide many branding journeys. The question clients ask us is one we now ask ourselves: can we use AI for this, and does it save time? Not because we doubt our expertise. Rather, we want to understand what the latest tools can do. Lola, our art director, and Gilles, from our Innovate team, carried out a structured test over the past few weeks. Their starting point: a real brand essence from an existing client, paid accounts with AI design tools, and the exact same process we normally follow.
At Freelancers United, we guide many branding journeys. The question clients ask us is one we now ask ourselves: can we use AI for this, and does it save time? Not because we doubt our expertise. Rather, we want to understand what the latest tools can do. Lola, our art director, and Gilles, from our Innovate team, carried out a structured test over the past few weeks. Their starting point: a real brand essence from an existing client, paid accounts with AI design tools, and the exact same process we normally follow.
by
Freelancers United
3
min read
The briefing
We worked with the brand essence of Husky, a B2B scale-up with a clear positioning. The briefing contained one explicit constraint:
"Do not use a literal translation of the brand name in the visuals. The name is a metaphor, not an illustration prompt."
That last part turned out to be exactly where things went wrong.
Strong in text
The text phase went better than expected. The AI debriefed our briefing sharply, formulated brand directions and co-created visual concepts. The output was useful. Sometimes even good.
The tool described the brand atmosphere as "hyper-controlled cold as precision" and "technology that adapts to the user's needs." That touches the core of what Husky wants to be.
The typography advice was also sharp: Bricolage Grotesque as a balance between technical precision and human quirkiness. An observation that is accurate, and one we could have made ourselves.
Weak in visuals
When we asked to develop visual elements, a husky dog appeared.
We repeated the instruction. Another dog.
After several iterations, the same pattern remained visible: the system chooses the most obvious visual answer to a word, and executes it neatly. No interpretation. No consideration. No choice to avoid the literal.
The results looked cheap. The system does not think. It combines shapes based on what statistically belongs to a description, not on what a brand needs to stand out.
That is exactly what a good art director does: understand a briefing and break through it where necessary. That step, from instruction to interpretation, is completely missing.
What this means
AI speeds up the thinking phase. Converting a briefing into a brand direction, weighing up alternatives, iterating text: this goes faster with AI as a conversational partner.
The next step, from direction to a distinctive visual identity, still requires human judgment. Not as a statement about the profession, but because we tested it, and this is what we saw.
We integrate AI where it helps. The execution of visual identities remains human work, with better tools in hand than a year ago.
The creative colleagues can stay for now.
The briefing
We worked with the brand essence of Husky, a B2B scale-up with a clear positioning. The briefing contained one explicit constraint:
"Do not use a literal translation of the brand name in the visuals. The name is a metaphor, not an illustration prompt."
That last part turned out to be exactly where things went wrong.
Strong in text
The text phase went better than expected. The AI debriefed our briefing sharply, formulated brand directions and co-created visual concepts. The output was useful. Sometimes even good.
The tool described the brand atmosphere as "hyper-controlled cold as precision" and "technology that adapts to the user's needs." That touches the core of what Husky wants to be.
The typography advice was also sharp: Bricolage Grotesque as a balance between technical precision and human quirkiness. An observation that is accurate, and one we could have made ourselves.
Weak in visuals
When we asked to develop visual elements, a husky dog appeared.
We repeated the instruction. Another dog.
After several iterations, the same pattern remained visible: the system chooses the most obvious visual answer to a word, and executes it neatly. No interpretation. No consideration. No choice to avoid the literal.
The results looked cheap. The system does not think. It combines shapes based on what statistically belongs to a description, not on what a brand needs to stand out.
That is exactly what a good art director does: understand a briefing and break through it where necessary. That step, from instruction to interpretation, is completely missing.
What this means
AI speeds up the thinking phase. Converting a briefing into a brand direction, weighing up alternatives, iterating text: this goes faster with AI as a conversational partner.
The next step, from direction to a distinctive visual identity, still requires human judgment. Not as a statement about the profession, but because we tested it, and this is what we saw.
We integrate AI where it helps. The execution of visual identities remains human work, with better tools in hand than a year ago.
The creative colleagues can stay for now.
