My eyes feel like they’re gonna bleed. I’m naturally skeptical, especially of anything I see online. But lately, AI has me second-guessing everything.

“Is this real? Is it real with a touch of artificial? Or is it full-blown robot?”
Again and again. I saw a post the other day - text and image, all AI-generated.
At the end, it said “Thanks ChatGPT for the image.”
It was thanking itself.
Like it just gave itself a little high five.
And a human posted it. Unbelievable.

Anyway. I can’t make it go away. But I’ve got a lil quick fix. A tour through the past, from when things were done the opposite way of AI. With pens, ink and paint. I’m calling this episode

This edition of supergoods is brought to you by Foodpreneurs Festival

An unmissable day for anyone who lives and breathes consumer goods.

I’m genuinely pumped for this year’s Foodpreneurs Festival.

It’s the best pulse check you’ll get on the APAC FMCG scene—what’s breaking through, what’s falling flat, and what’s coming next.

📍 Melbourne, Friday 23 May

What I’m most excited about:
– Talking shop with founders, marketers and makers doing cool shit
– The Dream Lab activations (come see me do a talk!)
– Workshops on packaging, pitching to buyers, and scaling eCom
– And of course… happy hour,

Whether you’re just toying with an idea or you’re deep in the industry—this is where you want to be.

Bonus: I’ve got a little something for you.
I’m giving away a 20% off code - but only for the first 5 people who reply and claim it.
Be quick.

A time of paint and patience. The before years.

With so much AI-generated garbage flooding our feeds, big ad agencies wiping out teams and an undercurrent of economic uncertainty, it’s pretty easy to feel a bit of doom and gloom about the future of creativity in the commercial world.

This article is a visual detour - a scroll through work that predates both prompts and pixels. From a time when ads were sketched, painted, spliced and shot by hand.

A time when craft, care and concept mattered more than clicks (there weren’t any clicks). Back when you couldn’t “fix it in post” and the greatest tool was taste.

1960’s Corporate Hippie

In the late ’60s and early ’70s, big brands went psychedelic. Bright colours, warped type, and flower-power motifs flooded ads as companies tried to stay cool while selling sugar water.

1970s Airbrush Surrealism

In the ’70s, ads slipped into a dream state. Airbrush surrealism took over, blending sci-fi fantasy with sensuality. Smooth chrome, surreal gradients, and hyper-perfect forms. It was glossy, strange, and beautiful.

Mid 80’s Memphis Mayhem

By the mid-’80s, subtlety was out. Memphis Design brought neon squiggles, zig-zag shapes, and chaotic colour combos into the mainstream. It was playful, brash, and impossible to ignore.

Designers built these layouts by hand - sketching bold patterns, layering cutouts, and arranging clashing colours like a visual mixtape. It was part graphic design, part kids’ art class.

90s Photocopy Punk

Ripped edges. Grainy halftones. Letters stolen from newspapers. In the ’80s and early ’90s, a raw, DIY aesthetic crashed into advertising, dragging its Xerox machine with it. Born in skate mags, and band posters, this style oozed attitude. Brands like Vans, Jolt Cola, and early Levi’s campaigns tapped into the look to feel gritty, real, and not like the others.

Late 90s Retro-futurism

And this is where we kick off into the computer era. Brands starting to become obsessed with the future. Not the actual future, but the version imagined decades earlier: chrome, lasers, gridlines, space. Going full circle here.

It was bold, flashy, and weirdly optimistic. A techno-utopia where everything was better, faster, cooler. Designers mashed up traditional illustration with early computer graphics - airbrush meets desktop publishing. Each piece was a promise: the future is here, and it tastes like cola.

The solution is more craft, not less.

Before prompts and pixels, commercial creativity was slower, messier, and a hell of a lot more human. Every piece of work created here is littered in fingerprints, proof that they were made by people, for people.

Perhaps to craft the future we want, we need to spend more time digging into the past?

What do you think?

If you enjoyed this article, please share it. It took me forever to craft.