13/10/2026
AI can make a very good image, good branding is another matter 🧟
Research now shows AI-made marketing images can beat human-made ones on looks, realism and quality. The "AI images look rubbish" argument is dead and buried…
But other research shows people can see businesses that use them as more impersonal, less credible and even misleading, especially when seeing the real thing matters. And Gartner found 50% of consumers surveyed would prefer to buy from brands that don't use generative AI in customer-facing content.
That matters, because your imagery has a job to do.
👉 A photo of your team shows us your team.
👉 A photo of a finished project shows us what you can do.
👉 An illustration made for you gives you something nobody else has.
Swap all of that for generated images and you'll save time and money. You should also ask what you've lost, including the photographers, designers and illustrators behind the real thing.
We employ AI for the early stuff: exploring ideas, building moodboards, critiquing a first draft, finding options we hadn't thought of.
But when an image is there to show who you are and why people should trust you, keep it human.
AI has made images easy. A brand people recognise, remember and trust still takes real brains 🧠
