Of course, the desire to keep up to date with the latest trends and to follow developments in the tools and processes that can optimise them is an integral part of being a designer. In the past, this involved watching Adobe tutorials (Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign) and keeping up with the steady stream of updates that improved workflows and made it easier to create new styles.

But the current whirlwind of change, with a new revolution in graphic design tools emerging every week, is overwhelming.

We’ve already discussed previously how Adobe’s dominance has been shaken by the emergence of free competitors such as Affinity Studio, which are backed by Canva with its artificial intelligence – which is precisely where they’re trying to monetise this project. The latest giant leap that left us speechless came when they unveiled Magic Layers. Finally, we can edit images generated by any AI using layers. Gone are the days of having to fiddle with prompts for every minor change, such as a colour or a font type.

Over the summer, Google Pics – which was announced at the last I/O – will be launched, promising image generation with advanced controls to move, resize and transform objects, edit or translate text, or retouch specific areas of your images. And all of this is integrated into its workspace. Google is doing everything it can to ensure you never have to leave its ecosystem at all. This is an approach also pioneered by the Spanish company Magnific (formerly known as Freepik) with an infinite visual canvas system where you connect different AI cards to design, automate and control the entire creative process in a single workflow.

Gemini Omni will also be wowing us very soon with its video generation capabilities. Google is well aware of the potential held by many content creators who do not make the leap to video due to a lack of technical resources (cameras, lighting, locations, make-up, etc.). Its commitment to digital avatars is clear. Think of that client who has a wealth of knowledge on a subject but doesn’t perform well in front of the camera. Omni will allow us, starting with a photo and some text, to generate a video in which our client—perfectly lit and looking their best—explains to us, looking straight at the camera with impeccable diction and without hesitation, the advantages of active management or blockchain decentralisation. Rumour has it that it will be integrated into YouTube Shorts. This would put the current market leader, HeyGen, under pressure.

Another contender is making its mark. Claude Design is a game-changer because it significantly lowers the technical barriers to app and web design. Unlike traditional visual generators, which only create static images, Claude Design creates functional interfaces and mock-ups (in live code such as HTML/JS) that you can click on, interact with and test in real time within its canvas. This is a huge help for developers, who can optimise their workflows by creating elements with a simple prompt.

Now, with the Vibe Coding boom in full swing – which has made coding accessible to everyone – there is a wide range of new web apps available for applying image styles or creating simple motion graphics.

Our favourites web apps for design

If I had to draw up a list of my favourite web design apps, they would undoubtedly be these:

Dither garden

Dithering effects on images. A variation on pixel art to achieve an alternative, nostalgic or cyberpunk aesthetic.

Isocons

Library of resources for isometric icons with an interactive panel to change the perspective, adjust the style and choose the colour.

Visu Haus

Interactive visual effects of elastic text, distorted, moving or with circular shapes. Three-dimensional graphics and mathematical simulations rendered in real time (such as Voronoi fractals or liquid metabolas).

Change Capture

Transform any object (using your webcam or by uploading a video file) into a motion in trails that are fluid, dynamic and abstract.

Brik Space

Developed by Wix, it allows you to create, customise and export visual effects, kinetic typography and reusable 3D scenes without needing to know how to code.

Formia

Designed to instantly transform any flat 2D logo into an eye-catching three-dimensional version. It also allows you to create videos with 360-degree rotations and adjust the axis of rotation.

Typeface animator

A fantastic collection of custom typographic animations. Although the ability to edit all elements (text, shape, colour, animation, etc.) depends on the individual template, you’ll be amazed at what you can achieve with this system, which even works on your mobile.

AI Particle Simulator

A WebGL-based experimentation environment designed for the interactive simulation of 3D particle swarms. It converts prompts into JavaScript code, allowing you to control the behaviour of over 20,000 particles.

Baby Track

A tool for tracking moving objects (blob tracking) that applies interactive visual effects (heat maps, glitch-style distortions, particles and dynamic text labels) to your video file.

Aantlii Work

Anatolii Babii presents his portfolio featuring projects in the field of animation of abstract elements which the user can edit according to their needs and export in various formats.

Deeo Studio

This interactive experiment in design and movement, centred on three-dimensional typography, invites users to play freely and explore how letters sculpted from voxel-style blocks (3D pixels) behave and interact.

Endless Tools

An online interactive design multi-tool that allows you to create custom typography, effects and 3D objects without writing any code. Dozens of templates featuring material effects, extrusion, textures and distortions that can be edited in just a few clicks.

React Bits

More than 110 animated and interactive components (with smooth micro-interactions, scroll effects and visual transitions) exportable as code snippets ready to copy and paste.

Tools to suit every taste

It is clear that, now more than ever, we have countless ways to bring out our inner artist. Will the dizzying pace at which new graphic tools are appearing continue to amaze us next week, or will it eventually bore us? Technology now allows users without extensive graphic design skills to bring their ideas to life with ease, but the democratisation of these processes carries the risk of visual homogeneity.

Think back a few months to the first time you saw that picture on Instagram of your mate turned into an action figure, or your girlfriend drawn in Pixar style. Amazing, isn’t it? But when you’ve seen it ten times over – even on your sister-in-law’s profile – it gets a bit tiresome, doesn’t it? Some media outlets overuse these eye-catching effects, without realising how quickly they go out of fashion.

This is why strategic design is so important. We must make the most of the new opportunities that technology offers us, whilst carefully assessing their impact and how they evolve.

It is discernment that will make the difference. As Víctor Palau says in Gráffica: “Now that everyone can design, it matters more than ever.” But it is not just that; experience, knowledge and craftsmanship will also set us apart.

La entrada AI design: fleeting trends se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

As they say: this time it’s different. Because this is the first time Spain has started as the clear favourite since that South African summer of ‘the Iniesta of my life’, ‘Waka Waka’ and Paul the octopus trying to predict the outcome of every match. The world, meanwhile, has changed at a pace that is very difficult to keep up with. Today we no longer rely on a cephalopod to make predictions, but instead turn to artificial intelligence models capable of processing vast amounts of data and variables.

But, even though it may seem as though a hundred years have passed, there is one thing that remains just as relevant today as it was then: the importance of auctoritas. We are not talking about leadership in the conventional sense, but about something much deeper: the ability to provide a point of reference, to bring order, to interpret events and to inspire confidence in times of uncertainty or collective weariness.

In fact, in today’s digitalised world, auctoritas has become even more essential. We have seen this in very recent cases in the world of football, as we noted last week in this very column when analysing the famous press conference held at Real Madrid’s headquarters by Florentino Pérez, now the triumphant winner. And this is a concept that goes beyond sport. Because it seems that something similar is also happening in today’s news landscape. Access to information has never been so easy, with so many sources, channels and tools. However, this is not helping to bring greater clarity of thought; on the contrary, it leads to a saturation that makes it difficult to distinguish between signal and noise.

The space for context in the age of TikTok

Behind this reality lies the sense that, in certain complex fields, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find platforms capable of providing context and depth on a consistent basis.

It is not a problem of a lack of information. Quite the opposite. News, analysis, opinions and data now circulate at such a speed and in such a volume that it becomes impossible to process. Added to this is a social and technological ecosystem that rewards the immediate, the emotional and the simplified. Many information-gathering habits have changed radically in just a few years. Younger colleagues readily admit that they ‘keep up to date’ via Instagram, TikTok or snippets distributed algorithmically across various platforms.

Such are the times we live in. Platforms respond effectively to an ever-faster pace of consumption. But what about issues that require more time? Stripping away the nuances has consequences. This is particularly true in fields such as economics or finance, where decisions have a very tangible impact.

The temptation to let AI call the shots

The rise of artificial intelligence adds a new layer of complexity. Tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity no longer function merely as sophisticated search engines. Increasingly, users are turning to them to obtain summarised answers, compare options, understand industries, or form an initial impression of companies, markets or trends.

Using AI as a first line of defence has obvious advantages. Access to knowledge is simplified. It is possible to process and synthesise vast amounts of information in a way that would previously have been unthinkable, but with the risk of, almost without realising it, abandoning that very human capacity known as critical thinking. And that makes the quality of the sources feeding the ecosystem particularly important.

In this situation, the gradual disappearance of certain specialist outlets – or the difficulty in sustaining journalistic models based on in-depth reporting and expertise – also affects the quality of public discourse and, ultimately, our collective ability to interpret phenomena, whether complex or straightforward.

A responsibility that influences decision-making

Financial literacy is a good example. Spain has historically suffered from significant shortcomings in this area, and the current situation probably makes it more necessary than ever for the public to be able to understand basic economic concepts, assess risks and identify reliable information when making decisions. This is not only a matter of individual responsibility, but also because many of the major contemporary challenges – from geopolitics to the technological or energy transition – have an economic dimension that is difficult to ignore.

However, the media landscape often pushes in the opposite direction: towards an immediate and emotional reaction.

Perhaps that is why it is significant that, while the World Cup is once again dominating conversations and screens, Spain has also recently been visited by Pope Leo XIV. Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, few global figures today so clearly embody a form of authority that is difficult to establish in the contemporary world: an authority based less on bombast or speed than on the ability to maintain a recognisable voice. It is no coincidence that a large part of his recent remarks have centred precisely on issues such as artificial intelligence, human dignity, or the need to preserve spaces for critical thinking in the face of increasingly automated processes.

In an environment of scattered attention and fast-paced narratives, auctoritas is not so much about imposing a voice as it is about remaining a consistent point of reference that does not vanish with a single click.

Credibility is the strategic asset

Communication plays a major role in all of this. For years, many organisations competed primarily for visibility. Today, that seems insufficient. As information multiplies relentlessly, the real difference lies less in taking up space and more in providing clarity and context.

Reputation no longer depends solely on being present, but on becoming a point of reference that is truly useful. Perhaps therein lies an important part of the challenge for contemporary for media, businesses and institutions. Not in speaking louder and louder. But rather in helping to preserve our ‘magnificent humanity’. In the face of the chaos, auctoritas.

La entrada In search of the Auctoritas: from Paul the octopus to the algorithms se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

In day-to-day life, it’s easy to get swept up in the tide of digital trends or the pressure to ‘be everywhere’. However, the latest IAB Spain Social Media Study helps bring us back down to earth: the digital ecosystem in Spain has reached structural maturity. Users have become extremely selective, their expectations are higher than ever, and they no longer give their attention away to just any brand.

The keys to how to lead the conversation in this space such a fast-changing environment according to the study can be summarised as;

The user is digitally literate, but their attention span is limited

Although most of us are familiar with around nine different social media platforms, the reality is that in our day-to-day lives we only actively log in to and use about five of them each month. There is a growing gap between the public recognising an app and deciding to integrate it into their daily routine. Therefore, forcing a presence on every emerging channel for fear of being left out is a misjudgement; the key today is not inertial reach, but achieving relevance within the select group of platforms that truly capture the audience’s daily attention.

The shift away from more traditional networks

The percentage of users who say they have completely stopped using a social media platform has risen sharply in just one year, from 33% to 42%. The platforms leading this exodus are X, with 11%, and Facebook with 10%, as 40% cite lack of use, 23% a loss of interest, and 21% openly admit to being fed up with the saturation of political debates. Certain long-standing platforms are losing the ability to sustain constructive conversations. Facebook, for example, suffers from a huge disconnect: whilst maintaining a high frequency of visits, it lags behind in time spent on the platform (47 minutes a day), making it effective for quick, wide-reaching impact but not for retaining users’ attention.

The cornerstone of corporate positioning

In contrast to the volatility of entertainment channels, the professional sphere has established itself as an extremely robust platform. When analysing exclusively the corporate strategy and commercial use by organisations and businesses (an approach very different from that of the average user), LinkedIn stands firmly as the number one professional network and the top priority for the business community. With 44% usage, it ranks as the second most widely used platform globally by organisations, behind Instagram, which tops the business rankings. This corporate focus far exceeds the presence of brands in mass-market environments such as YouTube (27%) or TikTok (19%). With a clear positioning based exclusively on employment and work, this channel is the ideal platform for projecting an organisation’s identity, allowing the company’s thought leaders and the teams themselves to act as spokespersons to build credibility in the market and decision-making circles.

Less corporate monologue and more interactive activities

There is a very common internal contradiction in content planning, as 59% of the content published by organisations focuses on conveying the brand’s values and positioning. However, it is participatory campaigns, accounting for 41% of output, that truly engage the audience by generating twice as many interactions (26%) and web traffic (26%) compared to flat institutional content, which barely achieves 12% interaction and 15% traffic. The public rejects one-way communication. If the real objective is to build engagement and drive users to the organisation’s own web assets, content strategies must shift from merely disseminating messages to designing experiences where the community is part of the narrative.

The prescriber’s paradox: credibility under scrutiny

Almost half of internet users (46%) actively follow influencers, a practice that is overwhelmingly concentrated among women and young people. The problem is that the trust they generate hangs by a very fine thread, as despite this, 38% consider these creators to be credible, compared to 40% who perceive their comments as being purely promotional. The use of third parties to endorse a brand no longer operates under rigid or purely commercial frameworks; if advertising persuasion stifles authenticity, the user disengages, so collaborations must be based on a genuine alignment of values and creative freedom to safeguard trust.

The ethical imperative of AI: transparency or punishment

Advances in artificial intelligence in content creation pose a significant challenge in terms of perception, as most users admit that they find it difficult to distinguish between real and synthetic content, particularly older users. This is fuelling a climate of widespread mistrust that is intensifying severely in highly sensitive corporate or news-related areas such as current affairs, politics or health. In light of this, there is a unanimous and cross-cutting demand for the explicit labelling of all AI-generated content. Processing tools such as ChatGPT or Gemini are fantastic allies for optimising internal workflows, structuring ideas or analysing performance data, but when it comes to the public, honesty is non-negotiable, and attempting to release automated creative content or final messages without warning exposes organisations to an unnecessary erosion of their credibility and strains trust with their audience.

The real priority of the ecosystem

When professionals who manage the digital landscape are asked about their organisations’ priorities, the consensus is clear: the top objectives are improving search rankings (72%) and increasing brand awareness (65%), clearly outstripping immediate conversion goals such as direct sales, which stand at just 38%. Social media functions, above all, as a platform for reputation, trust and public perception. In a mature market, the success of a strategy does not lie in making more noise or dominating more screens, but in understanding the codes of each channel, respecting users’ demand for transparency, and accepting that the value of intelligent entertainment is the only real price the public is willing to pay to pay attention to us.

La entrada How to lead the conversation in a constantly changing ecosystem se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

Over the years, brands have learned (some sooner than others) to listen to what was being said about them in the media, social media, forums and platforms for opinion. Media monitoring allowed measuring media presence; social listening, understand conversations, detect risks and anticipate changes in perception. But the digital ecosystem, which is ever-changing and unpredictable, has incorporated a new intermediary: the assistants of artificial intelligence.

ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude… They are no longer just tools for productivity. Users use them to find out information, compare options, prepare decisions or understand who is who in a sector. In that context, it is not enough to know what people say about a brand. We must also begin to understand what “believes”, summarises and reproduces the AI about itself.

This new layer of listening is known as AI listening: monitoring how AI assistants mention a brand, what tone they use, which sources they cite, and to what extent their responses align with the corporate narrative the organisation wishes to build. To monitoring in the media and on social media, we must now add monitoring within generative AI tools.

From social listening to IA listening

Generally speaking, social listening helps brands understand human conversations, find out what users are saying on social media, how certain topics go viral, what criticisms are being repeated, and which communities influence public perception. This discipline remains useful, but it no longer covers the entire reputation landscape.

The difference is that AI assistants don’t just reflect conversations; they also summarise them, prioritise them and turn them into answers. When a user asks “which are the most innovative companies in this sector”, “which bank has the best reputation”, “which brand is the most sustainable” or “who leads this market”, the AI does not simply display a neutral list of sources. It crafts a response that may include names, comparisons, assessments and omissions.

That is why AI listening is not just about checking whether a brand appears. It involves analysing how it appears. Whether the mention is prominent or incidental. Whether the description is accurate or out of date. Whether the tone is positive, neutral or critical. Whether the sources used are reliable. And, above all, whether the AI’s response aligns with the narrative the company is trying to build.

We are moving from monitoring human conversations to analysing machine-generated narratives. And this shift is strategic because AI assistants are becoming new mediators of public perception.

Why AI listening matters in corporate communications

AI can become a new point of contact between a brand and its audiences. This is why it is important for a communications department. A journalist might use it to prepare for an interview. A job seeker might use it to research a company before applying for a vacancy. An investor might use it to get an initial overview of a sector. A consumer can use it to compare alternatives. A regulator or a stakeholder can use it to put a controversy into context.

In all these cases, the AI-generated response can serve as a first impression. And first impressions are often the ones that matter most.

This forces the teams of communication to ask themselves questions such as: what does ChatGPT say about our company; it mentions us when it asks about our sector; which sources are being used to talk about us?; is the information up to date?; are our key messages recognised? or, is the AI constructing another narrative?

What should be monitored

AI listening begins by systematically asking relevant questions across different assistants and observing the responses. It is not a matter of conducting a one-off test, but rather of repeating queries, recording results and identifying patterns.

The measurement process can begin manually, using a series of questions about the brand, its products, its spokespersons, its competitors and its sector. This method provides an initial qualitative snapshot of the brand’s visibility, helps identify inaccuracies and assesses overall sentiment without the need for significant technical investment.

As the project matures, this measurement can be automated using APIs or by utilising commercial solutions. But the principle remains the same: turning what AI says about a brand into actionable and useful information for communication.

Among the indicators that are most useful are the volume of mentions, the quality of the mention, the sentiment, the consistency of the responses, the alignment narrative and the sources cited.

AI reads newspapers too

One of the major benefits of AI listening is that it helps us understand which sources are ‘training’ the models. And this is where corporate communications has a significant role to play.

Unpaid content carries significant weight: 95% of mentions came from unpaid media, 89% from earned media and 27% from journalistic content. This reinforces an important point for agencies and communications departments: media presence does not only impact human audiences. It can also influence what AI systems read and, consequently, how they respond.

Press releases, although they do not always appear as a direct source, still play a role in the ecosystem: they can generate follow-up coverage, inform journalistic content and build context around a brand. In other words, the traditional work of PR is not disappearing; it is taking on a new dimension.

The risks of not listening

Failing to monitor what AI says about a brand implies accepting a “blind spot” in terms of reputation. The brand may be investing in content, media and positioning, whilst AI assistants continue to provide a description that is incomplete, out of date or poorly aligned with its strategy.

But the risk does not lie solely in invisibility. There may also be errors, inconsistent responses, unwanted associations or an over-representation of old news compared to recent milestones. In contexts of crisis, furthermore, the lack of reliable information can leave room for interpretations that are biased or for content of poor quality.

The materials on deepfakes, disinformation and hybrid threats serve as a reminder that generative AI can also be used to manipulate, spread disinformation or launch more sophisticated attacks against organisations, with reputational damage that is difficult to reverse. Although AI listening does not in itself resolve these risks, it does help to detect early warning signs and understand how a particular narrative circulates or gains traction.

From listening to action

The true value of AI listening becomes apparent when it is linked to the communication strategy. If attendees do not mention the brand, there may be a lack of authority or presence in relevant sources. If they describe it inaccurately, it may be worth reviewing basic corporate content. If they cite unrepresentative sources, it may be necessary to strengthen the brand’s presence in the media, sector reports or well-structured company websites. If the tone does not align with the desired narrative, work will need to be done on messages, spokespersons and content to help balance perceptions.

AI listening is neither a passing fad nor just another layer of reporting. It is a new approach to corporate reputation. Just as brands learned to listen to the media and then to social media, they now need to listen to AI models as well.

La entrada AI listening: why should we monitor what ChatGPT and other models are saying about your brand? se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

The bubbles that fuel periods of financial speculation take shape long before prices collapse. Sometimes they are mere trial balloons, but on other occasions they appear to be grounded in reality. In any case, these bubbles arise from ideas. Before accounting imbalances or credit excesses—the triggers of stock market crises—accumulate, they take root in the investment climate through a collective narrative that seeks to convince people of a radically different future in which the classic rules of asset valuation no longer apply.

Do investors tend to suffer from low self-esteem? Are they simply the target of speculative greed on the part of certain market gurus seeking profits? Do they sometimes forget to value assets in the short term, to look beyond the immediate horizon, or to take a long-term view of their investment portfolios? Quite often—and not infrequently—the answer seems to be yes, judging by the rapid spread of episodes of irrational exuberance that have occurred since the middle of the last century. The IMF, for example, has recorded 414 currency crises, 200 sovereign debt crises and 151 banking crises. Dozens of them every decade.

It is true that most are local or regional. They appear to be limited in scope. But we must not underestimate their propensity for chaos. Because there have been ten instances of financial instability on a global scale since the oil crisis, some accompanied by global recession and all by stock market crashes, such as that of the 1973–75 period and its seismic aftershocks in the 1980s. Almost without a break, the Latin American debt crisis emerged. Another period of stress with widespread geographical repercussions that lasted a long decade until the Tequila Effect was overcome, which depressed the Mexican peso and spread to the markets and several banking systems. Or Black Monday in 1987, with synchronised falls from Hong Kong to every stock exchange on the planet, and the crunch in Japan two years later, which ushered in three long decades of economic stagnation and deflation in what was then the world’s second-largest GDP.

Before the end of the 20th century, there was still time for competitive devaluations of Asian currencies to take place and, almost in parallel, that of the Russian rouble, which resulted in five prime ministers in two years before Vladimir Putin came to power.

More recent —and even more global — have been the dot-com of 2000, with origins in the US and spreading recession in Germany and the credit crisis of 2008 with the nationalisation of Lehman Brothers and suspension of trading on the Stock Exchange in Moscow due to the freefall into the depths of hell of its share price. It was like watching the world upside down: the paradise of the free market buying with federal funds a a45> bank of investment private and the former USSR preventing the collapse of trading in capital. But it was not the last major systemic crisis. The European debt crisis of 2012, which was on the verge of bury the euro, and the Great Pandemic of 2020 caused by COVID -19 also led to economic contractions.

Common themes in the story

The story that has accompanied all of them has not been exactly the same. However, it contains common threads. The narrative that takes root in the markets not only persuades the investors, but also extends into the public arena. Analysts, banks, the media and political leaders end up reaching a consensus which seems to confirm that structural change is inevitable and is underway.

The 2013 Nobel laureate in Economics, Robert Shiller, described this phenomenon as narrative economics, based on the idea that the stories circulating in society directly influence economic behaviour and investment decisions. When a narrative gains sufficient traction — whether it be a transformative technology, a new financial model or a seemingly unstoppable economic cycle — it can become the oxygen that fuels any bubble.

The warning about irrational exuberance

One of the most famous concepts associated with them emerged as an institutional warning. In 1996, Alan Greenspan, then Chairman of the Federal Reserve, publicly wondered whether the financial markets were displaying “irrational exuberance that was inflating stock market valuations beyond their fundamentals”. The expression became a benchmark for understanding speculative cycles. Paradoxically, the warning did not dampen market enthusiasm. Over the following years, the Nasdaq continued to rise, driven by the tech narrative.

Until it burst, the dot-com bubble was the example most visible of how a story can dominate investor sentiment. The internet promised to radically transform the economy, eliminate intermediaries and generate new forms of productivity. Technology companies began to gain value more due to their potential rather than for their actual profitability. Shiller explained it in his a46> influential book Irrational Exuberance: “the markets can enter into dynamics collective where optimism feeds feeds back into and in which each rise confirms the dominant narrative, and that narrative continues to attract new investors”. In 2000, the Nasdaq crashed and the narrative changed with the same speed with which it had been built.

In the years leading up to the 2008 financial crisis, a widely accepted dogma also took hold: house prices were a structurally safe asset. This assumption justified an extraordinary expansion of mortgage lending. From so-called subprime loans to complex financial instruments. They were dubbed “toxic assets” and became a permanent fixture on bank balance sheets. They were vast in scale following years of excessive lending and, above all, highly dangerous due to the dubious recoverability of the loans granted. They imploded when the credit cycle began to deteriorate and the international financial architecture revealed its grave fragility.

Very few investment voices—including, amongst others, Jeremy Grantham and Nouriel Roubini—warned several months in advance that the US property market was in the grip of a bubble and that a correction was inevitable. To no avail. Because the prevailing narrative continued on its optimistic course.

Spain and the rhetoric of bricks

In Spain, the property bubble also had a very clear rhetorical dimension. Over the years, a mantra became firmly established in political speeches, industry reports and everyday conversations: that property was always a sound investment and its prices never fell. This narrative served both an economic and a cultural function. It justified a growth model based on construction and reinforced the perception of housing as the safest asset for family savings. The logic was simple and powerful: building created jobs, jobs drove demand, and demand sustained prices.

So, when the international financial crisis spread to the European banking system, that dynamic quickly faded. The once-stable engine of growth became the most serious vulnerability in the recent history of the eurozone’s fourth-largest economy.

The narrative pattern of bubbles thus follows a recurring pattern:

· Innovation or structural change: a technology or economic model emerges that promises to change the rules of the game.
· Expansion of capital and credit: markets mobilise resources to capitalise on the opportunity.
· Consolidation of the dominant narrative: analysts and the media reinforce the growth narrative.
· Decoupling of expectations and fundamentals: valuations become detached from economic reality.
· Abrupt shift in narrative: when results fail to meet expectations, the narrative is reversed.

Furthermore, on rare occasions they erupt due to a lack of information. Rather, they collapse when the narrative underpinning the optimism ceases to be credible. The new narrative—that of today’s AI—is beginning to follow in its wake. It is a technology that is transforming entire sectors, from business productivity to scientific research, and is triggering a massive wave of investment in companies involved in AI development.

To make matters worse, the voices are growing louder once again setting off the alarms once more. Top executives from firms in the investment and private banking assure that the climate for investors could be underestimating the impact of the conflict in Iran following a correction in the stock market which has become apparent on Wall Street in February, prior to the escalation of military tensions in the Middle East, due to the persistence of certain values linked to AI unleashed with excessive use of credit.

There are warnings that the market is once again functioning as a storytelling machine. And with good reason. After all, financial bubbles are not merely economic phenomena. They are also narrative phenomena. As history shows, stories are also traded.

La entrada The story that inflates the bubbles: of the irrational exuberance of the past to the new narrative of AI se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

Today, in 2026, that fascination with anticipating what is to come remains intact. But in digital communication, it is no longer just an exercise in curiosity; it is a strategic necessity. Platforms change, algorithms mutate, audiences fragment, and technology advances at a speed that forces us to constantly rethink what we communicate, how we do it, and, above all, for whom.

If 2024 was the year artificial intelligence finally took off, and 2025 was the year it became normalised (with ups and downs), 2026 looks set to be the year of maturity. A turning point at which digital communication will cease to be obsessed with scale and automation and refocus on something as old as it is essential: people, usefulness and trust.

These are the main trends in digital communication for 2026 that we are already beginning to detect and that will set the agenda for brands, institutions and creators of content.

Back to human: the value of what is not done with AI

After several years of technological euphoria, 2026 will consolidate a clear reaction: fatigue in the face of mass-produced, generic, and soulless content. So-called AI slop (mass-produced texts, images and videos with no real value or criteria, or even of poor quality that demonstrate a lack of care in their production) will begin to be penalised not only by audiences, but also by the platforms themselves.

Paradoxically, artificial intelligence will continue to be a key tool, but its use will become increasingly invisible. The brands that stand out will be those capable of demonstrating human sensitivity, editorial judgement and authenticity. The imperfect, the handcrafted and the clearly human will gain relevance over the artificially perfect.

It is no coincidence that we have already seen campaigns withdrawn for abusing AI-generated resources or for failing to pass a minimum creative and ethical filter. In 2026, communication will be, more than ever, a question of intention and not just efficiency.

GEO and algorithmic reputation: communicating for AI (without forgetting about people)

Traditional SEO is not disappearing, but evolving. In 2026, brands will compete on new ground: that of GEO (Generative Engine Optimisation), i.e. optimisation for AI-based response engines.

We will witness the rise of the so-called zero-click world: searches that will no longer drive traffic to a website, but will be resolved directly in the search engine or conversational assistant itself. This will force a complete rethink of digital visibility strategies.

In this context, a concept that is still in its infancy but decisive will come into play: algorithmic reputation. What does AI say about your brand, what sources does it use, what context it offers and what biases it reproduces. In 2026, this variable will begin (hopefully) to be integrated into plans for digital and reputational crisis management.

Brands that understand how to train their digital presence for these new environments (media, experts, quotable and consistent content) will have an advantage in a scenario where it is no longer enough to position oneself, but rather to be referenced.

Politics and geopolitics: from the margins to the centre of digital content

Far from being a passing fad, politics and geopolitics are establishing themselves as key topics in digital communication and social media. The reason is simple: the global media agenda spans all areas (including economics, technology, energy, defence and digital rights), and audiences, with increasingly specialised profiles and in many cases followers of current affairs, demand context.

Clear examples are the TikTok communication strategies of institutions such as Moncloa, the Prado Museum, and political figures such as the Mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, who have understood that social media is not only a space for entertainment, but also for education and storytelling.

To this we can add the rise of newsletters and personal analysis formats. We can give as an example the Monthly active management, the monthly newsletter by Iván Díez, Country Head of Iberia and Latam of La Financière de l’Échiquier, on current events in markets (and many other topics), which demonstrate that there is an appetite for complex content explained in a clear and accessible manner.

In 2026, brands will not be able to ignore this context. Even those that do not explicitly discuss politics will need to understand the geopolitical framework in which they operate and how it affects their narrative.

Fewer likes, fewer comments… more real value.

One of the great frustrations of communication teams in recent years has been the gradual decline in visible engagement. In 2026, this trend will become more pronounced: there will be fewer likes and fewer comments, even on high-quality content.

The difference will be made by usefulness. Metrics such as saves or shares, viewing time, and recurrence will become much more relevant indicators than superficial interaction.

The formats that will work best are those aimed at solving specific problems or providing practical knowledge: tips, explained trends, tutorials, step-by-step guides, recipes, or applicable analyses.

Effective communication in 2026 will not be synonymous with virality, but rather with sustained relevance.

No more masses: hyper-segmentation and hyper-personalisation

This trend is not new, but in 2026 it reaches full maturity. Mass communication ceases to make sense in an ecosystem where there is no longer a homogeneous audience. There is no mass; there are communities, niches and micro-interests.

Hyper-segmentation of audiences and hyper-personalisation of messages (two terms we were already using in 2025) become a strategic requirement. It is not just a question of adapting the channel, but also the language, approach, timing and value provided to each audience.

Communication becomes surgical. Fewer impacts, but better targeted. Less noise and more connection. The goal is no longer reach, but rather building solid, lasting bonds.

Deepfakes and fake news: a structural threat

Unfortunately, another trend that will become more prevalent in 2026 is the increase in deepfakes and fake news. Technology is advancing faster than regulation and digital literacy, creating a perfect breeding ground for misinformation.

Recent cases, such as certain media crises linked to generative AI tools (the most notorious being Grok), highlight the fragility of the current information ecosystem. And everything points to us seeing more similar episodes throughout the year.

For brands, this means taking on a new reputational risk. Monitoring, verification and responsiveness are no longer optional. Digital communication in 2026 will need to incorporate clear protocols for dealing with content manipulation and identity theft.

Conclusion: communicate less, but better

Digital communication trends for 2026 paint a demanding picture, but also one of a new world full of opportunities. This will be the year when technology ceases to be the focus of discussion and becomes a tool at the service of judgement and strategy but, above all, of trust.

In a way, we are returning to the fundamentals: understanding who we are talking to, providing real value, and protecting our reputation. We must accept the responsibility that comes with communicating in a hyperconnected environment.

In a world saturated with messages, winning will not be shouting louder, but saying something that really deserves to be heard.

La entrada 6 digital communication trends for 2026: less noise, more judgment se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

Until recently, a significant part of a designer’s job was knowing how to use photo editing, vector illustration, and editorial design software. I spent so many hours in Photoshop courses, where seeing my classmates achieve the same result through different paths amazed me as much as it scared me that time would erase that knowledge. How many notes and screenshots have I accumulated to remember how to use the grids system or adjust the text to the base grid in InDesign?

The arrival of YouTube tutorials on how to use these tools meant we no longer had to memorise the processes, menus and submenus of these design software tools. From then on, it was enough to remember what the tools could do, NOT how to do it. If you needed to perform a specific action, you no longer had to go to forums to ask questions or consult the user manual. All you had to do was find a tutorial that explained it visually in a minute.

This has allowed more users to lose their fear to complex software. And the proliferation of Instagram reels that attractively explain how to create a photographic effect, a specific vector illustration style, or an editorial design based on the golden ratio.

The power of the free tools

The design tools available from a simple web browser are becoming increasingly powerful. They do not require us to download anything (with the risk of it containing a virus) and are accessible from any device.

Ilovepdf provides us with options that previously required paid software.

Background remover surprised us at its moment with a feature that you could only get by paying a fee.

What can we say about Photopea? A suite of free photo editing tools, fully functional that offers an interface similar to Photoshop (in exchange for showing us advertisements in the right-hand panel).

The use of Turboscribe for audio transcription is essential. Its option to add time stamps (indicating the minute and second when each sentence is spoken) has been extremely useful for synchronising subtitles. This feature has recently been incorporated into free video editing programmes.

Jitter has allowed us to create professional animations without mastering complex motion graphics programmes.

TikTok knows that we all prefer well-edited videos with beautiful transitions, sound effects, and eye-catching subtitles. That’s why it created CapCut, with powerful desktop versions, but also for mobile. It’s free software with paid options and a huge community behind it. I can’t fail to mention Trevor Jones, a video editing expert who has gone from working in Hollywood to focusing on a YouTube channel with thousands of subscribers, where he unravels all the secrets of CapCut’s timeline, keyframes, filters, effects, and settings in a fun and light-hearted style.

The war for the design pie

A war has broken out in all sectors to attract users, and in the field of design, Canva has led the revolution against Adobe’s monopoly. Initially criticised by some graphic designers who were “delighted to meet themselves”, Canva made its definitive mark with Affinity suite, a free software package (available for Mac, Windows and soon iPad) that combines photo editing, vector illustration editing and editorial design software in a single space. Three areas of graphic design for which Adobe’s Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, with their £80 monthly subscription, had been the industry standard until now. Among Canva’s new tools, its new portfolio creator and text summariser stand out.

Thousands of users have made the leap. Affinity Suite allows you to export to a .psd file or a vector PDF file with bleed and crop marks. This means there is no problem whatsoever in sending it to the printer or sending a project with layers to a colleague who works with another system.

This leap involves learning to use a new tool, after years of being accustomed to the menus and submenus of Adobe programmes. Had this steep learning curve occurred at another time, it would have put many people off. But nowadays, all you have to do is ask Gemini or ChatGPT how to select multiple layers at once, how to convert an image to a vector, or how to make a clipping mask, and you’ll get the answer instantly.

Canva has seen Affinity Studio as an opportunity to expand its user network and bases its business model on paid artificial intelligence features. However, the price of its PRO subscription is much lower than Adobe’s.

Apple also wants its slice of this pie and has just launched a subscription to Apple Creator Studio for 13 euros per month.

The ubiquitous artificial intelligence

Our capacity for amazement knows no bounds when it comes to generative AI. Gone are those hallucinations and that ‘dreamlike’ texture of images. A few months ago, there was no way to get the character created for one image to be used in the next, maintaining its appearance but in a different position. A few months of Google Nano Banana and ChatGPT competing for the throne have been enough for us not only to be able to do this, but now all we need is a photo of a character to ask the AI to show it to us in any setting, in any pose and from any angle. We no longer need a long photo shoot with lots of photos of a client to ensure that the creative content we produce for their social media is not monotonous.

Zara itself has confirmed that, although it continues to use real photographers and models, continues to use photographers and models in real life, it uses generative AI to generate to get the multitude of versions it needs.

Now more than ever the highest value of the graphic designer is his judgement. “Common sense,” as Jorge Álvarez Naveiro says in the first episode of the eighth season of our podcast.

All creative people have suffered from imposter syndrome at some point. This psychological pattern occurs when professionals, despite having obvious achievements, doubt their abilities and feel that they do not deserve their success, fearing that they will be exposed as ‘frauds’. Everyone knows how to write. Does that make us all potential journalists or novelists? If anyone could cut their own hair or design their own clothes at the touch of a button, would the world be full of stylish hairstyles and fashionable neighbours? Or would it be a cacophony of absurdities?

Now the time has come when everyone has the tools to design simply by typing what they want (prompt) into a text input field on a website. But if you leave the design of your company in the hands of non-professionals, will we see a balanced, elegant and eye-catching style throughout? Or will it be a nightmare of Comic Sans Serif, garish colours and gigantic logos?

At present, in a field that affects us on a daily basis, AI specialising in presentation design continues to rely on proposals with short texts and striking images. This is not the case for most of our clients, who require extensive explanations on financial matters and do not have a tangible physical product such as a fizzy drink or dazzling jewellery.

What is undeniable is the invaluable assistance provided by tools such as the following in graphic design processes:

Brainstorming and idea generation: ChatGPT, ideogram

Product mock-ups: Pacdora y Kittl,

Hyperrealistic images:: Stable diffusion, Midjourney, Firefly y Nano banana

Choosing a colour palette: Coolors y Khroma

Upscaling images: Remini y Topaz Gigapixel AI

Visual graphics trends for 2026

With this brief overview of the advances we have tested, I look ahead to the new year and, without a doubt, my favourite trend for 2026 is liquid crystal. Apple initially implemented skeuomorphism in its mobile operating system (iOS), a visual system in which digital elements such as buttons and icons imitated their physical counterparts, using textures, shadows and details to make them look real. Over time, in order to optimise resources and bandwidth, it moved to flat design, led by Android (Google’s mobile operating system), a user interface marked by minimalism with simple, schematic icons. Now that mobile phones with high-performance processors are very popular and download speeds are fast, we are returning to a realistic style with Apple’s liquid glass (whose successful creator has joined Meta’s design team) and the resurgence of glassmorphism. Styles and fashions are not for everyone, and Apple had to backtrack and offer an iOS update with the option to switch from liquid glass to frosted glass, sacrificing visual spectacle for the sake of readability.

Other styles we have followed closely, but which we are unlikely to apply to more traditional clients who prefer a more timeless line, are: Digital Pastel (soft colours such as lavender and mint, mixed with blurred gradients that look like clouds or crystals), Retro-Medieval (ancient icons and Gothic letters mixed with metallic effects and futuristic neon lights) and Kinetic Typography (letters that stretch and deform as if they were liquid and occupy the entire composition).

But all this is in January 2026. With the relentless evolution of artificial intelligence and the brutal battle for our attention from social media, everything could change next week. What wonders does the future hold? We will continue to watch eagerly.

La entrada Graphic trends in communication 2026: new tools and AI bring out our inner artist se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

In recent years, and particularly intensely in 2025, we have talked a great deal about what communication brings to organisations. We have generated rivers of specialised content, we have asserted our role in forums, conferences and networks, and we have broadened the narrative about our strategic relevance. At the same time, the nomenclature has changed: we are no longer just communication directors; we are now responsible for corporate affairs.

The problem is not the change of name. The problem arises when it is not accompanied by a real change in the way of intervening in decisions. “How many words, how many nomenclatures for one same confusion”, as Cortázar said.

Trends, yes, but with demands

When discussing trends for 2026, the diagnosis is widely shared: greater fragmentation of audiences, conversational environments that are increasingly more scattered every day, increasing pressure on reputation, private spaces that are gaining ground to public spaces and an artificial intelligence that accelerates processes, lowers the cost of producing content and I am not very confident that it raises the bar for what is considered a differentiator.

All of this forms part of the context that communication professionals will be dealing with this year. But the real challenge is not so much identifying trends – we have been doing that for many years – as ensuring that they do not remain a rhetorical exercise, something we also know a lot about. Because the risk is clear: talking about change without changing anything.

I don’t know if we’re going round in circles a bit, but we keep repeating the idea (which is now so obvious) that communication cannot continue to be a reactive function. It cannot be limited to explaining decisions made in other areas or strategically glossing over what has already been decided. If we truly aspire to be a structural area, communication must be part of the core where priorities are defined, risks are assessed, and decisions that affect the business and its reputation are made.

Less noise, more meaning

Paradoxically, while we demand greater strategic relevance, the sector contributes to saturating the ecosystem. New blogs, podcasts, newsletters and opinion formats emerge almost daily. In part, this is logical: if no one is talking about you—or your brand—it seems as if you don’t exist, especially in an algorithm-mediated environment, now more than ever as AI tracks your GEO like a bloodhound.

But: are we providing clarity or simply more noise?

An abundance of content does not always translate into greater influence. Often, the opposite is true. In an oversaturated context, value lies not in saying more, but in saying what matters, when it matters, and from a position of judgement. This requires giving up certain comfortable platitudes in favour of more thoughtful positions that are more connected to the reality of organisations and less dependent on passing fads.

AI as a mirror, not as an excuse

The emergence (now normalised) of artificial intelligence is perhaps the most obvious challenge of 2026. Not so much because of what it automates – a lot, as we know – but because of what it reveals. AI writes, summarises, translates, proposes and multiplies production. What it does not do is answer the question for us: what is important?

Here, it is worth turning the usual discourse on its head. AI has not come to make us think less; it has come to make us think much more. This is according to Xavier Marcet, and it is worth remembering. We cannot lose the value of thinking. He adds another recommendation that is worth bearing in mind: “thinking is done alone; reasoning is done as a team“.

In communication, AI can accelerate the “what”; but the value will continue to lie in the “why” and the “what for”. And that requires thought.

Thinking is not a luxury nor an intellectual gesture. It is a professional responsibility. Especially in a context where technology is accelerating, the noise multiplies and the temptation to express an opinion without criterion is always a click away from.

If communication wants to occupy the place it claims to want to occupy, in 2026 it will have to demonstrate this less in storytelling and more in decision-making. Less in overexposure and more in influence. Less in fashion and more in craftsmanship. In short: take action.

It means thinking before speaking. And acting accordingly. Or, in other words: from saying to doing.

Happy 2026, the year of action.

La entrada From saying to doing: communication 2026, less speech and more impact se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

This is not a logbook of stock market investments. For that, there are increasingly well-paid financial advisors. Nor is it a market oracle, God save Warren Buffett! La Vuelta al Mundo merely aims to provide a snapshot of the diplomatic, economic, commercial, stock market and, of course, geostrategic issues that dominate the global scene. At a crucial moment, when the multilateral order that has governed us since the end of the Cold War—the era carved out by the hammer blows between the US and the former USSR, which created a fragile but resistant armour that balanced the telluric forces of a planet under nuclear threat and the clash between two economic concepts: the free market and state interventionism—is under threat.

Many unknowns have accumulated in the complex equation that should lead to a harmonious world, with open trade relations and free capital flows. Most of these questions arose in the first quarter of this millennium, just after the end of a period of tense calm, with arms reduction, nuclear non-proliferation treaties and a boom in investment and trade globalisation that many analysts called The Great Geostrategic Siesta. This term was coined from an ingenious numerical game: from 9/11 (1989), the date on which the Berlin Wall and the bloc of planned economies fell, and 11/0 (2001), when the Twin Towers in New York collapsed, elevating the fight against international terrorism to the top of geopolitical agendas around the world.

The only combined foreign attack on American soil came close to bringing about the Clash of Civilisations predicted by Samuel P. Huntington, a political scientist and professor of political science at Eaton College with a British passport, who saw a confrontation between Western Catholics and Eastern Muslims as inevitable. Similarly, during those years, Francis Fukuyama’s theory in his famous essay The End of History and the Last Man, that liberal democracy would proclaim victory over authoritarian regimes at the end of the Cold War, had moments when it seemed that the battle between the heavyweights of world ideology was going to tip in favour of Washington’s allies.

Pulse to the markets in a world in turmoil

Twenty-five years into the 21st century and three major crises later—the dot-com crash of 2000, the credit crunch of 2008 and the Great Pandemic of 2020—and no shortage of industrial restructuring and productive dynamics put in place to mitigate collateral damage and usher in more sustained and prosperous economic cycles, geostrategic swords remain raised. Now the standoff is between the US and China, with Russia waiting in the wings as a leading nuclear power, and a cohort of emerging markets gaining international muscle. At almost the same pace, other key players of the past, such as the European partners in the EU, Japan and the United Kingdom, have lost their influence abroad.

This geopolitical framework has not prevented old conflicts, such as that in the Middle East, from continuing to be a particularly volatile hornet’s nest, or others from emerging, such as the war in Ukraine on the very borders of the EU. Nor has it prevented investors in the stock market from being carried away by impulses more or less surrounded by realpolitik. Gone is the New Economy that, at the beginning of the century, incorporated technologies into the production patterns of companies and countries. It was the era of the Internet, and the private tech sector was emerging without rules or internal structures capable of assimilating such a huge commitment to the future. All this created a stormy climate from a credit perspective. Personal loans (mortgages) and corporate guarantees led to (…) the nationalisation by the US Treasury of one of its flagship investment banks, Lehman Brothers, and the suspension of the Moscow Stock Exchange in the face of the free fall of its securities!!!

On 15 September 2008, the world seemed to be turned upside down. The country that championed the free market, which Fukuyama had elevated to the pinnacle of capitalism, was intervening in its banking system, while the nation that had pioneered economic planning – Russia, heir to the Soviet model – was defending its stock market tooth and nail.

This geostrategic game is what Around the world seeks to explain in each weekly meeting with its followers. To explain these seismic aftershocks on a planet in constant flux, with trends and phenomena that are more or less paranormal. To try to propose a regular game for those interested in following the trail of geopolitical, economic, investment and business shifts that are shaping a new system of international relations that will surely replace a process of globalisation that has driven the flow of goods, services and capital with virtually no borders.

A geostrategic race for global hegemony

This is a crucial moment in history. Trump 2.0 aims to bury multilateralism, undermine and even fragment globalisation, promoting, if necessary, the creation of two trading blocs, two spheres of power dominated by the US and China that will reconfigure value and supply chains, economic and trade diplomacy, and private business. All this is taking place amid a geostrategic race for global hegemony unparalleled since the Second World War. Beijing is challenging the supremacy of the dollar and its technological leadership, with AI as proof of origin of this innovative El Dorado.

For all these reasons, at Agencia comma we believe that Around the world, its review of Risk, which each week proposes a move that may differ substantially from that of the previous seven days, can serve as a road map in this famous game of geostrategy for taking investment positions in the global casino in which we live. Although this road map would also fulfil its purpose if it served, at least, to shape ideas and modulate consciences at a time when an ever-dangerous economic and ideological nationalism has emerged which, contrary to the collective subconscious that has prevailed in this first quarter of a century, leaves little trace of the triumph of liberal democracy that has ruled in the so-called Western bloc.

The return to protectionism, to the customs duties re-established in the interwar period almost a century ago, with the revival of reciprocal tariffs and a series of export bans and controls between the two superpowers of the moment, calls for a periodic review of events and rigorous analysis. This is especially true if, in the meantime, we have witnessed a stock market boom that has weathered geopolitical conflicts, with rampant global economic anaemia and corporate uncertainties about business AI projects and the dawn of an era of oil overproduction, but with emerging electricity demand to supply massive data centre facilities, the engine room of the intelligent algorithm that awaits us.

These are turbulent times. In the markets, where volatility has taken hold; in geopolitics, with intense tensions and rivalries; and in the economy, where business cycles have become endless, with no glimpse of their hidden dangers. In the case of high-income countries, excessive and risky indebtedness and runaway fiscal deficits.

Rocky roads towards technological leadership

But these are also complex times. Environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) criteria have transformed their acronyms. Now, the talk is of Energy, Security and Geopolitics, company boards are beginning to demand directors and executives with experience in these areas, and doubts have been raised as to whether the two acronyms can coexist peacefully. Energy neutrality and climate change are facing rocky roads. And values are adapting to multiple transitions: logistical, commercial and, above all, competitive. Without a precise compass, but with high doses of active resilience. Similarly, AI leaves unresolved dilemmas. Will nuclear energy return to solve the energy demand deficits of its data centres? Will its assets enjoy an eternal era of splendour? Will its robotic algorithms replace more or less skilled workers?

In all these areas, Around the world will seek to find analyses and points of view that clarify this combination of factors that will determine whether the future of humanity is written in terms of progress or destruction. Each week, it will report on geopolitical, economic and investment perspectives. Of course, it will keep an eye on the European roadmap, which must emerge from its ostracism if it wants to compete on equal terms with the US and China on a planet that is spinning too fast. That’s the thing about translational motion.

La entrada Around the world, a weekly game of ‘Risk’ at the capital’s Gran Casino se publicó primero en Agencia comma.

This integration of AI design and communication agencies is not about replacing humans with machines, but rather empowering designers with a tireless and ultra-fast ally. At the agency, we have experienced this transformation first-hand, especially with the generation of visual content for our blog and 3D images for our report covers and social media carousels.

The challenge of the abstract: visual identity with AI

Every graphic designer sometimes faces the challenge of illustrating concepts that are inherently complex and abstract. Terms such as public relations, digital marketing, or specialised communication are not easy to capture in a single, memorable image.

With the redesign of comma’s image, the agency decided that the featured images on our blog should be a manifesto of our philosophy: modern, conceptual and organic, even using technology. We decided to use AI to generate images that symbolised the sound waves of communication through different materials and textures, assigning a material to each of our main content categories:

• Content creation: watercolour, due to the artistic and improvised nature of the creative process.
• Communication training: porcelain, symbolising the process of transforming clay (raw knowledge) into finished beauty (polished skills) through a process of modelling and firing.
• Digital marketing: glitter, due to the urgent need to attract attention and the fleeting but necessary sparkle of online campaigns.
• Media relations: paper, honouring its traditional origins in the written press
• Public relations: marble, which evokes the seriousness, solidity and institutionality with which long-term relationships of trust are built.
• The agency: fungi, for their symbolism of being a living entity, interconnected beneath the surface (the mycelium), representing the organic and collaborative spirit of our agency.
• Specialised communication: The pearl texture inside an oyster, being a unique, highly valuable element, requires a cultivation process and specialisation to be found.

By associating each theme with a texture, we have created a unique visual language that has only been possible thanks to the versatility and synthesis capabilities of AI design. It is the perfect example of AI at the service of human creativity.

AI SEO: the intelligence of structure

The symbiosis between AI design and communication agencies goes beyond the visual; it impacts the visibility of our message. Artificial intelligence has become an essential ally for the SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) of our texts.

For a communications agency seeking to position itself, the structure of a post is as important as its content. AI helps us optimise this structure in a surgical manner:

• Inclusion of the target keyword phrase: AI helps us to insert our target keyword phrase (AI design and communications agency) naturally into the text, headings (subheadings) and body of the article, maintaining readability without overdoing it.
• Hierarchical structure: ensures that we use headings (H1, H2, H3) in a logical and hierarchical manner, making it easier for both users and Google crawlers to read.
• Optimised meta description: AI is capable of condensing the essence of the post into a concise and attractive meta description, complying with character limits and using SEO criteria to encourage clicks from search results.

Essentially, AI is our structural architect for SEO. It frees us from the mechanical and repetitive part of optimisation, allowing us to concentrate on what we do best: creating valuable content.

The decline of traditional tools?

The pace of advancement in AI tools is so fast that the reflections in this post, and the capabilities we celebrate today, will become obsolete in the near future. We need only look at examples such as the capabilities of Google Nano Banana (or similar AI plugins in browsers) or the new features of ChatGPT to perform tasks that until very recently were exclusive to advanced design software such as Photoshop o Illustrator.

The question is inevitable: Is this the end of traditional design tools?

The most accurate answer is: no, it is its evolution. AI does not replace Photoshop or Figma, but rather integrates into them as a layer of superpower. Designers no longer spend hours cutting pixels, manually vectorising or creating the plan, profile and elevation of an object; they delegate these tasks to AI and devote their time to conceptualisation, art direction and strategy. The traditional tool becomes the ecosystem where the designer, assisted by AI, executes their vision. AI accelerates production, allowing creativity to scale to new levels of ambition.

IA illustration: visual fatigue and the return of the line

The ability of AI to generate amazing results from a simple prompt or text instruction is undeniable. We have witnessed the explosion on social media of ART TOY-style portraits (of collectible figures), GIBLI-style portraits (with their traditional Japanese animation feel), or studio-lit photography-style portraits, all generated in seconds from a selfie.

This ease and democratisation of image generation raises a crucial question for the discipline of design in a communications agency: Isn’t it all the same?

AI, by its very nature, is trained using vast data sets (existing images). The result, while technically flawless, often shares a basic aesthetic, a flavour that, when overused, quickly leads to visual fatigue.

• The paradox of perfection: projects such as Adobe’s TurnTable, which can generate a 3D image of any object from a front-facing photo or drawing, demonstrate AI’s incredible ability to standardise production. However, when we see twenty examples of the same thing across social media, the initial impact fades. Technical perfection can become tedious.
• The impact of hand-made: I recently visited Javier de Juan’s exhibition of urban posters from the 1990s at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid. After months of visual overstimulation with AI-generated images, I was struck by the raw, real beauty of the hand-drawn illustrations. The irregular lines, the palpable texture, the imperfection of when the spacing between letters in titles was measured with a ruler… It all screamed uniqueness.

AI has taught us to value human imperfection. AI design is, inevitably, just another style, an aesthetic filter. A style that, if not handled judiciously and with strong art direction, leads to homogeneity.

The future: imitation vs. authenticity

The big question is: Will the manual style make a comeback? Or how long will it take AI to learn to imitate it?

The answer lies somewhere in between. Manual style, authenticity and handmade items will return as a safe haven, as a statement of exclusivity and rejection of standardisation. However, AI should not be underestimated. Developers are already training models to introduce controlled imperfection and simulate the complexity of manual strokes, uneven brush strokes or ink bleeding.

The key for designers in communications agencies is not to fight against AI, but to use it to transcend it. Use AI design to produce quick ideas, mock-ups and options, and then apply human intelligence, aesthetic judgement and art direction to inject that uniqueness that machines still cannot generate in a coherent and emotional way.

The marriage between AI design and communication agencies is not the end of the designer, but rather a tool that forces them to be more strategic, more artistic and, paradoxically, more human.

La entrada AI design se publicó primero en Agencia comma.