Tradition meets innovation
The creation of the key visual "RITUALS" by means of AI
The Festival of Young Artists was founded in 1950 and looks back on a history rich in tradition. Nevertheless, it reinvents itself every year, follows a constant path of transformation and is open to innovation – whether in the artistic field or also in the area of its own promotional activities.
This was also the case in 2023 - where the topic of "Artificial Intelligence (AI)" not only found its way into a workshop with Fredrik Schwenk, but also into the creation of the annual key visual.
Our long-standing advertising agency partner and sponsor, POLYNEO GmbH from Bayreuth, had come up with something very special to set the scene for the general theme RITUALS - and that was to create it with the help of AI.
Artificial intelligence enables the creation of beautiful key visuals because of its ability to analyze large amounts of data and recognize patterns. Through the use of algorithms, AI can understand visual elements such as colors, shapes, and compositions to generate new, aesthetically pleasing designs. Furthermore, AI can also access an extensive database of images and styles to provide inspiration and create unique key visuals. The combination of machine learning and creative design enables AI to create stunning visual content that meets individual needs and preferences.
On the history of its creation:
Since rituals are somewhat different for everyone, be it daily routines or habitual activities, the title motif should also be flexible in its interpretation of what everyone sees in it. At the same time, the basis, the relation to the music and the festival should remain in its core.
Using AI image generators, such as Stable Diffusion or Midjourney, first attempts were made - however, the first attempts with freely available tools were rather sub-par. At least “prompts”, i.e. the text specifications for image generation, could be tested and suitable keywords could be found out. However, in order to achieve really good artistic results, POLYNEO made a decision:
“We set up our own AI image generator locally with a data model specially trained for this purpose in order to successively obtain a result in terms of quality, which meets our quality standards.”, says Florian Krasser, Managing Director of POLYNEO GmbH.
First results (see image 01) went in a good artistic direction, but were not yet really optimal, so that a continuous training of the data model with images of the festival, title motifs of previous years and other content as well as color concept specifications took place. This finally led to the right style (see image 02).
Through countless runs of image generation and recombination of prompts and keywords, the correct image style with matching colors was finally achieved (see image 03).
The great advantage of the AI tools: a multitude of different image motifs with different image elements can be created, which precisely takes into account the intention to allow sufficient room for interpretation through this very flexible representation.
In the end, the final key visual was assembled by hand from three to four images and digitally scaled up with a great deal of post-processing work in order to have sufficient resolution for use on large posters, for example (see Figure 04).
This novel approach takes into account the festival's philosophy of constantly reinventing itself, breaking new ground and thinking outside the box. A constant transformational journey with a sustainable future.
P. S.: I wonder if we also created this text with the help of AI?