Visual assets, like banners and images, accomplish a lot of objectives in UI and UX design. They fill space, contextualize copy, or build brand identity, among other things. Given their importance, it’s not at all surprising that Frost designers spend considerable time crafting and perfecting the stunning images used for these assets.
Visual assets, like banners and images, accomplish a lot of objectives in UI and UX design. They fill space, contextualize copy, or build brand identity, among other things. Given their importance, it’s not at all surprising that Frost designers spend considerable time crafting and perfecting the stunning images used for these assets.
A single image used in an asset goes through a gauntlet of refinements, approvals, and acceptance before it can be finally used. From start to finish, this process can take three days at best. Depending on the type of asset the image will be used in, it can even take more than three weeks, especially in important pieces like mastheads and banners.
With this in mind, there are three things at the core of asset production that Frost Founder and Chief Creative JP de Guzman wants to address.
The first is quality. Clients take a lot of pride in their branding, and maintaining this vision is a priority. At the same time, Frost designs are known to meet high standards and pass rigorous visual quality tests to earn that signature Frost look. Balancing these two requirements can be a challenge in itself.
The second point is scale. A website with multiple pages, or an app with multiple screens would require hundreds of assets, each going through the process described above. The challenge of scale here is finding a solution that can meet both the sheer volume of demand and the deadlines without sacrificing quality.
Finally, there is timing. The ability to deliver high quality output in scale would be severely undercut if they are not done in a timely manner. Projects follow well-defined timelines. A delay somewhere can cause a ripple of issues in future stages of the project and spell serious consequences for both the client and Frost.
These three aspects of production inspired JP to explore a new and creative approach to asset production. “The way I see it, we need to deliver the quality we promised our client,” JP explains. “They’re expecting something high level because it’s from Frost. How do you give volume and speed without compromising any quality?”
After an in-depth search, he found a promising answer in a tool based on artificial intelligence –Midjourney.
Midjourney, or MJ as it’s affectionately called by the JP and the Frost Design Team, is an AI-based text-to-image generator that uses diffusion models to produce visuals. Diffusion models like DALL-E2 and Stable Diffusion are the technology behind platforms like MJ.
According to its website, Midjourney is “focused on design, human infrastructure, and AI.” In a nutshell, it allows users to enter a text prompt. It then generates an image that follows the details specified in the prompt.
Early in March 2023, the team, led by JP, began experimenting with Midjourney for asset production. JP says the decision to incorporate Midjourney into the Design Team’s arsenal of tools is based on practicality.
“Like anything we do in Frost, it has to serve a particular business purpose,” he elaborates. “In our case, our use of MJ is fueled by the demand to produce the volume of assets required by our projects.”
Just a few weeks before, the team has been working on a project with a massive asset demand. At the time, their assessment showed that the project, comprising more than 30 pages, required over 120 assets.
With the old process potentially taking up to three weeks per asset, sticking to it is all but untenable. The mounting pressure is further doubled by a looming deadline. All 120 assets, and the pages they would be on, needed to be completed by the end of April.
Gwyn, a visual designer and member of the Frost Asset Team, was one of the first few people JP introduced to Midjourney. “At first, we [the team] didn’t like it. We hesitated to use it, actually,” she admitted. “It felt like cheating because we could fake everything.”
Over the following weeks, the rest of the team were gradually introduced to Midjourney, and they shared Gwyn’s sentiments. As designers who take pride in their work, the first impression was that AI-generated images can make it appear as if talent and hard work no longer mattered.
“They wanted to distance themselves from it,” JP recalls when he presented Midjourney to the team. “I understood the hesitation there, of course. They’re craftsmen! They didn’t want to ‘devalue’ their craftsmanship by using a machine.”
“The truth is, AI alone is not enough,” he continues. JP points out that Midjourney is a tool and it’s important to remember that. “Yes, it represents a turning point in our process, but it can’t replace the human touch. It will always need human input and intervention.”
True enough, human parts proved to be critical for Midjourney. Quite literally, at that. Amazing as it is, the diffusion model had limitations in drawing certain body parts. Sometimes, MJ would generate images showing hands with six fingers and no thumbs, or human figures with wonky eyes and cartoonish skin. Thankfully, it was easy for the skilled designers at Frost to correct these mistakes.
Before Midjourney, a major key visual took two to three months from scratch to completion. This included coming up with the idea, drawing it on paper or on a digital canvas, and getting the client to agree on the concept.
Add a couple more weeks to create the initial drawing, another week to present it to the different stakeholders, and one or two more weeks of comments, revisions, and iterations of the design. Once approved, it would take up to three weeks more for refinement and final rendering.
While the assets Frost used in its recent project were not as major as the ones described above, the numbers were still undeniable. With Midjourney, production rates have definitely spiked.
The reason for this uptick in speed was surprising because in the frontlines, the story is a little bit different. “If you take a look at a snapshot of the data, yes, the speed is there. We finished 122 bespoke assets in 30 days,” JP exclaims, “but the main improvement is really in client feedback.”
According to him, Frost puts a lot of work into an asset before it can be considered commercial, and these challenges are present whether or not Midjourney is part of the equation. It’s why major key visuals can take months before they are completed. A large portion of that time is taken by back-and-forths with the client.
Clients are very particular about what they want their visuals to look like and it’s rare to find a stock photo that hits the mark right off the bat. Midjourney’s ability to create bespoke assets was the game-changer that JP has been waiting for especially when it comes to finding the right image.
“How do you find a 30-year-old Filipina sari-sari store owner holding a candle? Where do I find that stock photo?” JP asks jokingly. The specifics of certain client requirements was the last hurdle the design team had to overcome. “With Midjourney, we can zoom in and control a model’s details with precision: their age, their outfit, their background, what they’re doing, even the direction they’re facing!”
“Our client approval has never been higher,” JP says happily. “This is the benefit that a lot of people don’t see. We’re able to really pinpoint the content of the visuals they want.”
With MJ, Frost has cut down the rate at which clients returned images during the feedback process. JP credits this to the powerful customization features the AI-based tool possesses. In the past, assets based on stock photos were a hit-or-miss. The team would spend hours or days searching for stock photos with no guarantees of approval. Changes would take even longer.
If clients want certain details changed halfway, MJ makes it easy. “Do they want the model in the picture to be slightly older or wearing a differently colored dress?” JP goes on. “Now, it’s easier to generate those changes and then have it go through our refinement process.”
Generating custom AI assets also creates a consistency that stock photos are hard-pressed to replicate. It allows designers to focus more on methodology and skill, instead of spending their time scouring stock photo databases for something that doesn’t 100% fit the bill.
Experts have predicted the rise of AI and other similar products to be an industry-changer. Frost CEO Leigh de Joya-de Guzman maintains a positive outlook on these new developments.
“My stance with AI, or any technology for that matter, is always optimistic,” she explains. “For me, to be able to direct talents' skills and strengths, and fast-track the growth of both the talent and of Frost as an organization has always been a factor why I encourage embracing AI or any technology.”
After a few months of use, the rest of the team now shares Leigh’s opinions on AI. The influence MJ had in improving asset production and client approval has been phenomenal. Today, many of Frost’s social media and blog posts are headlined by visuals created with AI assistance.
For JP, he believes it’s too early to say if MJ is here to stay, but the numbers look promising. “We’ll have more opportunities to test its usefulness further and discover new ways to use it,” he adds.
Frost as an organization looks forward to pushing the boundaries of what can be done with AI-based tools like Midjourney. Its use reflects the team’s knack for operational excellence, letting machines do the grunt work and heavy-lifting so that, as JP puts it, “We can capitalize where we are best– being creative and human.”
Before Midjourney, a major key visual took two to three months from scratch to completion. This included coming up with the idea, drawing it on paper or on a digital canvas, and getting the client to agree on the concept.
Add a couple more weeks to create the initial drawing, another week to present it to the different stakeholders, and one or two more weeks of comments, revisions, and iterations of the design. Once approved, it would take up to three weeks more for refinement and final rendering.
While the assets Frost used in its recent project were not as major as the ones described above, the numbers were still undeniable. With Midjourney, production rates have definitely spiked.
The reason for this uptick in speed was surprising because in the frontlines, the story is a little bit different. “If you take a look at a snapshot of the data, yes, the speed is there. We finished 122 bespoke assets in 30 days,” JP exclaims, “but the main improvement is really in client feedback.”
According to him, Frost puts a lot of work into an asset before it can be considered commercial, and these challenges are present whether or not Midjourney is part of the equation. It’s why major key visuals can take months before they are completed. A large portion of that time is taken by back-and-forths with the client.
Clients are very particular about what they want their visuals to look like and it’s rare to find a stock photo that hits the mark right off the bat. Midjourney’s ability to create bespoke assets was the game-changer that JP has been waiting for especially when it comes to finding the right image.
“How do you find a 30-year-old Filipina sari-sari store owner holding a candle? Where do I find that stock photo?” JP asks jokingly. The specifics of certain client requirements was the last hurdle the design team had to overcome. “With Midjourney, we can zoom in and control a model’s details with precision: their age, their outfit, their background, what they’re doing, even the direction they’re facing!”
“Our client approval has never been higher,” JP says happily. “This is the benefit that a lot of people don’t see. We’re able to really pinpoint the content of the visuals they want.”
With MJ, Frost has cut down the rate at which clients returned images during the feedback process. JP credits this to the powerful customization features the AI-based tool possesses. In the past, assets based on stock photos were a hit-or-miss. The team would spend hours or days searching for stock photos with no guarantees of approval. Changes would take even longer.
If clients want certain details changed halfway, MJ makes it easy. “Do they want the model in the picture to be slightly older or wearing a differently colored dress?” JP goes on. “Now, it’s easier to generate those changes and then have it go through our refinement process.”
Generating custom AI assets also creates a consistency that stock photos are hard-pressed to replicate. It allows designers to focus more on methodology and skill, instead of spending their time scouring stock photo databases for something that doesn’t 100% fit the bill.
Experts have predicted the rise of AI and other similar products to be an industry-changer. Frost CEO Leigh de Joya-de Guzman maintains a positive outlook on these new developments.
“My stance with AI, or any technology for that matter, is always optimistic,” she explains. “For me, to be able to direct talents' skills and strengths, and fast-track the growth of both the talent and of Frost as an organization has always been a factor why I encourage embracing AI or any technology.”
After a few months of use, the rest of the team now shares Leigh’s opinions on AI. The influence MJ had in improving asset production and client approval has been phenomenal. Today, many of Frost’s social media and blog posts are headlined by visuals created with AI assistance.
For JP, he believes it’s too early to say if MJ is here to stay, but the numbers look promising. “We’ll have more opportunities to test its usefulness further and discover new ways to use it,” he adds.
Frost as an organization looks forward to pushing the boundaries of what can be done with AI-based tools like Midjourney. Its use reflects the team’s knack for operational excellence, letting machines do the grunt work and heavy-lifting so that, as JP puts it, “We can capitalize where we are best– being creative and human.”
JP encourages talents to strive and adopt a mentality of continuous improvement and discipline. He supports his team by empowering them through his leadership and mentoring them along their careers. This mindset allows the team to pursue goals that may seem impossible but are achievable.
Awesome Tech Experiences: Frost focuses on designing and developing a user-friendly experience for our clients and their customers. This is possible with our amazing designers and developers behind the digital curtain.
Awesome Tech Experiences: From students to grown-ups, Frost focuses on designing and developing a user-friendly experience for our clients and their customers. This is possible with our amazing designers and developers behind the digital curtain.