AI Case Studies

These are personal AI explorations.

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Stanley x Yerba Madre

Yerba mate is a traditional South American tea, typically consumed from a gourd with a bombilla (metal straw). Yerba Madre, by contrast, is a modern U.S.-marketed energy drink marketed to young people. To pay homage to its roots, I concepted a Stanley x Yerba Madre collaboration, similar to the Stanley x Messi collaboration, highlighting Stanley’s strong presence in Argentina with its high-quality mate kits.

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After extensive testing with Midjourney and Adobe Firefly, I found it surprisingly difficult to generate accurate visuals for something culturally specific. Despite increasingly detailed prompts and reference images, the outputs consistently defaulted to generic or Americanized interpretations of mate culture, often producing incorrect thermoses or stereotypical imagery.

This exercise revealed a clear cultural gap in AI systems, where the outputs reflect the biases and limitations of the data they are trained on rather than the nuance of the traditions they aim to depict.

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Pura Vida Miami done right

Pura Vida Miami is a lifestyle health food cafe brand owned and operated by an Israeli-American couple and a private equity firm. Despite borrowing its name from Costa Rican slang, the founders cite inspiration from high-end destinations like Tulum, Mykonos, and Israel rather than Costa Rica itself. To bridge that gap, I reimagined the brand as one that genuinely draws from Costa Rican culture while maintaining its elevated, vacation-driven aesthetic. I used Costa Rican sodas (a traditional eatery that serves authentic Costa Rican food) as a foundation and carried through a tropical, lifestyle-oriented visual language. I also explored a menu that incorporates Costa Rican influences while staying aligned with the brand’s health-conscious positioning. 

 

Compared to my Stanley x Yerba Madre exploration, this environment-focused project translated more effectively using AI tools, especially when working with reference images and moodboards. It highlights how AI is currently better at generating cultural atmospheres and visual narratives than accurately depicting specific products or traditions.