FLOW: New York Rewind
What we learned at FLOW: North America is that playing around with Generative AI like Midjourney can bring a bit of childlike wonder to the creative process. Anything is possible, and the only limitation is your imagination. Well, it’s not the only limitation; we also learned that getting signed up and using Midjourney for the first time is a little more challenging than expected. At the end of this post, we’ll walk you through a quick guide to getting started and a few lessons learned from using Midjourney for the first time.

Before we get there, let's look at some of the exciting projects and artists using generative AI to spark your own exploration.

Revolve - Best Trip Campaign

We had to include Revolve’s campaign because when it comes to fashion and e-commerce, this is as big as it gets for AI. The ‘Best Trip’ campaign was a series of billboards all created with generative AI by Maison Meta. These billboards were used as a lead-up to Coachella and less about prompting a certain clothing item. But this still has to be considered a giant step for AI to be used in this capacity for a fashion brand like Revolve. Generative AI can be used in many capacities when it comes to creating campaigns and social media content, and Revolve proved that.

Aitana Lopez

Have you met Spanish influencer Aitana Lopez? If you haven’t guessed already, she’s not exactly ‘real’. Aitana is an influencer who attends tennis matches, works out, and responds to fans' comments—all the things an influencer does. She just happens to be run by an agency that created her and runs her with the help of AI. As mind-bending as it seems, it’s also an absolutely fascinating use of AI.

Yearling Heights

Marcellus spoke at FLOW: North America; in fact, you can watch his whole presentation on Yearling Heights here. Yearling Heights is a storytelling project. Using different AI tools, Marcellus is creating a whole community with parks, statues, restaurants, proms, and, of course, the people of Yearling Heights. The Instagram of Yearling Heights is written like a town communicating directly with its citizens. Watch it all unfold for yourself.

Living Archive - Wayne Mcgregor:

By now, many of us are well versed in how generative AI creates new content based on a library of content. Usually, we think of Midjourney or ChatGPT. Studio Wayne McGregor took to the next level with help from Google Arts and Culture Labs by using Wayne McGregors archive of choreography to create new choreography

AI Fashion Week

It’s easy to think at times that anything generated by AI is otherworldly or impossible to exist IRL. But AI Fashion Week is proving that generative AI is another tool in the toolbox for bringing ideas to life. AI Fashion Week gives designers and AI creators the opportunity to showcase their work and AI's capabilities. Take a look at the previous winners here.

Quick Guide to Getting Started

We know from the experience of trying to get 40 people using Midjourney and Discord that there is a barrier to entry in testing and playing with Midjourney. So, here is our step-by-step guide to getting up and running:

Step 1. Discord
When you use Midjourney, you are actually using Discord to access Midjourney. Discord is a messaging platform (think Slack). Start by signing up to Discord.

Step 2. Subscribe to Midjourney
Unfortunately, Midjourney is no longer free. You will now need to go to the Midjourney website and use your Discord account to subscribe and pay. This is the only time we’ll actually be using the Midjourney website.

Step 3. Join Server
Now back to Discord. Search for Midjourney and join the server.

Step 4. Join a Newbie channel
On the left-hand side, you will see newbie channels (channels start with a #). Find any newbie channel and join it. This is where you will interact with Midjourney to start generating AI images.

What we learned as newbies:

  • When you first join Discord, the newbie channel can feel chaotic. You’ll probably wonder what the heck is happening. The constant stream of messages and images…those are other newbies using the channel.
  • Because things move so fast - don’t lose your image. Be sure to ‘stay’ with your image in the channel to be able to keep iterating on it. You can also save your image from Discord. Learn more about that here.

Good luck out there creating your own piece of generative AI art.