25-27_29_Viewpoints.qxp_Grid 06/03/2025 15:28 Page 25
VIEWPOINTS
The AI Hot Potato Inset: The whole issue of AI is defo a hot potato right now. Above: The #MakeItFair campaign has galvanised journalists and well as those from the music, fashion and other creative industries.
It was a rare sight to see all our national newspapers as well as many regional ones dedicate their front pages to the #MakeItFair campaign to support creative industries. This solidarity was a reaction to the UK government’s mooted plans to change the law to favour big tech platforms so they can use British creative content to power their AI models without permission or payment. Accepting that the wonders of AI can and are proving a useful tool for greeting card publishers, PG cuts into this hot potato, delving into the threats and advantages it offers to our industry.
Martin Powderly,
co-owner and creative director of Pigment AI’s impact on our sector: “Embracing AI innovation and supporting human artists need not be mutually exclusive. The future of greeting card design communities will lie in finding this balance between technological advancement and our creative traditions. AI should be recognised as an additional tool. It has many upsides for the creative process, but it could also have some painful downsides. We will all be using AI to some degree soon because the Mac/Adobe systems we all use are fast incorporating it. At Pigment we’re going out of our way to ensure this does not adversely impact our freelance community of writers, designers and illustrators. Our artists and writers are a vital part of an ecosystem that has delivered for us for decades and we will be safeguarding them. Yes, Gen AI can bring new worlds Above: This pic shows the spectrum of AI hybrid alive and it can remix manipulation and commissioned pure pencil art. A Pigment card using Generative Ai from prompts, then the past, but aspects reworked and enhanced with traditional photoshop of it lack emotional skills; Life in Pencil – an original pencil illustration with no Ai used and a Pigment humour card based on a depth and nuance, bought library image and then utilising AI to visually enhance the joke. and those elements
Left: Martin Powderly urges publishers to keep commissioning freelance creatives.
are crucial in greeting cards.” The upsides of AI: “It will make designing more accessible. In the same way smartphones made us all photographers, AI can make us all designers. It will be as revolutionary, for better and for worse, but ignoring it will not make it go away. We have been early adopters of Adobe’s AI features. Having tested the Beta versions for well over a year, we’re learning to use AI to cut repetitive tasks. We have used AI for hybrid image generation alongside Photoshop on our collections such as ARKLIFE. In instances like this it opens up image-making possibilities, but it will never replace the commissioning of real artists and writers. When many of us started out in the 80s we didn't even have computers or the internet. We used Letraset and fax machines. Wave after wave of tech tools have transformed our design processes and the creative community has evolved alongside. This is just the next phase of technological support, though maybe the scariest one.” Safeguarding measures: “Publishers need to keep commissioning freelance artists, writers and licensors. I don’t believe we can protect the past, but we can ensure our freelance community prospers into the future by continuing to support them while we all find our feet in the new world.” PROGRESSIVE GREETINGS WORLDWIDE 25