Project / 05
Chia Design
AI / Creative Direction
Exploring what an AI creative director built around taste, not output, could feel like.
- Status
- Self-Initiated Concept
- Role
- Founder · Creative Director · Product Designer
- Focus
- Product Concept, Brand Identity, Creative Direction, UI Concepts
- Type
- Self-initiated concept
Generative AI can produce almost anything. I became interested in a different question: can it know what is worth making? Chia is a self-initiated concept for an AI creative director designed to sit before the generation layer.
References
The problem / context
What I was solving
Many generative creative tools begin with prompt → output. But creative work often begins with photographs, films, rooms, objects, materials, places, music, typography, eras, culture, and feelings. The challenge was imagining a tool capable of interpreting those relationships before generating anything.
My role
How I worked
I owned the idea, product thesis, naming, positioning, brand identity, creative direction, interface and UX concepts, photography direction, collateral, and campaign experimentation. Chia has no users or revenue. It is a concept exploration.
Title
- Founder
- Creative Director
- Product Designer
Process flow
How it moves
- 01Mood
- 02Interpretation
- 03Direction
- 04Identity
- 05Output
The process
Thinking, versions, evidence
- 01THESIS
The question
Can AI have taste? Chia begins with references, mood, culture, place, materials, and intent, then helps interpret those signals into coherent creative direction.
- 02REJECTED DIRECTION
Competing directions
Explored dark, stone, forest, sand, paper, midnight, and other directions. Technology does not have to look technological; warmth and restraint can communicate intelligence.
- 03CONCEPT APPLICATION
Identity & product UI
Wordmark, typography, materials, and conceptual navigation: Projects, Moodboards, Direction, Library, Exports. Opening question: What are we building today?
- 04CONCEPT APPLICATION
Demonstration projects
Demo worlds such as Riviera House, Ibiza Retreat, Casa Sol, Tribeca Café, clearly presented as demonstration content, not client work.
Competing directions
Identity
Product
- Taste is the moat: editing over generation.
- Warmth as contrast with AI aesthetics.
- Choosing less became the point of the project.
Outcome
Where it landed
A self-initiated brand and product concept exploring mood → interpretation → direction → identity → output. Demonstration projects and applications are labeled as concept work, not launched product.
Reflection
“Chia started as an AI product idea and became an experiment in what I value about design. The interesting part was not generating more. It was choosing less. The project made me think about taste as a process of editing, context, and judgment rather than simply style.”