The AI Marketer's Playbook
The AI Marketer's Playbook is an actionable podcast focusing on AI and marketing. Each episode covers AI strategies, tools, and trends that are changing marketing. Listen to interviews with industry experts, analyze case studies, and get practical tips. This podcast is for anyone looking to leverage AI in marketing to improve results.
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The AI Marketer's Playbook
61 | Adriaan Myburgh on Designing Bold AI-Powered Web Experiences
Designer-turned-builder Adriaan Myburgh joins host Audrey Chia to share how AI is transforming web design and what that means for creatives. With no technical background, Adriaan now builds full-scale websites and design systems using AI tools and workflows. He unpacks how founders can cut timelines, test positioning faster, and infuse personality into their brand without bloated budgets or big teams. From visual generation with Nano Banana to structuring content that converts, Adriaan shares actionable advice on creating standout digital experiences.
Whether you’re an early-stage founder or junior creative, this episode will help you rethink how AI fits into the creative process.
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Hello and welcome back to the AI Marketers Playbook, where we cover actionable frameworks to help you leverage AI and marketing strategies in your business. I am Audrey Chair, your host, and today I have with me a super good friend, a dear friend that I've met on LinkedIn, and a friend that I'm super proud to share with you guys today. Adrian Berg. A designer turned viewed up. Who has been using AI to dramatically shorten the loop from idea to finished product. Now, Adrian didn't come from a technical background. He started his journey in graphic design, but today his shaping full websites, complex views and bold VE experiences by pairing his strong creative instincts with AI assisted workflows. Adrian, I am super excited to have you on the show.
Adriaan Myburgh:Oh, thank you Audrey. I appreciate it. Um, yeah, we, we go way back. Um. Yeah. And it's, it's been so cool, um, learning so much from you and, um, you were one of the first friends that I've made on LinkedIn and, um, you've helped me out so much. So it's so cool that we're doing this podcast together. Very excited to be here. This is my first podcast as well. Um, the only thing I've done similar to this was a LinkedIn Live, um, which didn't go so well'cause I didn't know LinkedIn live, uh, didn't include video. And we were doing this thing where we were roasting websites live for people. But obviously since it wasn't visual, it was very, very difficult to explain to people, um, that were viewing like what I was actually reacting to and giving advice on. So I'm super excited to be here. I really appreciate you and the introduction. Um, yeah, thank you so much.
Audrey Chia:So Adrian, for our viewers or listeners who don't know. Who you are and what you do. Can you tell us a bit more about yourself? How do you get started, you know, transitioning from your design journey to more web dev and then of course using AI today?
Adriaan Myburgh:Yes. Um, yeah, so, so I always loved, uh, doing anything creative. Uh, from a young age I wanted to be like. Animator when my dream, when I was in high school was working for the Simpsons and animating cartoons and stuff like that. And eventually I found graphic design and I was like, oh, this is really cool. Like I can actually build brands. And uh, this idea of building brands really intrigued me. And, um, I started, I studied graphic design and. Um, it was never really, I never cared about, um, money when it came to work. I really just wanted to do things that excited me, and that was mainly just design. Um, but then when I started eventually working for an agency, um, obviously kind of life hits you and you realize, uh, you still, you know, need to make a certain income to live in safe areas, to live a good life. And, um, I also realized that I wanted to kind of be in charge of projects on my own. Uh, because when you are a junior graphic designer, um, you're obviously listening to whoever's working above you, whoever's managing you, the creative director, whoever it is. Um, and I realized that I wanted more control over, uh, client projects. I wanted to be the one, uh, doing all the big things like, uh, identifying how the brand is gonna look, building out the logos, the websites. Um, so I eventually got to a point where I realized that I actually wanted to start a business, which was so weird because. Before that I definitely had, uh, there was definitely signs that I wanted to start a business. I, uh, while I was studying, I started a organic soap business that flopped horribly. Wow. I did a, a merge launch in my first year, uh, for like a clothing brand, and there was definitely a lot of signs. Um, I just didn't identify that as a signal that I should go into business. It was always just kind of having fun and trying out new things and. Um, experimenting with the packaging, for example, for the, um, organic soap bars and stuff like that. Um, but anyways, I, I got to that point where I was really hungry just to, uh, start doing my own thing and, um, I remember. I saved up about three months of, uh, money to just survive on, and I just told my boss, Hey, I just want to try and go for this, uh, solo entrepreneur thing. Um, I really love you guys, but I just want to kind of do my own thing for a bit and see how that goes. Um, and it was really scary, but, uh, I put myself in a position where it felt like I couldn't fail and I was actually originally gonna go more into the ad space and I was building out a website for myself and Webflow. And I was like, oh, this is awesome. I, I really enjoy building websites. So I, I dove deeper into that and eventually started selling websites as well, uh, for local businesses here in South Africa. And, um, what what ended up happening was I realized I needed more leads and I need to grow this thing. Um, and I was really attracted to the idea of getting international clients. Um, so, so I checked out LinkedIn and I was, uh, kind of like trying to figure out how the platform works. And I saw your post pop up. And you were probably the first content creator that I followed, if not the first, uh, on LinkedIn. And I just thought, whoa, this is so cool. Um, I was learning so much. This is, um, around the time that AI just started. Um, I was probably 22, um, if I remember correctly, and. Uh, I, I remember you did a giveaway, uh, where you showed how to write content for websites, and, um, I remember you had your website link on this notion file at the bottom of this giveaway, and I, I clicked on it and I looked at your website and I thought maybe I should just send you a DM and be like, Hey, can I, can I help you out? Can. Uh, can we work together? Um,'cause I just wanted to do whatever it takes. So I sent you a message and I asked if I can help you out for free. And, um, very thankfully, you responded and said, let's hop on a call. And, uh, from there on we built your website and I was so like, excited'cause I was the, the first like international project I did and. Um, you really helped me a lot with, um, kind of showing me how to grow on LinkedIn, how to get clients. Um, you showed me a lot of new workflows. Um,'cause South Africa in general is kind of a bit more behind when it comes to the workflows and the tools we use and how we integrate ai. So it was such a cool experience for me, uh, getting to know you and, um, you helping me out with kind of that first stepping stone into LinkedIn and growing in that way. Um, and then, um, now where I'm at now is. Uh, starting to grow a team. I got my first hire in December, um, and it's going really well, and I'm Thank you. And I'm very excited about that. He's a very cool guy and we've been working very nicely together and getting him some cool projects to work on for me, um, just so I could position myself more as the, the creative, um, in the business and, uh, not doing all the nitty gritty things at all times. More just higher level things. And, um, how we integrating AI right now. Definitely a lot for problem solving, for, uh, getting ideas to launch quicker. Uh, you know, in the past you had to, uh, have a budget for a designer illustrator, someone to shoot videos, shoot photos, uh, build or design logos. And right now we're kind of at a place where, um, AI helps us, uh, smaller businesses like myself kind of compete, uh, with larger agencies. That that old agency model is kind of, uh, definitely being shaken a bit by smaller. Companies and businesses, um, using AI to like elevate their ideas and launch quicker. So that's quite cool.
Audrey Chia:Yeah, I think it's also very cool that we met at a time where AI was still new and I think it was very interesting that you came from a design perspective, right? And I came from copy and we both built landing pages just in different capacities. So at that point in time also. Being new to ai, but also being one of the first movers, I guess, for both of us, uh, really helped us to shape and build our businesses. So for Adrian and myself, we both operate, um, a, a very lean kind of agency or consultancy model where we come in with our AI team to support clients. So, Adrian, can you tell us what you think is the biggest difference for yourself after integrating AI into your business?
Adriaan Myburgh:Well, that's a great question. I think, I think the whole industry's changed, I think in the past. Um, to get to a senior level, you had to work for years, right? Um, in the beginning your projects weren't that great if you start out just because you didn't have the budgets, you didn't know the people, um, to talk to, to, uh, fund cool projects, right? Um, so you had to kind of grow with each client, uh, slowly but surely over years. You have to really hone in on your craft and, um, it took a lot of time to get to, for a lot of people, to get to a place where they had the budget to build amazing websites. I think I was very fortunate to get into web development. I think just like at the perfect time when, um, AI just started because, um, the leaps that you can make now with AI is so drastically bigger. You can, within a year be an incredible developer with no code and low code tools, uh, integrating that with AI as well. Um, you can launch them as faster and produce higher quality work at an early stage and really climb the ranks of, um, whatever you're trying to achieve really, um, as a web developer. And, um, I think something that used to take 10 years to learn now, and it takes, uh, a year or two, you know, at most. Um, so it's, it's quite cool and I'm very privileged, um, that things kind of happen that way, um, just because that, that that steep learning curve has, um, drastically improved and it's way easier to. Get your foot in the door. And I, I think there's a lot of people that kind of fall into that doomsayer mindset where they're really afraid of AI and they're afraid AI takes their jobs. And I think for a long while I was in that camp as a creative. Um, but now thinking about it more and more, and I think a big mind shift I had was that, um, this is here and we need to use this to, um, really get our ideas validated.'cause I think in the past you had to be an amazing developer. Um, and then meet amazing designers. It was difficult to be both. And I think with the tools we have available right now, you can kind of be both at the same time. Um, or you can be a designer like myself and then easily integrate your designs and your concepts and what you have in mind for projects into, um, your development process. Much, much more simpler than it was in the past.
Audrey Chia:Yeah, definitely. I think what you say also about being able to perhaps. You know, not be as skilled as someone who's super senior, but have the vision and the creative concept, and then to then turn it into reality With ai, I think AI is closing that gap between people who have vision versus technical skills, right? Because now you may not need the same level of technical skills. Build that concept, but what remains very clearly is that you firstly need to have that creative vision and that end output. Right. So maybe Adrian, from your experience, um, what do you find is the difference between, you know, using AI as is versus adding that human touch or creativity to that process? Does it make a difference to you?
Adriaan Myburgh:So, so what I've, what I've been noticing is. Um, at least in the B2B space, um, especially in SaaS as well, uh, we're seeing younger founders into the space. Um, and really killing it. Uh, people that are under 30 and they're doing great when it comes to their funding runs. Um, and I think that's having a massive shift because I think in the past, uh, trust looked very different to people like five to 10 years ago. I think, uh, a lot of entrepreneurs wanted to establish themselves as this big corporate company. Um, even though they were just, you know, a solo entrepreneur doing their own thing. I think every solo entrepreneur has used, for example, the term we, in their websites or in their marketing, you know, assets, when it was actually just them. I, I think right now we're kind of moving into a, a stage in the B2B space where people are way more authentic and open. Um, that facade of being a massive, big corporate company is fading away. That's at least how I'm seeing things currently. Um, and I think because of this, uh, we are at a point where people want to highlight themselves, or let me put it in a a bit better way. I think, um, people believe more in the founders today rather than the companies themselves. And I think founders want to portray themselves as their, like authentic selves a bit more. And I think they wanna see that more in their designs and their branding and their messaging. Like I have clients, um, that are quite wild and um, they have like extremely, uh, controversial messaging on their website just because they think it's funny and they think, um, it's something different. I think we're at a point where. Uh, people are trying to attract more and more people similar to them instead of playing it safe, and I think that's also translating into design. Um, at least for me, uh, as an example, I, I don't try and play it safe with my content. Uh, when it comes to marketing. I kind of try and have fun, be myself, show my own personality, show what I think looks good when it comes to. You know, web design and, um, design tips and tricks and stuff like that. And obviously then people who like me and like my brand identity and what I stand for come to me, which is so, so much better than playing it safe. And, um, kind of getting a general list of leads coming to you, but no one actually likes what you are doing. They kind of just like the safe portrayal of who you are, if that makes sense. Um, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Audrey Chia:It's interesting you also say that there are a lot of younger founders who are, um, also wanting to showcase their personality and voice. Right. So I think we, we both know the importance of personal branding, but personal branding also goes beyond LinkedIn. Personal branding can seep into your company's branding. Your company's branding can be made personal. And I think that's also where just having AI do the work for you doesn't cut it. You need that. To figure out, okay, so what does Audrey's personality look like on a page, right?
Adriaan Myburgh:Yes,
Audrey Chia:yes. Design. Um, how do we bring that to life? Um, how does it look and how does it not? So these are things that I feel are very human. Um, and it still takes that creative flair or creative lens to get work done.
Adriaan Myburgh:Yes, exactly.
Audrey Chia:And, uh, Adrian, I'm curious to know when people normally hear the term, you know, AI in web design. Um. Maybe sometimes they might think of templates or generic output. So what do you think most people maybe misunderstand when it comes to how AI actually fits into building high quality web design work?
Adriaan Myburgh:So I think the. The, the, the biggest thing is just timelines. Um, I think timelines are shortening, uh, clients are expecting more and also higher quality. Uh, but with the tools we have, it's, it's very feasible, which is very nice. Um, I think clients are kind of looking also towards competing with bigger, uh, competition. Um. We, we have the tools now available and the resources available and the understanding because we can do, you know, the market research much quicker and much faster, uh, to build out, you know, more, more serious campaigns like blogs, customer success stories, uh, launching a bunch of sales pages with different messaging, uh, to really just see what actually works for, uh. The company's positioning, right? What people are attracted to, what makes, uh, people convert more? So I think validating different ideas is probably where, uh, AI has really helped the most. There is still aspects where you have to refine things manually. Uh, you still have to use a lot of tools where you have to put in the hours to learn them. Um, but I do think the best part of ai, at least. Uh, when it comes to my clients is that they have the opportunity to test out ideas, test out positioning, see what works and what doesn't, and then they can hone in on what really works and just go all the way with that direction.
Audrey Chia:I, it's interesting you see it, but positioning, right?'cause there's something I also love and maybe for a listener who is not familiar with that term. In simple terms, positioning is how you stand out in a crowded marketplace. So like what Adrian said, what I love about using AI is um, it becomes almost like your sounding board If you need ideas and you're stuck and you're like, what should I say? You have someone to bounce ideas with. So it may not give you the right positioning at the start, but it can give you options to AB test so you can figure out what actually resonates better with your audience. If you look at older workflows, Adrian versus current workflows. What were some things that were very manual in the past and what are some things that can easily be done now? I know you mentioned visuals, right? Visuals used to be expensive, manual. Um, with a studio photo shoot, I'm sure now it's a lot easier. So what kinds of before and afters have+you seen?
Adriaan Myburgh:Um, so I think, I think content is probably the, the best one. Um, I think in the past, uh, a lot of founders would take up, especially if they're smaller budgets, um, take up their own time to write out the ideas. Um, and then turn that obviously into content. And I think, uh, a lot of founders struggle kind of with throwing too much at one time. Uh, throwing all of the ideas on the hero section, hoping it converts. Um, but when you know, the audience grows and more people grow on the website, people are kind of wondering, you know, what are they actually selling? And, um, I think that's been a big part. Um, I think from my personal experience, um, visuals are probably the biggest thing. Um. Uh, we do a lot of product images. Uh, we do a lot of interesting videos and stuff like that. And, uh, there isn't always the time to build out 30, 40 different designs, uh, that you kind of think, you know, top of mind, um, this is the best idea, let's build this out. You can't do that when you're building out 40 different designs for a, you know, 10 page website. There just isn't always that time. And, um, I think a couple of cool workflows. Has been really integrating JGBT and Gemini with, uh, getting mockups for designs, um, and layout ideas and, um, really honing in on how to express the content. Um, that's sitting next to the visual and, uh, really bring that to life. Um, AI really has helped me kind of figure out what aspects of the product should be showing off in different visuals and what's the best layouts to go with which section. And, um, that's been really amazing because that means I can just grab those layouts and really just refine them, um, and build them into mockups. And then from there on, um. You know, there's a lot of great softwares like Jutter that I've been using to take, um, designs that we build out in Figma and animate them so that they kind of come to life, um, on Webflow or Framer. Um, which just really brings out the interactive side of a design, um, and really just engages viewers a bit more. Um, that's for me, uh, probably been the biggest thing as well as just planning. I think, uh, a lot of times. Especially with websites, there's so many things to take into account before you start building and designing websites and planning is so crucial if you, uh, just kind of, you know, run into one direction, um, and you're not aligned with the founder and you're also not really clear, uh, what you want to achieve with the website for. Your clients, um, things can kind of start falling apart when you get to that final 20% of the project and all of a sudden, you know, the client wants you to redesign the whole websites and you are already in that development process. So, um, being able to, uh, just, uh. Plan art has really been fantastic. And then we have tools like Loom where we can really start building out the entire structure of a website and show that to a client, show that site map and they can approve that before we actually go into things. And they can leave comments and we can discuss things and we can really lock in on what we want to display on different pages, which is super nice because we can just kind of run through that much quicker. Than in the past where you had to do so much manual planning. Um, you had to write out so many different things. You had to build prototypes and either Photoshop or Illustrator and an export that send that to our clients. And now we have tools like Loom. Where we can build out the entire site map. Uh, with ai, you just type in a couple lines of what you want this, uh, business to display on their website, uh, who they serve, that type of thing, um, and how many pages you need and it does all of the work for you. Uh, it recommends design choices for you. You can swap out different color schemes, um, swap out section layouts, and it only takes a couple of hours and you can then get validation from clients quite quickly and within a day, you, you already did all of your planning and you, you know exactly what you wanna do. So I think the, the aspect of development, uh, that has become the shortest, that's definitely just planning. You can do that now in an afternoon instead of weeks.
Audrey Chia:I'm sure you can also use AI in a lot of that content workflows, right? So even for me, I use a lot of AI in my content workflows with clients. I find that what has been particularly helpful is when you already know what you wanna say. So you need to always have the vision and the positioning and your value proposition in mind. Then you use AI as part of the process to start building it out. Similarly, when it comes to building a landing page. If you know what you're looking for, or at least you have a North Star, then you can work towards that. I find personally that if you don't have that, it's very hard, right? Because. Um, Adrian could give you 10 different options, but you may not know what you want, um, because you don't have that vision and clarity. So maybe asking yourself a couple of questions like, what do I wanna build? What does this site need to say? Um, how does it make someone feel? Right? Starting there can help you to at least get a step closer to the end result. And I'm also curious, right, Adrian, since people like us, we are creators who are using ai, but for a new generation of. Creatives who are graduating from school, who are starting to enter the workforce, AI is shaking up everything for them. What kind of advice would you have for a younger creative?
Adriaan Myburgh:Hmm. Embrace it. Embrace it. Um, what I would say is the most important part is you need to understand the fun fundamentals of whatever you're trying to achieve. Um, I have two great examples actually of this talking to like. Younger guys, um, that have messaged me, um, to either like help me out or just wanted to know more about what I do. And the first guy, um, was uh, a guy from actually Cape Town. Um, he sent me a message on LinkedIn and uh, said, could you just like check out my portfolio and let me know what you thought? So, and I said, and actually looks, you know, really incredible. And, um, I said, let's hop on a call. Maybe you can help me a bit with the design work. Um, I really loved the, what he was doing. Um, I thought he was probably about 20, 21, maybe even 22.'cause his work looked really impressive. And I remember we, we hopped on a call and I was super excited and I remember him jumping on the call and I was like, oh, he's. Probably in high school still. And I, and I asked him, how old are you? And he said, he's 14 years old and he's hustling and, um, doing whatever it takes to make it. And he's, you know, well educated. He, he knows what he's talking about and he's really validating ideas really quickly. And, um, it was really cool to chat with him. Uh, I remember I asked him like. Well, if you're still in school, um, how does your work schedule look like? And he said his mom only allows him to work on the weekends. So, um, obviously, um, we, we never ended up working together, um, just because, um, I don't think it's legal for a 14-year-old to work, but, uh, it was still cool to see. Um, and it was cool to see like how the younger generation is really working hard and, uh, because of tools like ai, they get to actually. Avoid that steep learning curve getting into the entrepreneurial world and they can kind of just dive in and be themselves and, um. You know, kind of just hone in on who they really are when it comes to their core skill sets. And, uh, AI kind of just covers the rest and really helps him speed up that process of learning. But then there's also some other cases of, uh, a guy was helping up with some mentorship and really, um, just kind of showing him what, how to solve and, um, just how he. To start growing his first business. And I remember we were going through a notion, dokey bolt, and he was looking at, um, or he was showing me a CRM that he built. And I said, wow, that's really cool. Um, that's really impressive how you build this, where you learn how to, you know, manage A CRM. And I remember him saying, no, no, I just, um, made it with a prompt, uh, on notion. And, um, I asked him, so, do you know what. This means, do you know the, the how to, you know, use the CRM? And he just said, no, he still needs to learn this. And, um, I think that's kind of a shame'cause I feel like, um, you're kind of missing what makes entrepreneurial, the entrepreneurial spirit so amazing. It's, it is, you're supposed to work hard, you're supposed to. Be in that cycle of struggling, not understanding, and then have that, you know, epiphany moment where it all clicks and it makes sense. You know, you need those challenges to grow as a person, um, and as an entrepreneur. Um, and I, I, I would just say I think it is really important for younger people to also remember the fundamentals and not just look for shortcuts.'cause I don't think when you're on a sales call, it's gonna help you. Um, in any way if you don't actually know what you are selling and you're kind of just going based off of what cha, BT or whatever you use, told you and built for you. So I would definitely just say like, put in the hours to learn the tools that you're using, what you're selling, why people find what you're selling is valuable and, um, yeah, how you can help people and provide like actual value.
Audrey Chia:I love that. I'm not the only one saying that. Do the work. Right. Put in the foundational work. Um, I also tell junior copywriters that as much as I wanna teach you ai, I can, but if you don't understand what makes good copy good. Even if you look at chat GT's copy, you can't tell me, Audrey, I think this is good or not. Um, so if accept, you know, what AI tells you as is. And you don't question or challenge it or have a frame of reference, that's when the copy starts becoming really flat. Um, and you can't, you know, distinguish whether something is meh good or actually great. So I would also recommend, um, juniors or new creatives to build the right foundations. Then if you, you're able to learn the old school, you know. Um, methods of writing or designing, but then also pick up the new school, you know, methods of A IU, which is so powerful in such a short amount of time.
Adriaan Myburgh:But, but Ji I'd love to ask you, do you think it's more difficult now for, for younger people,'cause they have kind of this struggle of, you know, AI has like all the answers they need, but there's also this part where they need to put in the hours. Do you think that's challenging for them or do you think. Other people that you've at least talked to don't struggle with that, and they're kind of using both and learning the fundamentals, fundamentals while using AI to enhance their learnings and get more opportunities.
Audrey Chia:Yeah, that's a great question and something that I've also thought about, I think from what I've noticed is that ai, even in my own workflows, it actually dampens my ability to craft because it's giving you so many options in a short amount of time. So the ability to craft is actually. A lot less compared to before in the past where you have to be the one writing a hundred headlines, right. Versus now. Yes. Copy everything. So I can feel that there is a shift going on in my brain, but what I've learned is, um, while this part is minimizing a little. I personally have found that the other part of my brain is being maximized. The strategy part, the creative part, you know, um, thinking about big picture audience journey, the thinking part actually grew. So for a new writer, I'm sure that they will also face this challenge where because it's so accessible, right? Uh, content is so accessible, they might find it harder to figure out. How to pick up the foundational skill sets unless they are disciplined enough to say, I'm not gonna use ai. I am going to write the a hundred headlines. Or in your case, I'm gonna put in the hours to just manually design it to figure out what works. So I think with any new challenge to so comes opportunity and for the new generation, it's also figuring out what skills do they really need to maximize where they are at with the tools that we have at this point in time. So are the skills necessary? Yes. But do they need to have, uh, hone it to that huge and extent? Maybe, maybe not, depending on where they're at. So this is something that I think is very interesting for creators, um, or even entrepreneurs to think about. But Adrian, for yourself, do you feel like the role of design has actually changed a lot since the advent of ai?
Adriaan Myburgh:Yes. I, I think, um, designers, I think a lot of designers and creatives are falling into the trap of complaining a lot about AI and, uh, kind of worrying about the future, but I, I think people are missing kind of the, the opportunities there are for like non-technical creatives to go into more technical fields and really dominate. I feel like, um, with AI taking over a lot of the manual work, your expertise and understanding in your specific field or niche that you serve becomes really valuable. The example for me, I'm not the most technical person. Um, obviously over the years I've honed in on my craft and I've learned a lot and I'm definitely competent and, uh, more confident, competent than most in my industry. But, uh, I think people are coming to me for design specifically, and that's the, that's the core skill I've always had. Um, and with AI that's enabled me to develop and build and use that specific core skillset. Um, as a real big advantage, um, when, when in the past that wasn't an option, it would've taken me years to learn development. Um, and it would've taken me, um, you know, many headaches. And I, I probably would've taken a while to get my first clients and actually get that validation of, oh, I'm in the right direction. But now because of ai, um, my design skillset and expertise and understanding has really become the highlights and people come to me specifically for. That aspect, you know? Um, I think it's amazing'cause I think a, a couple years ago I would tell people that I'm a graphic designer and they would kind of like laugh at it and think it's silly. But, you know, now I'm at a position where I do really cool stuff and I really love the work I do, and I, um, get paid well. And, um, the reason that I'm. You know, starting to, you know, succeed and, um, do really well for myself is'cause um, design. Um, and because I don't have to be as technical as I had to be, you know, five to 10 years ago.
Audrey Chia:Yes. I think the design I is something that. Nobody can take away from you. Right. Because even if the, the tools develop right. You being that creative player and that ability to conceptualize something, I think that's something that's very unique to creatives
Adriaan Myburgh:and
Audrey Chia:um, to, to people who like to ideate because it's something that comes from within and then you use external tools to get things done. So maybe for a new business owner who's trying to build out some design assets and they are new and they're trying to figure it out, what are some basic tools that you would recommend them to get started with?
Adriaan Myburgh:So for brand assets, um, there's either the more advanced tool, uh, like Figma. That's probably my favorite for most clients, um, that are a bit more familiar with, uh, the current tools. Um, I would recommend something like Figma. Uh, there's a lot of great resources. There's great forums there. A great community of people involved. So, um, getting assets for free and turning that into your own is really fantastic. There just is a bit of a steeper learning curve, um, initially, but from there on, it's fantastic. Um, I, I'd say for. Brand new people in the industry. Um, Canva is really great when it comes to general brand assets. Um, I would really not stay away from that. And what I would do from there is also experiment with, uh, Gemini. I think Nana Bananas really fantastic. I've been using it a lot for client projects. Um, getting, uh, a good library of, uh, mockup. Images, uh, that are blank, that you can just, um, you know, put your logo into Nana Banana and you, um, add all of the external, uh, markups that you've collected. It's really a great workflow for quickly getting some cool, uh, brand assets out there, seeing how, you know your logo look on a shirt. Um. How business cards could potentially be designed and then maybe even handing that over to someone on your team that can just quickly build that out on Canva is really a great workflow. Um, it's so much more simpler than it was in the past. Um, I think Canva is really amazing in that sense'cause it's so accessible, it's so cheap, um, and easy to use and launch. So yeah, I would say Canvas probably your best tool at the moment.
Audrey Chia:I like nano banana a lot, um, because it generates hyper realistic visuals that actually any brand can probably pass off as a real photo shoot. So even for my clients who have been running ads for a long time, right now they are exploring, looking into nano banana to generate visuals of their team members wearing uniforms. Oops. And the best part is the uniforms in the AI generated photos look almost exactly the same as the uniform that we uploaded as images. So that's really cool. It has never been possible before. Been possible before. Mm. And now it's getting so much easier to get the right photos. Plus I think what I enjoy about Nano banana is it actually understands cultural context. So in Singapore, they live in high rise buildings. Um, right. And you know, when you look out of the window, you usually see another building because it's, it's a very tiny country. So. AI was able to generate a photo of someone's living room. And if you look outside their window, you actually see someone's building opposite you, which is very true to Singapore, which is really true. That's very cool because in most cases you will like, uh, imagine looking out at the sky. Um, but here it's a little bit squeeZ, so it's a bit different.
Adriaan Myburgh:And, and Audrey, I'd love
Audrey Chia:to, you're a business owner trying to create stuff. Oh, yes. Please go. Oh, go for it. No,
Adriaan Myburgh:no. Uh, sorry, sorry, I'm not used to. Yeah. Um, no, I, I just also wanted, wanted to ask, how does prompting look for you nowadays, um, with tools? Do you think prompting is becoming also more simpler? For example, you said there's, uh, context that Gemini picks up on. Well, do you feed that context in or do you think Gemini can just pick up on your account details and, uh, different aspects of, uh, work that you've previously done to figure out the context needed? Yeah, I'd love to know a bit more from your perspective. Yes.
Audrey Chia:Prompting has become so much easier compared to before, especially if you use one tool a lot. So if you're using chat GPT and chat GPT is my um, day to day kind of tool, right? You would realize that it has a great memory base and it's actually taking into consideration all the work that you've done. So Audrey's chair, GPT sounds uniquely like me, whereas if I were to use my client's chair, GPT, you get a completely different output because it's trained on my client's voice in the same way. I think right now it's so much easier where if I want to create a hyper realistic photo shoot for my client, I no longer need the very technical prompts that you used to need. For a mid journey right now, something that's a lot more conversational. Um, even giving, uploading photos to give it a frame of reference. These things help people like myself who have an idea, but don't have the words to create content without being very specific in the prompts. So that's at least what I have noticed. I've noticed prompts getting so much easier compared to three years ago. What about yourself?
Adriaan Myburgh:Yeah, it's, it's, it's really been awesome. Um, I use especially for, for content writing. Um, a lot, a lot of, uh, chat, PT and, um, uh, there's some things that always ic me a bit. Um, things like triplets and just some patterns that I personally don't like or some type of, you know, words that it uses that just doesn't really fit my style. And, um, I've, you know, set up an entire, you know, um, guide on. What I like and what I don't like and how I want HBT to, uh, write copy for me, how I want it to sound. And it's really cool how it picks up on that context and how you don't have to remind the all time, Hey, please don't use triplets here, or don't do this, or don't do that. Um, it's really crazy how much, um, it's, it's grown. Um, and how. How things have changed. Um, you know, in the past you had to have this crazy long prompt and, you know, add multiple prompts together. And, um, right now we're kind of at a place where it really understands who you are writing for and adjust. Its prompt Yes. You know, output according to that, in a very appropriate manner.
Audrey Chia:Yes. One additional thing I would like to add on top of what you've shared is mm-hmm. You need to master the skillset of being able to break down your own workflows. So I think this is particularly true for creators, right? Sometimes we come up with a sentence and we know it's good, but actually before you come up with that sentence or design, you might have had seven different steps, uh, internally that you went through. Who am I doing this for? What does it need to sound like? What does it look and feel? So you actually have many mini processes, right? Um, so for myself, I like to take a step back and figure out how did I get to this end output usually, and then how do I get AI to go through my series of micro steps to get to the end output? That is something that I particularly have found very useful when it comes to creating content that sounds a lot more like myself.
Adriaan Myburgh:That's awesome.
Audrey Chia:Awesome. So Adrian, maybe to wrap things up, could you perhaps share one key tip that you have for our audience who's listening right now? One power tip that you have, that you use to create great quality designs and websites with ai.
Adriaan Myburgh:Yeah, so, so I think it's all about content. Um, I think content is the most important part. It's the fundamental, um, you know, pillar of your website. So, um, when it comes to design, design obviously just highlights the content and helps the eyes scroll. Comfortably through the content, um, and really shows you what the hierarchy of content is. Um, so what I would say is the, the best tip that I give founders and uh, just clients that I work with is, let's, let's cut the fat out. Um, let's really, uh, structure out your value proposition in a way that makes sense. Um, and I usually give kind of like a, a quick step guide on how we should think about positioning. And it's kind of like persona who's using it, um, what type of, oh, sorry, uh, persona and thinking about what alternatives they're using and kind of what pain points they're running into. And then dividing that or, uh, looking at the main capability that solves those problems. Uh, what features support that main capability, and then from there on what benefits derive from that. And once you have those pillars clear, um, which you can validate so easy with ai, um, you can start writing out your content in a way that makes sense. Because I think a lot of times people struggle, uh, with writing out their own content. They wanna throw out each. Idea they have and they really believe, obviously, in their service or their product. So they just wanna tell you everything about their service or product. And, um, I've just been using AI to simplify that whole process and really, really think about the structure. Um, you can use AI in an amazing way to, um, firstly create that document of how does our positioning look, how do we, uh, really structure everything in a neat way? And then from there on, I honestly just like to use voice notes and, um. With each section, let's say for example, a hero section, um, I like to use certain types of structures. So for like the short description, I personally like to, if it's a size product, um, have the product category included, the persona and the company type. Um, things like risk reversals, I like to clearly outline. We want, for example, a social proof indicator. We want something in the lines of, um, ease of use. Or some type of financial benefits or some type of indicator that it's very quickly to onboard. So I, I describe this, um, over voice notes and I, with, with, with, uh, the value equation in mind or this, uh, clear value proposition laid out. And then from there on letting Chacha BT do the rest.
Audrey Chia:I love that. And for me as a copywriter, I second that, get your content right and everything else will follow. I was like to say if, if design is clean, copy is queen. You gotta have them both. Yeah. And that's how you create a website, that canvas. And with that, thank you for being here on the show agent. So who should reach out? Thank you so much to you. And where can they find you?
Adriaan Myburgh:Yeah. Yeah. Um, thank you so much. Um, it's been really cool chatting with you. Um, thank you for the amazing questions and it was really nice talking. Um, so you can find me on LinkedIn. Uh, Adrian Berg. Adrian Berg. Uh. Yeah, I, I post a lot about, uh, SaaS and web development and web design in the SaaS industry, as well as a bit of positioning every now and then, uh, really just to help smaller companies compete with bigger companies, um, in their field. Um, I find with ai, we are at such a cool point where smaller teams can really go against, uh, massive companies and compete with them, uh, without having massive budgets or massive funding, and they can validate ideas very quickly. And, um, I really try and help those companies understand what, you know, that front, uh, what's, what's a good word for that? What, what that first interaction with, um, their company, which is obviously the website could look like, um, when you apply really uh, nice designs, uh, to your website. Really good content and, and really good structures, um, to your website and how that can really enable them to get their first couple of clients and really grow from there. And, uh, hopefully, uh, when they're at the point where they're funding and they're at the good point to scale, uh, they can always contact me and we can do something special together. So, um, that's what I'm all about. Um, you can find me on LinkedIn. Uh, we're doing a very cool, uh. Brand video. Uh, a good friend of mine, he's a, a film producer. He's coming over here tomorrow to shoot a bit, and that'll be hopefully coming out within the next month or two. So that'll kind of show the culture that we are in. Um, as I'm scaling, uh, everyone that works with me, uh, all for me, uh, they all work in my living room and we kind of just have a very cool work culture. We all train together. It's really fun and I'd love for people to check that video out when that launches. Uh, when I published that, um, just to kind of see what I'm all about.'cause, um, it's, it's really cool that we had a place where we can kind of just share our, like, personal brand and what we are all about and people contact us not because of, you know, um, things like how long we've been in industry or, um, how the type of people we work with, but rather just like who we are as a person and, um, what we do and what we're all about and our values. So that's really cool.
Audrey Chia:Yes, and I definitely second that. I am a very happy, satisfied client of Adrian's a good friend, and I know he does amazing design work. So please do check his profile out, check out what his this, his team is doing, and of course, follow his upcoming video. So thank you guys for tuning in and don't forget to hit the bell for more actionable AI and marketing insights. We'll see you next week. Take care.