Last night, I was working on something. It wasn’t work related, but it was related to how I use AI for work. I was making a noir-themed meme for my dog’s Instagram. It’s silly and cute, but still needed refinement if I wanted engagement. I kept trying to get ChatGPT to give me what I wanted, but something felt off. Then I realized the problem wasn’t the AI. I had never actually defined what “noir” meant. The AI was giving me good outputs, but I couldn’t recognize it because I hadn’t made the connection I needed between the style and the content. So I stopped writing prompts for the AI and asked a different question: “What exactly is noir?” That question wasn’t an AI prompt. It was a thinking prompt… for me. Once I understood what noir really is, everything got easier and I was no longer frustrated by results that didn’t match my vision. The AI didn’t need to guess anymore because I was clear. I now had direction. It sounds simple, but this is where a lot of people get stuck with AI. If you don’t fully understand what you’re working on, the AI can’t either. AI doesn’t make the final decisions. You do. So before you ask for better prompts, make sure you have a full understanding. That’s how you stay in control. 👉 Have you ever realized mid-prompt that you didn’t actually know what you were asking for? How did you remedy it?

Even your AI starts telling you to slow down 🤣

Over the past several months, I’ve been shaping the identity of Lucidium. The AI space is still new, and finding the right position, and the right audience, has been a huge learning process. Last week, I spent time in a long discussion with ChatGPT and asked a simple question: - How does my brand actually come across to someone seeing it for the first time? The answer supported my own instincts and suspicions. While the branding was strong, it felt slightly out of reach. It lacked an "on-ramp", or comfort zone, for people discovering it for the first time. So I asked a second question: - How do you create an on-ramp without diluting the brand? The answer was simple but important: softer, more concrete, more relatable entry points. I had done this early on in brand building with calm offices, serene scenes, and busy professionals. Somewhere along the way though, I zoomed in too far on one layer of the brand and let it dominate. The lesson in all this? Ask your AI how your brand identity(and any content you release) feels to your audience. - Where does it invite them in? - Where does it unintentionally exclude them? - Would someone understand what to do if they encountered it in the wild? That conversation helped me rediscover my original intent and rebuild Lucidium as a layered story: - A beginning (first impressions and ads) - A middle (education and guidance) - An end (clear frameworks and mastery) The result was clarity, alignment, and a brand structure I can now build on deliberately. If you’re building something of your own, try asking AI: - How would my audience perceive this on first impression? - Where does it feel welcoming? - Where does it feel confusing or distant? - How can I make people feel like they belong here? Once you answer those questions, you'll have a solid foundation to build on. Did this process uncover something new about your brand identity, or did it confirm something you already suspected?

Have you taken a moment to consider the effect of your advertising, not just the result? Most people jump straight into tactics such as: “Make me an ad.” “Give me a strategy.” Or “Write me a hook.” But without understanding the psychology behind what you’re aiming for, AI will only give you the safest, most predictable version of your industry. It’s not wrong, just generic and forgettable. To remedy this, ask AI these questions: “Who is my audience?” “What are their pain points?” And “What do they actually need my product to do for them?” For some, it’s status. For others, convenience, practicality, or control. Everyone carries a romanticized version of their life where that thing already exists. Your product should be the step that gets them closer to it — the thing that shifts how they feel. This is a part of something called “value proposition”: A highlight of the value your product/service brings, and why potential customers should choose you over your competitors. When you understand that, you actually start speaking to people instead of at them. And that’s when they finally pay attention. ——— Do you practice value proposition when brainstorming with AI? Have you found that it improves your conversion rates?

I’ve been a skeptic of AI graphic design for a very long time. I’d only ever seen terrible, generic designs that weren’t worth the time it took to make them. Things like incoherent imagery, deformed letters, and dull, boring fonts that didn’t match the aesthetic. However, over the last few weeks, I’ve noticed something interesting: people’s AI-generated graphics are suddenly looking a lot better. - The text is clearer and correctly written - The visuals are eye-catching - The styles feel intentional and consistent - The fonts are more lively and match the style So I decided to experiment and see if I could quickly create flyers that came close enough to my own level that I’d feel good sharing them publicly. These have a bit of an AI-feel to it, so I’d still rate my own flyers as better, but the designs I’ve made are more than good enough for every day social media posts. So far, they’ve converted just as well as my own graphics. Example: Below is a fast, simple flyer I made for a mock photography studio. - It has a cohesive style that fits the industry - The cubist graphic is balanced and purposeful - The text is clean, well-written, and formatted correctly - The color palette is spot-on If this were my real photography studio, I’d feel comfortable posting it on my pages, Nextdoor, or in local Facebook groups. The workflow: To make this image, I went over a few things with ChatGPT. - My idea for the main art piece (to make sure the AI fully understood the visual direction) - The ideal audience for a minimalist, cubist art style - A few examples of the format I wanted(ask for recommendations if you're unsure). - Text that is relatable or inspiring to the audience. After less than 15 minutes and just three mockups, ChatGPT generated one that genuinely impressed me. It was something that needed minimal editing and looked fully professional. Here’s my chat for reference: https://chatgpt.com/share/692fd41f-91d0-8007-8d76-33500e2133ac