{"id":7057665,"date":"2026-09-05T13:58:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T13:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/art\/i-questioned-twas-use-of-ai-illustration-in-a-branding-project-heres-their-fascinating-response\/"},"modified":"2026-09-05T13:58:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T13:58:40","slug":"i-questioned-twas-use-of-ai-illustration-in-a-branding-project-heres-their-fascinating-response","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665","title":{"rendered":"I questioned TWA’s use of AI illustration in a branding project: here’s their fascinating response"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

Last week, I wrote a critique of The Working Assembly’s new identity for voice-journalling app Untold<\/a>. The article was broadly favourable, but questioned the team’s use of AI illustration over a human illustrator. I ended by asking Creative Boom’s audience what you thought of this, and graphic designer and motion artist Michela Bruno<\/a> sent this thoughtful response:<\/p>\n

“My answer is actually a question. I can’t make up my mind without knowing this first: why haven’t they commissioned the paintings to an illustrator and decided to do them in AI?”<\/em><\/p>\n

It’s a good question. A very good question. And I’ve got to be honest, one I should have put to TWA directly before publishing my opinions. A case of “eagerness to meet deadline” overcoming good journalism and common sense. Mea culpa.<\/p>\n

That said, I figured: better late than never. And so I got in touch with Jolene Delisle, founder of The Working Assembly<\/a>, to do just that. Her answer was a fascinating one; so much so that, rather than tagging it on to the previous article as an afterthought, I felt it deserved an article all by itself.<\/p>\n

Why they used AI<\/h2>\n

“For us, it wasn’t really AI versus an illustrator or about replacing an illustrator,” begins Jolene. “It came from what we were trying to build for Untold. The illustrations in the system are meant to respond to what people are expressing\u2014their emotions, thoughts, and experiences\u2014and evolve as the product is used. Rather than creating a fixed library of illustrations, we wanted to build a visual system that could continue to respond to the person using it.”<\/p>\n

\n
\"Five<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Smartphone<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"The<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

She goes on to explain in more detail how the artwork was generated. “We started with a human-created visual reference and then built a custom AI agent around a very specific set of creative rules and guardrails. It wasn’t just asking an image generator to make paintings. We were designing a visual language and then building a way for that language to continually evolve.<\/p>\n

“In some ways, I think of it as an extension of what brand guidelines have always been intended to do,” she reflects. “You create a visual language and a set of rules so that a brand can continue to make new things without the original designer creating every single asset. Here, we encoded those rules into a system that could respond dynamically to what people were sharing with Untold. That responsiveness was a big part of the idea. We weren’t looking for a cheaper way to produce a set of illustrations.”<\/p>\n

Acknowledging the tension<\/h2>\n

As a creative herself, Jolene understands why this might not sit right with everyone. “I get the tension in something so human, like someone’s voice being visually interpreted by a machine,” she explains. “I don’t think we shied away from that tension there. To me, it’s actually one of the more interesting things about the project and it raises questions about where human authorship begins and ends in a system like this.<\/p>\n

“We work with and commission illustrators, photographers, artists, and makers all the time,” she adds. “So this wasn’t a decision that those people were somehow less valuable. It was about what made sense for this particular experience. The distinction is that we didn’t use AI simply to replicate something we would otherwise have commissioned someone to make. It was that it enabled us to create an experience that could be dynamic and meaningfully different every time you open the app.”<\/p>\n

For me, that puts the whole “AI illustration” thing TWA shared in their press release into much clearer perspective. The crucial thing, I think, is that this wasn’t just someone putting prompts into Midjourney, but someone creating a bespoke AI system based on illustration work commissioned from an actual human.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Untold<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Three<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\"Four<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

“Yes, exactly,” says Jolene. “Someone on our team created the initial illustration specifically for the project, and that became the reference we used to build the AI system. It also wasn’t a matter of putting that image in and getting the final result. We spent a lot of time continuing to customise and refine the outputs to get the look right. Things like the texture, tone, lighting, composition, and all the little details that made it the specific illustration style we were going after.”<\/p>\n

And that’s important, because we’re probably going to see more of this kind of thing in future. “As these tools evolve,” says Jolene, “I believe the role of the designer is going to shift from physically making every individual thing to creating the right inputs, setting parameters, curating, editing, and knowing when something is right or wrong.<\/p>\n

“You still need the eye, the thinking, the craft, and the taste,” she concludes. “The tool doesn’t make those decisions for you. The human designer is a critical part of the process, providing human creative direction and refinement throughout.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, I wrote a critique of The Working Assembly’s new identity for voice-journalling app Untold. The article was broadly favourable, but questioned the team’s use of AI illustration over a human illustrator. I ended by asking Creative Boom’s audience what you thought of this, and graphic designer and motion artist Michela Bruno sent this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7057666,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[14214,13846,6765,2892,5401,87185,14964,18057],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7057665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-branding","tag-fascinating","tag-heres","tag-illustration","tag-project","tag-questioned","tag-response","tag-twas"],"yoast_head":"\nI questioned TWA's use of AI illustration in a branding project: here's their fascinating response - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Working Assembly used AI in its branding for Untold, but not in the way you might think. Last week, I wrote a critique of The Working Assembly's new identit...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I questioned TWA's use of AI illustration in a branding project: here's their fascinating response - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Working Assembly used AI in its branding for Untold, but not in the way you might think. Last week, I wrote a critique of The Working Assembly's new identit...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-05T13:58:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5315f5c9a519db170f487c44e96606858f425df7-medium.webp.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"724\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"I questioned TWA’s use of AI illustration in a branding project: here’s their fascinating response\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-05T13:58:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665\"},\"wordCount\":848,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5315f5c9a519db170f487c44e96606858f425df7-medium.webp.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Branding\",\"Fascinating\",\"Heres\",\"Illustration\",\"Project\",\"Questioned\",\"Response\",\"Twas\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665\",\"name\":\"I questioned TWA's use of AI illustration in a branding project: here's their fascinating response - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5315f5c9a519db170f487c44e96606858f425df7-medium.webp.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-09-05T13:58:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Working Assembly used AI in its branding for Untold, but not in the way you might think. Last week, I wrote a critique of The Working Assembly's new identit...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5315f5c9a519db170f487c44e96606858f425df7-medium.webp.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5315f5c9a519db170f487c44e96606858f425df7-medium.webp.webp\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":724},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I questioned TWA’s use of AI illustration in a branding project: here’s their fascinating response\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I questioned TWA's use of AI illustration in a branding project: here's their fascinating response - Som2ny Network","description":"The Working Assembly used AI in its branding for Untold, but not in the way you might think. Last week, I wrote a critique of The Working Assembly's new identit...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I questioned TWA's use of AI illustration in a branding project: here's their fascinating response - Som2ny Network","og_description":"The Working Assembly used AI in its branding for Untold, but not in the way you might think. Last week, I wrote a critique of The Working Assembly's new identit...","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2026-09-05T13:58:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":724,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5315f5c9a519db170f487c44e96606858f425df7-medium.webp.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"I questioned TWA’s use of AI illustration in a branding project: here’s their fascinating response","datePublished":"2026-09-05T13:58:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665"},"wordCount":848,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5315f5c9a519db170f487c44e96606858f425df7-medium.webp.webp","keywords":["Branding","Fascinating","Heres","Illustration","Project","Questioned","Response","Twas"],"articleSection":["Art"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665","name":"I questioned TWA's use of AI illustration in a branding project: here's their fascinating response - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5315f5c9a519db170f487c44e96606858f425df7-medium.webp.webp","datePublished":"2026-09-05T13:58:40+00:00","description":"The Working Assembly used AI in its branding for Untold, but not in the way you might think. Last week, I wrote a critique of The Working Assembly's new identit...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5315f5c9a519db170f487c44e96606858f425df7-medium.webp.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/5315f5c9a519db170f487c44e96606858f425df7-medium.webp.webp","width":1280,"height":724},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7057665#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I questioned TWA’s use of AI illustration in a branding project: here’s their fascinating response"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7057665","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7057665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7057665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7057666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7057665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7057665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7057665"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=7057665"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=7057665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}