Carly Quellman, aka Carly Que, is a multimedia strategist and storyteller at the intersection of technology and the humanities, investigating how perspective can enhance, rather than overstimulate, the world. She can be found online and near the closest south-facing window in Los Angeles.
Recently, I wasted 5 hours trying to create a poster for an event I was hosting. Design is absolutely all about the details -- and I am not. Going forward, I've vowed to seek help with both graphics creation and the brainstorming involved in execution. This is how I heard about PosterMyWall, a graphic design hub that serves amateur marketers, creatives and anyone looking for a more simple design process.
PosterMyWall provides access to various forms of content, including flyers, social media posts, banners, videos and email campaigns. It's got both templates and blank structures for you to work from. And its newest features are artificial intelligence tools, such as an AI image generator, an AI background remover and AI captions for social media posts.
I was willing to experiment with it all.
Step 1: Navigate to PosterMyWall's homepage and access a free 14-day trial period of the company's premium subscription, which normally costs $10 per month. (You must upgrade to access the AI-powered tools.)
Step 2: From the top right corner of your screen, select Create. To access the AI image generator faster, Browse Templates instead of navigating through a Blank Design.
Step 3: Type in a couple of words to describe what you'd like to create. After some trial and error, I decided on something simple: "A good book." This launched various flyers, social media graphics, menus and print banners connected to those words. I decided on a digital book cover titled "Good Teams" for its simplicity, depth of perspective and room for experimentation.
Step 4: Time to edit the design. The fourth button down on the left-hand side of the screen is labeled AI Images. Here, you can describe an image to generate visual options or regenerate the algorithm for additional responses to your description.
On my first attempt, I typed in the words "INCLUSIVE HARD WORK. BODY PARTS." My vision was a Magic School Bus style of collaborative hands.
PosterMyWall generated a couple of images -- both featuring decent renders of hands, though reminiscent of inclusivity posters likely found in an elementary school -- though the words "INCLUSIVE HARD WORK. BODY PARTS" did appear. My description was taken literally.
I clicked the Regenerate button to launch a few more options. I wasn't too impressed with the results. On my second attempt, I typed "MULTICULTURALISM." PosterMyWall responded with AI-generated images of various heads surrounding a globe. While I wasn't exactly pleased with these results either, I could use this attempt for my poster.
Step 5: Once you select your images, you can wipe your background in preparation. Click on the digital background and select AI Background Remover from the right-hand side of the screen. When I attempted this, it did, indeed, remove my background -- and transformed it into an earthy shade of yellow. Interesting.
My edits: I dropped in my selected image and worked it up and into the background design. I toyed with the image so that it would line up with the human-made star from the original poster. I also enlarged the photo to meet the base of the book title -- my attempt at working with, rather than against, the unexpected earthy yellow background. Lastly, I diluted the transparency so the original artwork stood out.
Step 6: Once complete, you can download, publish or invite collaborators to your design, similar to a Google link.
When Midjourney doesn't live up to expectations, Leonardo.Ai's results are a bit lackluster and Dall-E doesn't consistently respond to your commands, you may wonder if your perfectionist outlook on AI image generators could be more realistic. Or if you simply need to find an AI image generator to meet your needs.
Did PosterMyWall meet my needs? No.
While PosterMyWall contains a lot of features accessible through all three of its tiers, its AI image generator and AI background remover aren't fancy enough for me to cough up the $10 to $30 per month cost for access to its design tools -- and that's not including the outrageous cost of credits needed to continually access them.
On that note: Since the generated AI images aren't robust, you waste credits on regenerating results... which would be an unnecessary step if the platform's data library was thorough and robust. (After generating just three AI prompts on PosterMyWall, I had used 75% of my credits.)
Whether a techy Catch22 or simply my pessimistic skepticism on high alert, PosterMyWall's credits feel like gamification to keep users paying, instead of bolstering its product to support its community.
PosterMyWall needs to strengthen its algorithm and AI model, especially since that's one of the major differences between its free and paid plans. In my opinion, PosterMyWall falls short -- particularly in comparison to its biggest competitor, Canva, which costs $10 per month to gain access to its personal AI image generator, Magic Media, for free (up to 50 images per month).
As working professionals, it's easy to expect these AI-powered tools and platforms to recreate creativity and imagination, not to mention the skill set behind them. Yet, it may be more beneficial to navigate these tools as a collaborative thought-starter and idea generator, rather than for accelerated output. I have yet to be impressed by any of the AI-focused processes I've attempted. Occasionally, pleasantly surprised.
Question: If you totaled the time spent sifting through different AI-powered visual communication tools, learning their landscape and trialing their product or platform, would it be equal or greater to the time it'd take to learn Adobe Creative Suite?
