At Project Neon, we’re always exploring innovative ways to help our clients stand out. One of the most exciting tools in our creative arsenal today is AI-generated imagery. AI enables us to craft distinctive, brand-aligned imagery that captures the essence of a client’s business, audience, or sector, especially in environments that are difficult to access or represent.
A smarter way to visualize the unseen
Some environments are notoriously difficult to capture, like offshore oil rigs, remote industrial sites, and high-security facilities. Organising a photoshoot in these locations can be not only costly, but also logistically complex. That’s where AI can step in.
Take our recent work with Keystone as an example. Their core audience? Offshore operations teams. Instead of coordinating an expensive offshore shoot, we used AI to generate a series of bespoke images that authentically represent this environment. The results are visually compelling and strategically aligned with Keystone’s brand identity. Notice the consistent use of blue tones throughout the imagery, an intentional choice to reinforce Keystone’s colour palette and visual language.
AI as a creative partner, not a replacement
Let’s be clear: AI is not here to replace photographers. Real-life photography captures the authenticity, emotion, and human connection that no algorithm can replicate. Professional photography remains essential for showcasing your people, culture, and real-world presence.
However, every brand needs a library of industry-specific, situational, or conceptual images that complement photos from employees. Traditionally, businesses have turned to stock photography for this. But stock images are often generic, overused, and rarely aligned with your brand’s unique tone.
AI-generated images offer a compelling alternative. They allow you to build a custom image bank that is:
- Tailored to your brand guidelines
- Consistent in style and tone
- Free from licensing restrictions
- Visually aligned with your digital platforms
AI images perform well in digital environments. Whether you’re refreshing your website, launching a social media campaign, or updating your internal comms, AI visuals can provide a fresh, cohesive look that feels uniquely yours.
That said, AI does have its limitations, especially when it comes to large-format printing. For exhibition stands, posters, or banners, the resolution of AI-generated images may not meet the high standards required for print. In these cases, professional photography or high-resolution renders remain the gold standard.
From our designer
While AI-generated imagery opens up some incredible creative possibilities, it’s not without its quirks. Getting the perfect image often takes a lot of fine-tuning, the prompts need to be very specific, and it can take multiple rounds of editing to land on the right scene.
People are particularly tricky; AI can struggle with realistic human features and poses. And when it comes to highly technical subjects – like niche equipment or specialised industrial setups – AI sometimes falls short, simply because there aren’t enough accurate reference images online for it to learn from.
That said, the pace of development is astonishing. The improvements we’ve seen in just the past year are huge, and the software is evolving on a near-weekly basis. We’re constantly keeping up with the latest advancements, and if progress continues at this rate, who knows what will be possible a year from now!
The winning formula: blend AI with reality
The real magic happens when you combine the strengths of both worlds. Use AI to build a flexible, brand-aligned image bank for digital use, and complement it with authentic, high-quality photography for people-centred storytelling. This hybrid approach gives you the best of both: efficiency, creativity, and credibility.
At Project Neon, we’re not just using AI for the sake of innovation, we’re using it to solve real-world challenges and elevate our clients’ visual identities.
Want to see what’s possible? Check out the AI-generated images we created for Keystone. They’re proof that with the right tools and creative direction, the future of limitless brand imagery is already here.
