It is a delicate dance, advertising generative AI tools to designers. On the one hand, these powerful engines can make their job easier. On the other, there is a fear in the community that they will be replaced by automations. It was our job to help Adobe Photoshop’s dedicated user base embrace the AI tools available to them as they step into the future.
In each of our assets highlighting tools like Generative Fill, used here, we asked ourselves what use cases would best underscore the helpfulness of new features while also visibly demonstrating a human touch. We chose to focus on the concept of abundance. How does one generate a TON of something in a short amount of time? And moreover, how do we live up to the design expectations of self-proclaimed Photoshop nerds?
Given our knowledge that Photoshop users generally head to long-form platforms for their tutorials, our TikTok and Reels content focused on inspiration and fan service. We wanted to highlight the way generative AI can serve the community while, quite frankly, just making something that looked dope. That’s Photoshop, baby.
In this video, we played with the ways that gen AI can assist in frame-by-frame animation—one of the more time-consuming and tedious tasks a designer can undertake. In order to showcase Photoshop’s Generative Fill feature, our designers generated an abundance of birds in various patterns and positions to display AI’s helpfulness when it comes to making many things quickly. Each bird was then handcrafted into creative positions, underscoring the importance of a human touch, even while drawing on the strength of AI.
We drew on fandom by incorporating elements of Photoshop UI, and worked with an editor with a deep understanding of the product to tell a story that traversed digital and physical realms. The result creates a striking blend of natural and graphic elements, a many-faceted bird soaring through the very notion of creativity before landing on a comedic human moment in the real world.
Needless to say, we delivered on all points of our strategy. And most importantly, of course, it looks dope.
We know you’re looking for more than just how creatively fulfilled our team was making this video. So here’s the breakdown: The video performed exceptionally well, especially on TikTok, where it garnered 4.2 million views, 19,000 likes, and over 1,100 saves. It also stood out on Instagram, gaining 234,000 views, 3,894 likes, and 189 shares.
