An Inside Look at Every’s Design Philosophy - Ep. 55 with Lucas Crespo
🤖 AI Summary
Overview
This episode dives into the design philosophy behind Every, a media company known for its striking visuals and cohesive aesthetic. Lucas Crespo, Every's creative lead, shares insights into his approach to art direction, the role of AI in his creative process, and the evolution of design in the digital age. The conversation explores maximalism, storytelling through design, and the future of web aesthetics.
Notable Quotes
- The internet deserves more maximalism, more attention, more stuff, especially now because everybody can just generate a UI.
- Lucas Crespo, on the need for bold, human-centric design in an AI-driven world.
- A website should feel more like an experience versus a flyer.
- Lucas Crespo, on creating immersive digital spaces.
- Art direction will become more important as it becomes easier to just generate UIs. The world needs refinement.
- Lucas Crespo, advocating for intentional design in the AI era.
🎨 The Role of Art Direction in Design
- Lucas Crespo emphasizes the importance of art direction, describing it as the backbone of Every’s aesthetic. He approaches projects by focusing on the vibe
first, rather than starting with technical layouts like rectangles.
- The aesthetic of Every is described as neoclassical pop art,
blending Greco-Roman elements with saturated colors and dynamic textures to create a fresh, electric feel.
- Crespo highlights the value of storytelling through design, using visual elements to evoke emotions and guide users through a narrative.
🤖 AI as a Creative Partner
- AI tools like Midjourney and ChatGPT’s image generation model have transformed Crespo’s workflow, enabling him to iterate faster and achieve greater precision.
- He uses AI to refine his ideas, such as generating Greco-Roman-inspired visuals and combining outputs in Photoshop for final touches.
- Crespo views AI as a collaborator that unlocks creativity, allowing designers to focus on art direction and storytelling rather than technical execution.
🌈 Maximalism vs. Minimalism
- Crespo critiques the dominance of minimalism in tech design, arguing that it prioritizes efficiency over emotional resonance.
- He advocates for maximalism, drawing inspiration from Panama’s vibrant architecture and landscapes, which influence his use of bold colors and intricate details.
- The conversation explores how maximalism can help brands stand out in a sea of AI-generated sameness, creating designs that feel human and alive.
🏛️ Designing for Experience: The Quora Case Study
- Crespo shares the design process behind Quora, Every’s AI-powered email tool. The landing page transitions from a stormy void to a sunny field, symbolizing the transformation Quora offers.
- The app’s interface features impressionist-inspired backgrounds and thoughtful animations, creating a delightful user experience.
- Crespo describes the importance of making digital spaces feel like immersive environments rather than sterile, utilitarian tools.
📐 The Future of Web Design
- Crespo envisions a future where websites are less about rigid UI patterns and more about exploration and serendipity, akin to wandering through a museum or park.
- He highlights the potential for AI to redefine what a website can be, incorporating dynamic storytelling and interactive elements.
- The discussion touches on emerging trends like skeuomorphism, organic textures, and AI-driven personalization, which could make digital spaces feel more human-centric.
AI-generated content may not be accurate or complete and should not be relied upon as a sole source of truth.
📋 Episode Description
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Lucas Crespo is the mastermind behind Every's visual vibe—and he does it one prompt at a time.
As our creative lead, Lucas uses tools like native image gen in ChatGPT and Midjourney to generate the cover images you see every day. He also designs the interfaces for our products—Cora, Spiral, and Sparkle—and makes everything on our site feel as thoughtful and delightful as possible.
We get into:
Why Every’s aesthetic feels familiar and new at the same time. Every’s aesthetic plays with the tension between the old (like Greek statues and Baroque symbols) and the new (like saturated colors and modern motifs) to make the glamor of the past feel fresh.
Art direction matters more than ever today. As AI makes it easier to generate images, Lucas says the real work of design is shifting toward art direction, specifically, curating an aesthetic that feels “organic;” on his X timeline that’s showing up as clouds, earthy landscapes, and textures.
Reimagining what a website can be with AI. Lucas compares most websites to identical buildings—predictable, efficient, and forgettable—and wonders how AI can help us break that mold by designing experiences that prioritize serendipity over speed, and curiosity over control.
Behind the scenes of Cora’s visual aesthetic. How Lucas designed the landing page and launch video for Cora by rooting it in the product’s philosophy: turning the inbox from a source of chaos into something that feels calm, thoughtful—like stepping into spring.
The future of internet interfaces. Lucas believes the future of digital interfaces will be curated with the same care as a film set or ad campaign, where every detail is chosen with intention.
Lucas also walks us through how he created the headline image for Every’s consulting page—a human and robotic hand fist-bumping—using Midjourney to iterate from rough prompt to polished visual.
This is a must watch for anyone interested in the future of design and making the internet a little more beautiful every day.
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Timestamps:
Introduction: 00:01:41
How AI changed the course of Lucas’s career: 00:04:02
Why Every’s aesthetic feels both familiar and fresh: 00:08:00
Why Lucas thinks minimalism is overrated: 00:14:53
Art direction matters more than ever in the age of AI: 00:20:38
How to reimagine what a website can be with AI: 00:23:42<