Note: This episode is best experienced as a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KDD4c5__qxc Hey Hitchhikers! MidJourney V5 was just released yesterday so it felt like the perfect opportunity to do a deep dive on prompting with a fellow AI newsletter . Linus creates amazing MidJourney creations every day ranging from retro rally cars to interior design photography that looks like it came straight out of a magazine. You wouldn’t believe that some of Linus’s images are made with AI when you see them. But what I love most about Linus is his focus on educating and sharing his prompting techniques with his followers. In fact, if you follow Linus on Twitter you will see that every image he creates includes the prompt in the “Alt” text description! In this episode, we cover how Linus shares how he went from designer to AI influencer, what generative AI means for the design industry, and we go through a few examples of prompting in MidJourney live. One thing we cover that is beneficial for anyone using MidJourney for creating character-driven stories is how to create consistent characters in every image. Using the tips I learned from Linus, I was able to create some pretty cool Midjourney images of my own, including this series where I took 90s movies and turned them into Lego! I also want to thank Linus for recommending my newsletter on his substack, which has helped me grow my subscribers to over a thousand now! Linus has an awesome AI newsletter that you can subscribe to here: I hope you enjoy the episode and don’t forget to subscribe to this newsletter at http://HitchhikersGuideToAI.com. Show Notes Links: - Watch on Youtube: https://bit.ly/3mWrE5e - The Hitchhikers Guide to AI newsletter: http://hitchhikersguidetoai.com - Linus's twitter: http://twitter.com/linusekenstam - Linus's newsletter: http://linusekenstam.substack.com - Bedtime stories: http://bedtimestory.ai - MidJourney: http://midjourney.com Episode Contents: 00:00 Intro 02:39 Linus's journey into AI 05:09 Generative AI and Designers 08:49 Prompting and the future of knowledge work 15:06 Midjourney prompting 16:20 Consistent Characters 28:36 Imagination to image generation 30:30 Bonzi Trees 31:32 Star Wars Lego Spaceships 37:57 Creating a scene in Lego 43:03 What Linus is most excited about in AI 46:10 Linus's Newsletter Transcript Intro aj_asver: Hey everyone. And welcome to the Hitchhiker's guide to AI. I am so excited for you to join me on this episode, where we are going to do a deep dive on mid journey. aj_asver: MidJourney V5, just launched. So it felt like the perfect time for me to jump in with my guests, Linus Ekenstam. And learn how to be a prompting pro. aj_asver: Linus is a designer turned AI influencer. Not only does he have an AI newsletter called inside my mind, but he's also created a really cool website where you can generate bedtimestories for your kids. Complete with illustrations. And he is a mid journey prompting pro. I am constantly amazed by the photos and images that Linus has created using mid journey. It totally blows my mind. aj_asver: From rally cars with retro vibes to bonsai trees that have candy growing on them. And most recently hyper-realistic photographs of interior design that looked like they came straight out of a magazine. Linus is someone I cannot wait to learn from. And he's also going to share his perspective on what all this generative AI means for the design industry, which he has been a part of for over a decade. By the way it's worth noting that a lot of the stuff we cover in this episode is very visual. So if you're listening to this. As an audio only podcast. You may want to click on the YouTube link in the show notes and jump straight to the video when you have time. aj_asver: So if you're excited about I'm one to learn how you can take the ideas in your head and turn them into awesome images. Then join me for this episode of the Hitchhiker's guide to AI. aj_asver: Thank you so much for joining me on the Hitch Hiker's Guide to ai. Really glad to have you on the podcast. I feel like I'm gonna learn so much in this episode. Linus Ekenstam: Yeah. Thank you for having me. Linus Ekenstam: I mean, I'm not sure about the prompt, you know, prompt guru, but let's try aj_asver: Well, I mean, you tweet about your prompts every day. aj_asver: on Twitter, and they seem to be getting better every time. So You are my source of truth when it comes to becoming a great prompter. And I also, by the way, love the one thing you do when you tweet your mid journey kind of pictures that you built, um, that you've created, that you always add in the alt text on Twitter. Um, exactly what the prompt was. And I found that really helpful. Cause when I'm trying to work out how to use Mid Journey, I look at a lot of your alt texts. So, um, also include a link to your Twitter handle so everyone Linus Ekenstam: Nice aj_asver: it out. But I guess Linus Ekenstam: I guess I'll stop. aj_asver: you know, you've been in the tech industry for a while as both a designer and a founder as well Linus Ekenstam: Yeah. Yep. aj_asver: love to hear your story on what made you, um, kind of get excited about AI and starting an AI newsletter and then, you know, sharing everything you've been learning as, as you go. Linus's journey into AI Linus Ekenstam: Yeah. I mean, if we rewind a bit and, and we start from the beginning, um, I got into the tech industry a little bit on a banana, like a bananas ski. I, I started working in, like, the agency world when I was 17. I'm 36 now, so 19 years ago, time flies. Um, and after like working with, um, customers, clients, and big ones as well, through like, through my initial years there, I kind of got fed up with it. Linus Ekenstam: And. . I went into my first SaaS business as an employee and it was email like way, way, way, way, way before this day and age, right, where you had to like code everything using tables and transparent GIFs. It was just a different world. Linus Ekenstam: And 2012 was like, that's when I started my first own business. And that was like my first foray into like the, the startup world or like building something that was used by people outside of the vicinity of, of, of Sweden or Nordics. Um, it was very interesting times. Um, and I, I've always been kind of like early when it comes to New tech, I consider myself being a super early adopter. I got Facebook as like one of the first people in. By hacking or like social hacking a friend's edu email address. And I got an MIT email address just so I could sign up on Facebook. Linus Ekenstam: Um, so now that we are here, it's like I've been touching all of these steps, like all the early tech, every single time, but I never really capitalized on it or I, I never really pushed myself into a position. I would contribute, but this time around I just, you know, I felt like I had a bit more under my belt. Linus Ekenstam: I've seen these cycles come and go, uh, and I just get really excited about like, oh s**t. Like this is the first time ever that I might get automated out by a machine. So my response or flight and fight response to this was just like, learn as much as possible as quickly as possible, and share as much of my learnings as possible to help others. Linus Ekenstam: Cannot not end up. In the same position where they fear for their lives. aj_asver: Yeah, it's, it's interesting you talk about that because I think that's a huge motivator for me as well. It's just help people understand that this AI technology is coming and it's not like it's gonna replace everyone's job, but it certainly is gonna change the way we work. And make the way we work very different. And as -you've been doing and sharing, you know, how to prompt and what it means to use ai, one of the things I've noticed is you've also received a little bit of backlash, you know, from other designers in the space Generative AI and Designers aj_asver: That maybe as embracing of AI as you have. And I, I know recently there were probably two or three different startups that announced text to UX products where you can basically type in the kind of, uh, user experience you want and it generates, mockups right which I thought was amazing and I thought, You know, that would take years to get to, but we've got that now. Linus Ekenstam: yeah, you Linus Ekenstam: post. aj_asver: and I think one of the things you said was designers need to have less damn ego and lose the God complex. aj_asver: Tell aj_asver: me a little, aj_asver: what the feedback has been like in the AI space around kind of how it's impacting design, especially your field. Linus Ekenstam: So I think, um, there, there is this like weird thing going on where. They're a lot of nice tooling coming out and engineers and, and, and developers. You kind of embrace it. They just like have a really open mindset and go, yeah, if this can help me, you know, I'll, I'll, I'll use it. Linus Ekenstam: Like, take Github Copilot is a good example. People are just raving about it and, and there is some people that are like, oh, it's, it's not good enough yet, or whatever. But like the general consensus is that this is a great tool, it's saving me a lot of time and I can focus on like more heavy lifting or thinking about deeper problems. Linus Ekenstam: But then enter the designer , like turtleneck, you know, black, all dressed in black. I mean, I'm, I, I'm one of those, right? So I'm, I'm, I'm making fun of myself as well. I'm not just pointing fingers at others here. I just think it's like weird that. Here's a tool that comes along and it's a tool, it won't replace you. Linus Ekenstam: Like I'm being slightly sarcastic and using like marketing hooks to get people really drawn in, in my content on Twitter. So I'm not really, meaning, it's not literal. I'm not saying, Hey, you're gonna be out of a job. It's more like, You better embrace this because like the change is happening and the longer you stay on the sidelines, the, the, the