AI-Driven Generative Work (Final Project)

For the final project we will experiment how AI-driven generative work can support your design practice, specifically we will be focusing on your capstone projects.Start by researching the possibilities. Fe free to find your own options. Think about how AI-based tools can support your efforts - in research, ideation, prototyping, testing, communication, and other tasks in your project. Formulate your proposal during the first week - we will review them and identify similar efforts so that you can help and get assistance from your peers.You will implement your proposals and submit the work online in the appropriate format in the following two weeks.

For my final project, I plan to use AI to create a visual storyboard that illustrates my target user for my senior capstone. Since Gift is a social media startup focused on building authentic digital connections, I want to tell the story of a college student who is struggling to make friends—and show how Gift can support them in forming meaningful relationships.

The AI tool generates high-quality illustrations, but the challenge lies in getting it to align with your exact vision. I wasn’t very specific with my prompt, so while the result was somewhat relevant, it didn’t fully capture what I had in mind. Prompt: Create a story of a college student, struggling to make friends, who is a pottery student. she is new to college so she doesn't really know anyone. She browses the app store to find an app to help connect her to new communities.

The first interaction users can perform with this lens involves manipulating the soil. Users can move it to any location in their environment, giving them the freedom to place it wherever they like. Additionally, they can resize the soil texture, adjusting it to fit any dimensions they desire, allowing for a fully customizable and interactive experience.

Screenshot of Prompt Editor from Hugging Face - AI Comic Factory.

Julia sat on the edge of her twin dorm bed, legs tucked under a quilt. Outside, the hallway buzzed with muffled laughter and slamming doors, but inside, it was still. Three weeks into her transfer to UCLA’s design program, and she already felt like she was living between frames—seen but not known, surrounded but not quite with anyone.

She missed her hometown. Not the place, exactly, but the rhythm: kiln firings, wet clay under her nails, the quiet chatter of her high school ceramics club. Here, time passed differently. She posted to her pottery Instagram—carefully lit photos of bowls and mugs, but the likes barely flickered. It all felt hollow and performative.

Comic panel 1.

Then one night, just before midnight, a text from her friend Maya lit up her phone: You should try Gift. I saw a ceramics group on there that reminded me of you. Less scroll-y, more…cozy? Julia hesitated. Another app? Would it just be Instagram with extra steps Still, curiosity tugged harder than doubt. She downloaded it.

Gift opened like a whisper. No follow counts. No algorithm. Just a welcome prompt: What do you love talking about? She typed: ceramics. A group appeared: Pottery Lovers. Thirty-one members. The banner photo showed a lopsided stoneware mug with a thumbprint on the handle. She joined.

Comic panel 2.

Inside Pottery Lovers, the vibe was intimate. Someone had posted about firing the wrong cone temperature—“RIP to everything in this load.” Another had uploaded a video of trimming a bowl while a cat climbed into frame with the caption, “Here’s chaos.”Julia scrolled slowly, savoring it like leafing through a shared sketchbook. There were progress shots, failed glaze tests, kiln disasters. Nobody filtered out the flaws. One post made her pause: a collapsed cylinder mid-spin. “Eighth try this week. Still flopping. Cone 6. Am I cursed?” She clicked reply and typed: Not cursed. Try compressing the base more, it helps hold the walls up. You’ve got this.She stared at it. Then hit send.

Comic panel 3.

A minute later, a heart popped up. Then another. Then a reply: Yesss. Also: use a wooden rib, it’s my go-to for taller pulls. Julia smiled. She hadn’t realized how much she missed talking like this—about clay, about process, with people who got it. By the weekend, she met two other girls, Alina and Sam. All three of them met in the main group and realized they all went to UCLA.

They had started a subgroup: Glazed & Confused. Their chat became a daily ritual. Part pottery circle, part therapy thread. Alina once messaged, “Dropped a bisque piece on my TA’s foot today. She said it’s fine. It is NOT fine.” Sam wrote back, “This is why I wear boots in the studio. Zero fashion, max safety.” Julia sent a photo of a very lopsided vase. “Behold: my newest mistake.”They swapped glaze recipes, memes, time-lapse videos of centering clay. There were no rules, no performance. Just flow. A digital studio, open 24/7.

Comic panel 4.

One night, Julia posted a clip of herself mid-throw—bonnet on, sweatshirt streaked with slip, laughing as the clay wobbled. It was raw and imperfect. She captioned it, “She’s not pretty but she’s trying.” The comments rolled in like a hug.“ Vibes: immaculate.” “The chaos is the charm.” “Okay but I love this energy.” Two weeks later, they met for boba off campus, sitting under a tree and passing around glaze swatches like sacred artifacts. Alina brought tiny test tiles. Sam gifted them each a handmade mug. Julia felt, for the first time in weeks, like her life had a shape again—soft around the edges, but held together by something real.

Gift didn’t invent community, but it built a space where it could breathe. There were no viral reels, no performance metrics. Just threads of conversation tied together by love, learning, and quiet belonging. It wasn’t about building a brand. It was about building trust.For Julia, that made all the difference. It wasn’t just about being seen. It was about being known.