Ran Altamirano
@ranaltamirano.bsky.social
I'll write about design. Its practice, theory, history, and occasional existential crises. Expect praise for Mediterranean food and Latin-American culture 🥙 💃🏽
Scrolled LinkedIn for one minute. 80% AI-generated. Mediocre visuals, mediocre content, posted with full confidence. Pretty sure the content strategy was written by ChatGPT on autopilot. Welcome to the era of mediocre content—where everyone's a thought leader, and no one's thinking.
May 8, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Scrolled LinkedIn for one minute. 80% AI-generated. Mediocre visuals, mediocre content, posted with full confidence. Pretty sure the content strategy was written by ChatGPT on autopilot. Welcome to the era of mediocre content—where everyone's a thought leader, and no one's thinking.
AI is the new ars poetica: You create a genius machine, ask it 'How do I use you?' — and it teaches you.
April 29, 2025 at 7:21 PM
AI is the new ars poetica: You create a genius machine, ask it 'How do I use you?' — and it teaches you.
Designers not saying 'please' or 'thank you' to ChatGPT isn’t rude...it’s brand consistency.
April 23, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Designers not saying 'please' or 'thank you' to ChatGPT isn’t rude...it’s brand consistency.
RIP to the guy who used to hike 6 hours for the perfect Apple background image. Midjourney just did it in 6 seconds.
April 21, 2025 at 9:48 AM
RIP to the guy who used to hike 6 hours for the perfect Apple background image. Midjourney just did it in 6 seconds.
Waiting for AI to generate your image like it's a 90s dial-up connection. Might as well start knitting.
April 9, 2025 at 7:58 AM
Waiting for AI to generate your image like it's a 90s dial-up connection. Might as well start knitting.
In a world where AI takes over creative jobs, your taste will be the last thing standing. Don’t stress, there’s a 6-month bootcamp coming to teach you how to have taste.
April 8, 2025 at 11:23 AM
In a world where AI takes over creative jobs, your taste will be the last thing standing. Don’t stress, there’s a 6-month bootcamp coming to teach you how to have taste.
Show me your prompts, and I’ll tell you who you are.
April 5, 2025 at 2:09 PM
Show me your prompts, and I’ll tell you who you are.
An image is worth a thousand prompts.
April 2, 2025 at 11:57 AM
An image is worth a thousand prompts.
Unlike designers, the nice thing about criticizing AI is it won’t take it personally... Yet.
April 1, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Unlike designers, the nice thing about criticizing AI is it won’t take it personally... Yet.
These days, I don’t trust any image. If it’s too good to be true, it probably skipped the whole 'human effort' part.
April 1, 2025 at 6:54 AM
These days, I don’t trust any image. If it’s too good to be true, it probably skipped the whole 'human effort' part.
Getting real worried designers will start talking to each other like chatgpt prompts.
“design cool thing. no context. deadline yesterday. go.”
“design cool thing. no context. deadline yesterday. go.”
March 30, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Getting real worried designers will start talking to each other like chatgpt prompts.
“design cool thing. no context. deadline yesterday. go.”
“design cool thing. no context. deadline yesterday. go.”
Walter Benjamin warned about art losing its aura, but here we are, mass-producing Ghibli-style photos of ourselves like some sort of spiritual fast food.
March 29, 2025 at 11:43 AM
Walter Benjamin warned about art losing its aura, but here we are, mass-producing Ghibli-style photos of ourselves like some sort of spiritual fast food.
Looking through some of the most well-known branding design studios in 2025. Apparently, the future of design is just sugary drinks and smoking accessories, with fonts that look like they’ve been to therapy and still haven’t figured it out
March 28, 2025 at 4:27 PM
Looking through some of the most well-known branding design studios in 2025. Apparently, the future of design is just sugary drinks and smoking accessories, with fonts that look like they’ve been to therapy and still haven’t figured it out
1.5-hour second interview. Thought its a good sign...turns out I was just the guest speaker at their ‘Steal New Ideas’ seminar. No job offer, but at least they took notes. Glad I could inspire.
March 24, 2025 at 2:02 PM
1.5-hour second interview. Thought its a good sign...turns out I was just the guest speaker at their ‘Steal New Ideas’ seminar. No job offer, but at least they took notes. Glad I could inspire.
Saving images on Pinterest like they’ll one day change my life, only for them to vanish into the void of forgotten moodboards.
March 24, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Saving images on Pinterest like they’ll one day change my life, only for them to vanish into the void of forgotten moodboards.
Applied for a visual designer role, passed two interviews, got a home task, then got rejected for not being a motion designer. Guess I’ll apply to be a chef next and see if they need a carpenter.
March 18, 2025 at 1:44 PM
Applied for a visual designer role, passed two interviews, got a home task, then got rejected for not being a motion designer. Guess I’ll apply to be a chef next and see if they need a carpenter.
With all the graphic designers making ceramics now, I guess “design thinking” led us to the real solution: more wobbly cute mugs.
March 17, 2025 at 1:45 PM
With all the graphic designers making ceramics now, I guess “design thinking” led us to the real solution: more wobbly cute mugs.
Motion design is just time travel, but only in the wrong direction. You work for a full week on a 17-second ad. Shouldn’t the laws of time and physics step in at some point?
March 15, 2025 at 5:46 PM
Motion design is just time travel, but only in the wrong direction. You work for a full week on a 17-second ad. Shouldn’t the laws of time and physics step in at some point?
I'm noticing subtle design tweaks in WhatsApp. Small typographic shifts that just feel right. The type hierarchy is exquisite, quiet but outstanding. God is in the details, I guess? even when the devil’s running the boardroom, Meta.
March 13, 2025 at 7:31 AM
I'm noticing subtle design tweaks in WhatsApp. Small typographic shifts that just feel right. The type hierarchy is exquisite, quiet but outstanding. God is in the details, I guess? even when the devil’s running the boardroom, Meta.
Designers and artists deleting and reposting their projects after Instagram changed the grid. It's like their landlord just raised the rent, and they realize their aesthetic empire was built on borrowed land. Spoiler: Instagram will never stop renovating.
March 11, 2025 at 2:00 PM
Designers and artists deleting and reposting their projects after Instagram changed the grid. It's like their landlord just raised the rent, and they realize their aesthetic empire was built on borrowed land. Spoiler: Instagram will never stop renovating.
People obsessing over ChatGPT's em dashes while graphic designers have been silently judging everyones dashes since Steve Jobs made fonts a thing.
March 10, 2025 at 10:06 PM
People obsessing over ChatGPT's em dashes while graphic designers have been silently judging everyones dashes since Steve Jobs made fonts a thing.
The craft of creatives used to be like cooking, you had to balance sweet and salty, get the textures just right. Now you're ordering takeaway from AI.
March 6, 2025 at 8:21 AM
The craft of creatives used to be like cooking, you had to balance sweet and salty, get the textures just right. Now you're ordering takeaway from AI.
There’s no ‘I’ in team, but there is an ‘I’ in AI.
Finally, designers can skip the group effort and take all the credit.
Finally, designers can skip the group effort and take all the credit.
March 4, 2025 at 11:36 AM
There’s no ‘I’ in team, but there is an ‘I’ in AI.
Finally, designers can skip the group effort and take all the credit.
Finally, designers can skip the group effort and take all the credit.
Ai is perfect for an individualistic world—now I can finally say: just me, myself, and (A)i… and then get all the praise from people who think I did the work
March 3, 2025 at 8:37 AM
Ai is perfect for an individualistic world—now I can finally say: just me, myself, and (A)i… and then get all the praise from people who think I did the work
AI images have the soul of a stock photo and the charm of clip art. A match made in uncanny valley.
February 27, 2025 at 6:57 PM
AI images have the soul of a stock photo and the charm of clip art. A match made in uncanny valley.