I test the AI tools, design trends, and brand moves marketers are talking about, then tell you what holds up and what doesn’t. Written by the author of the bestselling The Visual Marketer, after 20+ years leading brand, creative, and digital experience marketing teams.
Completing the AI Puzzle: AIs Working Together to Conquer Design
20 December 2023 | Issue #28 |
Have you heard about COLE? It's a groundbreaking tool that could significantly alter the graphic design landscape. Named after Henry Cole, the creator of the first graphical Christmas card, COLE allows users to input a design idea and have an AI generate not only the image but also the accompanying text. Developed by a team from Microsoft Research Asia and Peking University, COLE combines various AI models, including Meta’s Llama2-13B and GPT-4V, with the Skia graphics renderer. This unique combination addresses the complexity of graphic design and the scarcity of training data in the field, particularly for .svg files. COLE stands out for its ability to generate crisp, organized graphic designs that integrate visuals with stylized text, a task that has been challenging for most AI art generators. What sets COLE apart is its production of images with distinct editable blocks for texts and objects, allowing users to modify elements within the COLE framework itself. This feature enables users to make changes directly, without needing to export to other programs like Adobe Photoshop or InDesign. COLE's editable text and visual elements offer a new level of flexibility and user control in AI-generated designs. For designers and marketers just starting with AI, COLE represents a significant advancement in AI-assisted design tools. While it's not a fully there, COLE's capabilities suggest a future where high-quality designs can be generated with minimal effort, integrating human expertise when necessary. This development could democratize graphic design, enabling those without formal training to create professional-level designs. However, COLE is currently more of a framework than a product and is not yet publicly available, though a demo is expected soon on their Github project webpage. To learn more about COLE and its potential impact on graphic design, read more on VentureBeat. It's not fully baked, but generative AI being able to produce imagery and text that is editable is right around the corner.
😕 Design fail: Adobe and Figma call off their merger as antitrust scrutiny intensifiesIn a surprising turn of events, Adobe and Figma have decided to call off their $20 billion merger. This decision comes as a response to increasing antitrust scrutiny from regulators in the U.K. and EU, marking a significant moment in the tech industry's ongoing battles with regulatory bodies.
My two cents: I think this is good for the design industry. Adobe already controls so much of the design software space. It obviously saw Figma as a serious competitor and tried to squash it. Competition is a good thing. It forces companies to continue to up their respective games. The U.K. and E.U. regulators did us all a big favor (unless you were an investor in, or an employee of Figma. Without competition, we'd still be using QuarkXPress. Fun fact, Quark tried to buy Adobe years ago (Yikes!). We all benefitted from the deal not going through. 😻 Adobe just revealed the "functional and joyful" future of its software designAdobe's unveiling of Spectrum 2, the second generation of its design language, is quite the buzz in the design community. Set to launch in 2024, Spectrum 2 represents a significant overhaul of the user interface across Adobe's Creative Cloud suite, aiming to make the user experience feel more like 'home'.
👩🏾🎨 Imagen 2 on Vertex AI is now generally availableGoogle Cloud has just announced a major upgrade with Imagen 2 on Vertex AI, now available for customers. It's a big leap in image-generation capabilities, offering a range of features that make creating high-quality, photorealistic images from text prompts easier and more intuitive.
I haven't figured out how to use it yet, but the images on the announcement are the best I've seen from any genAI system to date. 🔦 Dark Mode vs. Light Mode – Breakdown by Age and AgendaA couple of weeks ago I surveyed people on LinkedIn and Threads to get a better understanding of what people like to use, and who prefers to use which mode. Some results were surprising. Others were in line with what I was expecting.
Is your department trying to figure out where to start with integrating AI? Find yourself not getting the traction you want with your AI initiatives? Why not have me talk with your team about what I'm seeing in the industry? We all know that third-party sources can help move internal initiatives along. Have you seen the Figma keyboard? How cool is this!?! Your favorite Figma shortcuts with the click of a button. Personally, I use a lot of hotkeys, so this would require me to learn a new system, but I could see it speeding up some processes. As the year winds down, I want to thank you for reading this newsletter. If your inbox is anything like mine, it probably looks like my tween's bedroom – a constant mess. But I appreciate you taking the time to read this and respond directly or in the comments. It's that type of motivation that keeps this going. 🙏🏻 HOW CAN I HELP YOU?
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Marketing by Design – Design thinking that makes marketing work
I test the AI tools, design trends, and brand moves marketers are talking about, then tell you what holds up and what doesn’t. Written by the author of the bestselling The Visual Marketer, after 20+ years leading brand, creative, and digital experience marketing teams.
09 November 2026 | Issue #139 In this issue: Marketing is your starting pitcher MPB2B Design quote of the week Marketing is Your Starting Pitcher In baseball, the starting pitcher is the star. Fans pick the night they buy tickets around who is on the mound, and an ace can make a game must-see and nearly guarantee a win. Teams pay for it. In 2026, a pitcher was the highest-paid player on 12 of 30 MLB teams, and Zack Wheeler leads the way at $42M. Middle relievers carry the game to the closer,...
26 October 2026 | Issue #138 In this issue: Creativity is less important than consistency Amazing real-world video effects Design quote of the week Why Consistency Beats Creativity in B2B Branding Your audience isn’t nearly as familiar with your brand as you are. And that’s a problem when you’re constantly changing it. Years ago, I worked with a CMO who had a habit of explaining our solution story to the marketing team. Over and over again. He’d stand at a whiteboard or one of the glass walls...
11 October 2026 | Issue #137 In this issue: Avoid these AI design tropes Don't use Muse if you like privacy Design quote of the week I Know You Used AI for Your Design You already know the em dash is a dead giveaway of AI writing (sorry, Ann Handley). Design has its own tells, and there are a lot of them. None of them is wrong on its own. A good writer can use an em dash on purpose, and a good designer can use any pattern below on purpose. They become a tell when they show up because nobody...