Ep 38: Using Midjourney to Unlock New Levels of Creativity

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Did you know that you can be a world class artist without any real art experience? So that's not a lie, that is not hyperbole, that is real life. That's one of the things that we're going to be talking about today on Everyday AI. This is your daily livestream, podcast and free daily newsletter bringing you the latest in AI news, development and just how everyday people like you and me can use all of these different tools that are coming out nonstop. So we're excited to talk about some mid journey things today which is using text to images. But before we do, let's dive into some recent AI news and development. So let's look at There's a lot going on and some of these stories are extremely interesting and if you want to read more, make sure you go to your everydayai.com Sign up for the newsletter. We're going to have way more about these stories today. So the first story I wanted to talk about is a new poll is showing 42% of CEOs think that AI could potentially wipe out humanity in the next five to 10 years. I think I know some people are rolling their eyes when, when, when they hear this kind of news or they see these studies, but these are legit. Like US based CEOs of big companies. 42% think that AI could potentially wipe out humanity. That's wild to me, but I think it's something that we definitely have to consider and keep our eye on. So, so the next story is kind of, kind of related there. So Coursera CEO is warning that AI is coming for the jobs that you might least expect and really encouraging people to upskill. So we obviously have to look at this news story twofold. 1. Is there some truth to it? Absolutely. I do think unlike a lot of people, that AI is going to cause a lot of job displacement. However, this also does benefit him and his company. I believe Coursera is selling exactly that courses to help people upskill. So we'll have more in the newsletter on that. Last but not least, this one's very interesting. So Google is warning its own staff about chatbots, that right? That's right, that's right. So Google, the company that released its own great chatbot by the way called Bard. So if you've used ChatGPT, Bard is Google's kind of competitor or answer or option for kind of generative chat or Generative search. So this is very ironic, right? So there's some things that they're warning their staff about that make sense, such as not sharing confidential information.

Good.

Okay, great. But also Google is telling its engineers to avoid using code from chatbots. Very ironic, right? Considering that Google really was promoting Bard heavily recently specifically for its ability to code. So, hey, everyone else can use it, but not Google's own engineers. Wild. Right? So we're going to have a lot more on some of these stories and more in our newsletter, but right now I want to start talking about Mid Journey, so we're going to get into it. As a reminder, if you are watching live, please drop us a question for our guest today, who I'm about to bring on. If you are listening to this on the podcast, please make sure to join us live every weekday on LinkedIn and other social media. I guess 7:30am but let's bring in our guest for today. I'm super excited for this one. So we have Rory Flynn, who is the head of business development at Commerce 12. Rory, I'm excited. Thank you for joining us.

Yeah, man. What's up, Jordan? How's everything going?

Amped to be here, man. I am amped as well. I shouldn't be this excited after only one coffee this early in the morning, but let's get to it. So, Rory, just tell everyone kind of a little bit about, you know, what you do at Commerce 12 and how mid Journey kind of plays into that.

Yeah, man, well, you know, I'm head of business development. You know, that's just a fancy way of saying I'm in sales. But realistically, you know, this started as a, you know, I saw this on Twitter, some Mid Journey. I was like, what are these, like, crazy images that people are producing? And I'm like, you know what, I'm diving into this. I'm bored. You know, it's late at night. Like, let me see what happens.

Get in there.

And then, little did I know I'd be, you know, mildly obsessed. Some would say way more than mildly obsessed. But I was just like, you know, this is fun. Let me create some crazy stuff. Before you know it, I'm like, I can use this. Like, we can use this in the agency. And, you know, it started to become a little bit more of just like a fun side project and more like, how do we inject this into our operations to, like, supercharge everything that we're doing? So, you know, started as a. Started as a late night, like, I'm bored kind of thing. And now it's basically my everyday life. So it's a fun tool.

I love it. I love it. It's your everyday life and we're talking about it on everyday AI. So actually that's a great transition, Rory, because I think a lot of people maybe haven't heard of Mid Journey or they're not very familiar with really what it does. So break it down for someone who's maybe never heard of Mid Journey. So maybe what is it and how does it work?

Well, simply, I mean, it's just generative AI art. I mean it's text to image. And um, it's a little bit, I will say, and I'm self admitted here, a little clunky on using Discord and Mid Journey at the same time. But every. It's based on. It's a Mid Journey, sorry, Discord based program. So basically you go in there, you type in some text and it generates an image. But the quality of this one I've found versus some of the other ones that I've tried, you know, stable diffusion or whether it's Firefly, what are the other. Whatever the other AI tools are. Just the image quality is far superior and like the consistency is far superior to me. So it's just a tool that, you know, once you get into it, it's really like there's no end to it. I pushed it very far, probably generated over 10,000 images on it.

So it's like, wow, that's amazing. That's amazing. So if you are listening on the podcast right now, I'm actually sharing on the screen just so people can kind of see how this works. So, you know, Rory mentioned Discord, which if you're highly technical, Discord is nothing new. But if not, it is just kind of like slack, more or less. To simplify it, what I have here, I just have an example. We actually use Midjourney as well to recap our weekly news. We put out a little carousel as an example. You can put in a text prompt Rory saying, this is generative AI on my screen. This is something we used last week. I said a visual representation of an AI bot gone bad. Then you see a picture of a sad looking robot there on fire. Rory, what was your first experience? Like you said, hey, you saw it on Twitter and you became addicted. But like, what was that? Like when you started to just be able to type something that you were thinking about in your head and to see it come to life, like what's on screen right here in amazing detail, what did that, like, what was that?

Like, for you first, I was like, damn it, I needed this. Like, 10 years ago when I was working in design, I was like, oh, man. Like, what the. You know, things that would take me days, hours, like, weeks was done in two seconds. And I was like, yeah, that my life. And, like, just trying to translate what's in my head. Like, you know, if anyone has been doing design in any way, shape or form, you know, using Photoshop, using Illustrator, like, the mind, some minor tasks of, like, removing a background or things like that ever, and, like, just getting something that you're looking for and, like, you know, splicing things together. This stuff was just. You type it in and then it's just like, okay, really realizing that going into the prompting aspect of it to get what you want, there's. There's like little cheat codes within it to get exactly what you want. And then basically, you know, you've transitioned from just prompting away for six hours to doing it in five seconds. So it's nuts. It's. I really was. I was really. When I found it and I started, it was like, you know, picture of a dog. I'm like, okay, cool. Like, oh, let's do, you know, what everyone was doing at the time was like, oh, let's do the Simpsons as an 80s sitcom. I was like, okay, cool, I'll try that. But then it was like, can this stuff do more? Can this stuff do. Can it generate, like, an email marketing template? Can it generate landing pages? Can it generate different types of things like that? And I was like, once it started going down that rabbit hole, it was game over. Yeah.

And that's a great question and also a great transition. So as a reminder, thank you for the live comments. Nicholas saying, nice, pj, Great timing on this question. So PJ is asking, is it able to generate images that are photo quality? So before you answer that, Rory, I'm actually going to share my screen for those of you joining us live at a. An image that Rory created here. So I'd say this is photo quality, right? So, yeah, like, why don't you just take that question and maybe even a little bit talk about and describe if you can kind of this. This image that we have on the screen here.

Yeah, pj, that's been my sole purpose for the last month. I'd say is just like, how can I get as realistic as possible so that it doesn't look AI. Because there's a. Definitely a look and feel to it. Like, if you were just typing something generic, like, you know, model in front of A graffiti wall. Like, you're going to get something that looks like polished skin. It's going to look very AI, like artificial. So when you start typing in, like, mid journey was trained on a number of different photographs, like over some crazy number of billions of photographs. But a lot of the technical information was embedded into those. So utilizing like photographic elements, using cameras, using the apertures, using the light, lighting conditions, things like that really brings it into like a more realistic quality. So, yeah, this image right here, someone asked me, like, you know, I'm trying to do like a fashion line that's inspired by, you know, graffiti artists. And I'm like, okay, let's, let's try it out.

Bang.

Like, there it is. So, like, this is just a very simple, you know, application for it. Like, I tend to focus on in my free time. Like, I'm like, I want to be a National Geographic photographer. That was like, my goal is like, I want to be that guy, you know, I want to be the guy that's out, you know, in these crazy places, photographing animals, photographing people. So, like, I've gone down that rabbit hole significantly and that's where I find a lot of this stuff can get really, really, really, you know, impressive.

Yeah.

So.

So, you know, I think, I think one question that most people have, including, you know, PJ here, is asking how the, the great thing is, is, you know, if you go on places like Twitter, you know, most people will share their images as long as, you know what's called the alt or just, you know, you can tap it and people will share their prompts. So then you can use those and try to, you know, generate similar images. So. So pj, I see your comment here wanting to, you know, giving an example. So I'm actually. Because we could talk for hours about the actual process, right. But I'm actually going to be doing a quick five minute tutorial that will drop in the newsletter today. So I do want to get to a couple other use cases though, Rory, because we could talk about, you know, the fine details and the how. But I think a lot of people are probably thinking, all right, Rory. Well, you know, I'm not an advertising or I don't, you know, I don't necessarily need, you know, these, these type of images. So let's talk about another use case. So now I'm going to share on, on the screen here an extremely high quality photo that could be used, it looks like, as an example for a makeup company. But you know, if you're listening to this on podcast, it Looks like a model. You know, the skin tones are fantastic, smooth, no blemishes, and it looks obviously like a real human being and, you know, kind of like a mood board type. So how could you, you know, use something like this? Rory, for a variety of cases, Are.

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Well, I came up with this because I was just like, let's see, what's the most complex thing I could think of in my head. It's a mood board. Like there's so many different elements to it. Colors, textures, palettes, like, you know, lifestyle images, photo, like, you know, different product photographs. So I pushed the boundaries here with this one. I was like, let's create a, basically a collaboration between Urban Outfitters and Crayola and let's just see what it comes up with. So this one, like, to me gave me a great starting point because if you're looking for something like a new project or you have a new idea and like mood boarding takes forever. Look, if anyone's ever tried to design one, it takes days, weeks. It's just sourcing elements. It's so much like organization. So having this done in five seconds and then I can also re roll it a million times and get a ton of different options. Like this was, this is crazy. So I think that stuff, you know, getting into the mood boarding side of things is like probably one of the most complex things you can do on here. But it's, you know, the possibilities are kind of endless. So.

Yeah, yeah. And I think, I think another great use case so let's talk about this because I think everyone does what I'm sharing on my screen now. Like in some way I feel even if you're not in marketing and branding, in communications, I feel a lot of times newsletters, company newsletters are a team effort. Right. So what I'm sharing on the screen now, first of all, this is from a color scheme. This is amazing. So this is, if you're listening on the podcast, we have kind of four or five different panes of what would be a, an email newsletter or even a landing page. I guess in theory it could be either showing different shoes from different angles. The colors are fantastic. Talk, talk a little bit about this, Rory, and kind of, you know, this use case and even like the process to create something like this in, in mid journey.

Yeah. So like I work, you know, primarily at Commerce 12. We're mostly email marketing. That's what we handle for our clients. So there's anywhere from 900 to 1,000 emails that get produced by our, our team each month. So there's a lot that needs to go out. But one of the typical problems there is like at a certain point you just start to get stale on what your templates look like and what your inspiration looks like because there's only so many places to pull from. Right. Like it's, you go to a couple different resources and you know, there's only so much inspiration you can have. So again, it was my idea, like, let's just push mid journey as far as we can. Can it start to come up with some sort of different template options for email. So we have just something different to pull from. Inspiration wise, color scheme wise, like visual wise, the way things are laid out naturally it has to be good for click through rate and everything like that. But just as you can see here, you know, this went through a couple variations and iterations to get it to this point, but now I can just replicate that process over and over again to get simple kind of designs that are clean like this and then just give our team inspiration to go and like, you know, create. So.

Yeah, yeah. So I. So as a reminder, if you are tuning in live, we're kind of, kind of toward the end of the show, but we can go on if you have some great questions. But I, I have a question or two for you even on this specific one. So again to, to remind people, we kind of have what could be used either as a beautiful email for this kind of shoe brand or even a landing page. But you know, some, something people will see here they're like, oh, well, I can't use this as is. Right. I can't copy and paste this because one thing that, you know, mid Journey and these other generative image tools can't do just yet is incorporate your own text in your own images. So this, this just, just to kind of be clear here, Rory, this kind of landing page or email that we see, this was a one shot prompt, correct? This is a one prompt in and you get this entire layout out.

Yep. So it's like with this one too, Right. Obviously you're not taking this verbatim. Like, the way that I look at it is there's four different sections here, right. Like the way that it transitions from the black to the teal to the black to the white, like that looks like a very good combo. Plus like the CTA buttons or the call to action, but like the way those are positioned and you know, color schemes, basically. This doesn't have to be a sneaker brand. If this is a brand that has similar colors or just a similar look and feel, drop a png, try to, you know, from a designer standpoint, they'll know how to make it look somewhat similar to this. But yeah, it's just a way to. Way to generate inspiration instead of like, you know, tinkering around with a template for six hours to figure out, oh, this, maybe this looks good and maybe I can fit some text in here. So, yeah, remove the text, add your own. Basically, this is just a starting point.

Yeah, sharing another one now here on the screen. We don't have to go through this, but I really wanted to showcase some of Rory's work and what they're doing there at Commerce 12 because it's very. Especially to be able to grab these and start with it from midjourney is amazing. But Rory, I have another question. Let's talk about some different use cases. Obviously we've showed some. You can create, you know, great art. You can create mood boards, you can create landing pages, emails, and then, you know, work with a designer to, to kind of, you know, really polish it. However, what are, what are other use cases? Maybe everyday use cases, you know, because I'm sure you get people that reach out to you and say, hey, I use this for blank. But what, what are some of those use cases?

So there's been some, there's been some cool ones. Like I post a lot on LinkedIn. I post a lot of like, very detailed information on how to do things, what my prompts are, processes, things like that. So I do get a lot of people that reach out and thank me, which, you know, I like that, that's nice. That makes me feel like I'm doing something that actually is meaningful. So like I had a mother reach out to me maybe about two months ago and she said she's been using Mid Journey to help her son like through his day to day like school projects. And he's like so amped about it and he's using it consistently and I'm like that's, you know, that's awesome. Like that makes me feel like that's better than any business deal or sales that I'm closing. Right. That's, that's super cool. Got a AP history teacher reach out and say that he's having, you know, his, his students basically reimagine different historical events in Mid Journey, utilizing some chat GPT stuff to have like mock interviews with historical figures. So like that to me is also super cool because teachers, you know, that's been a thing with the AI, right? Everyone's like, oh, it's going to change the way, you know, kids are just going to use it. They're not going to learn anymore. But that's just taking you know, the times and adapting it to that and then making learning interactive, which I think is super cool. So stuff like that's great. I've had people in college reach out to me for, for like their senior thesis. They're building like virtual reality retail environments like how can I do this on Mid Journey? So that stuff's super cool. But some of the other things I've done as of recent that are more fun like I did for Mother's Day, I took some vintage photos of my mom and retouched them in Mid Journey. So okay, bringing like older photos like back to life and like giving them a new flair like that stuff is just for pure fun and creativity, you know. Also, you know, some other ways that you can, you can do this is like taking your own photos, like whatever it is, food photography, vacation photography. Maybe you got something that's like a little bit, you know, kind of jacked from like a light perspective or whatever. And you can throw it in there and it can, it can, you know, boost it up a little bit. It's you know, you don't have to like go and make it totally AI. So yeah, you can things close to the images that you're putting in there as well. Because you can prompt from an image, not just a text. So.

Exactly.

There's a ton of stuff. Yeah, just fun.

That's, that's another Thing, you know, kind of, kind of a newish feature. But yeah, like mid journey in these other, you know, you have your OpenAI has their, you know, dolly too. And there's, you know, stable diffusion is kind of more the technology, but there's, there's other, you know, kind of options out there. And kind of like what Rory described there, I think is a cool use cases. You can actually upload any photo into mid journey and, you know, use a command that says describe and it'll give you kind of a text prompt based on that. So, you know, so many, so many different use cases. But I'm going to, I'm going to end on this question. Rory. You know, maybe if someone heard this and they're like, okay, this sounds interesting, but it also seems a little daunting. You know, maybe they're not, you know, working at, you know, a creative agency or they're not in advertising or what would be your recommendation? What would be your takeaway to someone who is very interested in figuring this out, but maybe they're a little hesitant.

I'm like, I have like a very. I don't know what way to put this, but I think, look, we've opened AI's Pandora's Box. I just don't see it going away anytime soon. There's all the end of the world scenarios, there's all of the we're going to be controlled by the robot scenarios. But at the same time, like, these tools have never been more accessible and things that I would look at from, you know, even someone who's starting a business, small business owners, like people who don't have opportunity to buy photography or buy stock photography or get photographers to do photo shoots, like these tools, if you learn how to use them, there's use cases for them, you know, to infinity. So, like, I just see this as something that we've never had access to. That's $30 a month. If you do even the highest paid subscription plan, I think it's $10 a month. You can get in baseline, like $120 a year for access to, for me, 10,000 images, you know, that I'm creating myself and using for multiple things. And, you know, look at the ROI on that. It's definitely generated more than $120. So I just think, you know, from, from a, like, accessibility standpoint, we've never been this lucky. And to me, it's like, if it goes bad, you know, I can't control that. But if I'm being able to use this right now for the purposes that I can use it for. You know, that's, that's how I kind of look at it. So it's there, it's there, it's available, it's easy. And you know, there's just, we just have so much opportunity with it. I, you know, it feels daunting. It almost feels like irresponsible for me not to use, use it.

Yeah, yeah, I feel the same way. You know, and that's, that's with a lot of AI chat, GPT and, and mid Journey, but that's, that's another, another conversation for another day. So a lot of the things that Rory talked about we're going to be sharing in our newsletter. We'll probably, you know, get, get permission from Rory, but I, I want to showcase a lot of his work. We're going to link to it. You can jump in, you know, in the show notes of this. If you're listening on the podcast, we'll link to the episode page and even the LinkedIn thread. So if you have any questions for him, you know, Rory's super helpful on LinkedIn and always engaging. So, Rory, thank you so much for, for joining, joining us today to talk mid journey. I really appreciate it.

It was awesome. Glad to do it again.

All right, so as a reminder, please go to your everyday AI.com Sign up for our free daily newsletter if you want to see and hear more from what we talked about today with Rory. Also subscribe to our podcasts, Spotify, Apple, Google, wherever you listen to it. We' we hope to see you back tomorrow and every day on Everyday AI. Thank you.

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