AI-generated posters don’t have to be horrible
A practical design experiment sparked a huge HN debate about taste, effort, AI slop and whether AI actually replaces designers or just mediocre templates.
A designer experimented with prompting image models away from the now-familiar pastel, overdecorated “AI poster” look by naming concrete visual traditions such as Bauhaus, Swiss style, risograph and punk-fanzine design.
Why HN cared
The discussion quickly moved beyond posters. Commenters debated whether taste, editing and knowing what to ask for are the real scarce skills in an AI-rich world. Others argued that even technically better AI design still feels homogeneous because the human judgment behind it is missing.
HN snapshot: about 1.9k points and ~950 comments.
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AI-generated posters don't have to be horrible (the original post)
After exploring AI-generated posters don’t have to be horrible, you've seen the debate; the post itself shows the work: AI-generated posters don't have to be horrible (the original post).
The designer's step-by-step experiment, with the before-and-after posters the thread is arguing about.
John Hartnup · Wade · 5 min
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Poster Prompts: one hundred design styles
The author's follow-up: 100 design styles as copy-paste image prompts, each with example posters. A fun one to try this weekend.
John Hartnup · Swim · 30 min
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