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Marketing by Design – Intentional strategy for creative marketers in the age of AI

AI is redefining the marketing landscape. Stay ahead with this weekly newsletter on trends & how to prepare your career for an AI future.

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MBD122: Homepage Carousels Are a Leadership Problem

23 February 2025 | Issue #122 In this issue: Why I Hate Carousels The Value of Buying Books Top AI Image Generators for 2026 What Colors Mean Around the World Design Quote of the Week When was the last time you went to a website and waited to see what scrolled across the screen? We all just go to a website, take our hand off the mouse, and wait to see what happens next. Right? Totally normal behavior to sit back and just watch a website. No? You don't do this? That's because nobody does this....

International Color Symbolism

2 February 2025 | Issue #121 In this issue: Color Meanings from Around the World Top AI Image Generators for 2026 Design Quote of the Week "Blue is the color of trust." "Green is used when you want to look natural." "Red is an aggressive color." At some point, we were taught the meanings behind colors. But what if I told you those meanings aren't universal? Color is never just color. What appears as a simple wavelength of light carries centuries of meaning, shaped by religion, history, and...

Dr. Doom is teaching marketing

12 January 2025 | Issue #120 In this issue: The Biggest Marketing Campaign of the Year Top AI Image Generators for 2026 Design Quote of the Week Have you been watching the biggest marketing campaign of the year? It’s been running for a couple of weeks and it still has 11 months to go. Did you miss the five-and-a-half-hour livestream that kicked this off back in March of 2025? We’re already 9 months into this promotion, and it hasn’t even really started yet. After a few rocky years, Marvel is...

Examples of AI-generated images

29 December 2025 | Issue #119 In this issue: Breaking down the top AI visualization tools: ChatGPT 5.2 Midjourney 7 Firefly 5 Meta AI Gemini 3 (Nano Banana) Stable Diffusion (Base) Canva AI The Visual Marketer Now in Full Color The Visual Marketer is one of the top marketing books of the year Design Quote of the Week AI Image Generators for 2026 With the number of image generators available and the speed at which these models are improving, it's impossible to keep up unless you're using them...

Isolated person watching tv

14 December 2025 | Issue #118 In this issue: Together, Apart: The Quiet Loss of Communal Joy AI Search Ate Marketing OpenAI is in Trouble AI Could do 17% of Jobs Today The Modern Marketing Multitasker [Infographic] The Fisher-Price My First AI The Best Tool I Adopted This Year Canva: Creativity in the Age of AI The Visual Marketer Now in Full Color The Visual Marketer is one of the top marketing books of the year Design Quote of the Week Together, Apart: The Quiet Loss of Communal Joy I’ve...

Tom from MySpace

01 December 2025 | Issue #117 In this issue: Is ChatGPT the MySpace of AI? Cookie Banners Are Going To Get Less Annoying Don't Let Google AI Determine Your Ads Pinterest is Intentional, Joyful Marketing Skills Designers Need Quibi Was Right! Make Creative QR Codes Need a Free Business Advisor/Strategist? The Visual Marketer is one of the top marketing books of the year Design Quote of the Week Prompt: at end of email Is ChatGPT the MySpace of AI? Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve seen...

Drawing of film crew

09 November 2025 | Issue #116 In this issue: Apple TV's New Visual Identity is Real Beyond SEO: How AI Is Changing Content Discoverability in 2025 "Job Creation is Pretty Close to Zero" Godfather of AI Says Tech Giants Can Only Profit from AI if Humans are Replaced AI Layoffs and The Uncertainty Flywheel Godfather of AI Says Tech Giants Can Only Profit from AI if Humans are Replaced Affinity Cheat Sheet Your Data is Being Used to Train ChatGPT, Unless ... Add Claude to Excel Affinity Added 1m...

Canva vs. Adobe

02 November 2025 | Issue #115 In this issue: Canva vs. Adobe Wistia Videos are Visible to ChatGPT People are Looking for the Next Marketo Marketing Adoption of AI Tools Hits 60% Daily Usage Among Professionals The Designer's Job Hunt Checklist The Golden Ratio Goes Viral Design Quote of the Week Midjourney Prompt: David is facing off against Goliath. Goliath towers over David. A vibrant, high-contrast illustration using flat vector-style shading with neon and duotone color blocking. The...

Kid looking through magnifying glass

26 October 2025 | Issue #114 In this issue: Here's How to Get Listed in AEO/GEO Claude Gets Some New Skills Prompt Injection Poses Real Security Risk for AI Browser Agents Marketing Adoption of AI Tools Hits 60% Daily Usage Among Professionals Generative AI in Healthcare Projected to Reach $14.2B by 2034 Google Just Killed 90% of the Internet (and Nobody is Talking About it) Curious About AI Browsers? Read This Before You Try Them New Book by Lee Densmer Design Quote of the Week Midjourney...

An archer takes aim

12 October 2025 | Issue #113 In this issue: Is Your Marketing Effective? Is Affinity Going the Subscription Route? No, AI Isn't Making Engineers 10x More Productive Book Cover Design Help Is Design Dying? Evolving Content Without Losing the Human Touch I've been on a bunch of podcasts recently. Have you listened? Design Quote of the Week Midjourney prompt: an archer hits a bullseye. A vibrant, high-contrast illustration using flat vector-style shading with neon and duotone color blocking. The...