The downside to a CEO mindset + Designs for luxury IRL experiences

ICYMI

Last week I announced that I changed the name slightly and took out “CEO” from the name because it felt too limiting and I’m also not out here calling myself that.

The hoopla from the past couple of weeks is all the doom & gloom posts after Config25 (Figma’s conference) as they announce impressive new features that compete with Adobe, Canva, and maybe some web hosts.

If you’re not on that side of the algo, there’s also some strong opinions coming from CEOs. We saw earlier that the Shopify CEO wants an AI-first company, meaning you have to prove you can’t do it with AI before hiring a human. Two weeks ago Duolingo’s CEO made the same announcement which scratched many heads… because they’re known for VERY human marketing ideas and viral unhinged moments.

Here’s where the CEO mindset gets tricky

The pressure to know and be ahead of your industry can be mixed with hasty fear and uncertainty. And that’s confused with being proactive. You jump in quickly and feel this urgency, but the problem is, it doesn’t just live in your head, does it? You need to act on it… which affects your people: team, customers, clients, audience.

And you have to be sure it’s the right move.

That you can read the room.

That you’re having REAL conversations and the CEO mastermind group chats don’t count (too much of an echo chamber).

It’s that intrusive thought of “We’re screwed, we have to do something NOW”.

But what if it could just be “oOh, that’s exciting!”

ChatGPT spooked everyone with their image models and Studio Ghibli-esque characters. I get it but I tend to get nervous and I have to ground myself to see it as just something that’s not totally catastrophic.

You know what it made me do?

First, I tested out allll the AI stuff (I use ChatGPT regularly especially for research, organizing notes + my thoughts, and fleshing out ideas).

And then, I watched more Miyazaki movies because the posts reminded me that it’s been too long. I introduced my kids Ponyo since they already loved Totoro. Me and my husband watched Princess Mononoke - and Howl’s Moving Castle is next!

So, I think the use of all these tools will be inevitable, but that definitely won’t erase the craft that people crave.

Another tired take from Config I’ve seen is “Config 2024: AI will replace Designers. Config 2025: Designers will replace engineers with AI”. I mean… no, probably not, at least for a while. But when you make shocking definitive statements like that, it’s hard not to feel emotional, like your worth is done for.

So what does that mean for us?

Well, for one, stop reacting like an apocalyptic sign-holder at the park. Think back to the timeless art forms that bring people together. Look at what you want to be doing. And for you avid researchers - check out the studies, like this one that says for most average workers, AI only saved then 1% of their working time (but a bit more for developers) and it created MORE work for them 😅.

It’s all in the perspective, right?

This week: IRL collabs and brand personality graphics

World building with brand collab pop-up events is giving businesses a chance to bring immersive experiences for fans so they feel bigger than a typical product drop. Even if you’re not there IRL, they create fun FOMO… and funny enough, if they feel out of touch and exclusive, for Coach and Lululemon, it’s kind of on brand.

Homepage exploration on Framer with a more obvious callout to values.

Other projects I’m working on:

• chatting with agency owners + creative directors on collabs & retainers

• gathering my illustrations and adding a collection on my site after someone asked about them, totally forgot to mention I illustrate!

• CRMs, CRMs, CRMs

Hire me for brand, web or marketing design - and I have limited spots each month for a design retainers!

If your brand feels like it needs more creative breathing room so you open up more opportunities for yourself, hit reply and let’s chat or go to my page and see more.