Design projects used to end when "final" assets were sent over to a client. If more assets were needed, the client would work with the same designer again or use brand guidelines to guide the work of others. But with today's AI software development tools, there's a third option: custom tools that create assets on demand, with brand guidelines encoded directly in.
For decades, designers delivered fixed assets. A project meant a set number of ads, illustrations, mockups, icons. When the client needed more, they came back to the designer and waited. To help others create on-brand assets without that bottleneck, designers crafted brand guidelines: documents that spelled out what could and couldn't be done with colors, typography, imagery, and layout.
But with today's AI coding agents, building software is remarkably easy. So instead of handing over static assets and static guidelines, designers can deliver custom software. Tools that let clients create their own on-brand assets whenever they need them.
This is something I've wanted to build ever since I started using AI image generators within Google years ago. I tried: LoRAs, ControlNet, IP-Adapter, character sheets. None of it worked well enough to consistently render assets the right way. Until now.
LukeW Character Maker
Since the late nineties, I've used a green avatar to represent the LukeW brand: big green head, green shirt, green trousers, and a distinct flat yet slightly rendered style. So to illustrate the idea of design tools as deliverables, I build a site that creates on-brand variations of this character.
The LukeW Character Maker allows people to create custom LukeW characters while enforcing brand guidelines: specific colors, illustration style, format, and guardrails on what can and can't be generated. Have fun trying it yourself.
How It Works
Since most people will ask... a few words on how it works. A highly capable image model is critical. I've had good results using both Reve and Google's Nano Banana but there's more to it than just picking an image model.
People's asset creation requests are analyzed and rewritten by a large language model that makes sure the request aligns with brand style and guidelines. Each generation also includes multiple reference images as context to keep things on rails. And last but least, there's a verification step that checks results and fixes things when necessary. For instance, Google's image generation API ignores reference images about 10-20% of the time. The validation step checks when that's happening and re-renders images when needed. Oh, and I built and integrated the software using Augment Code.
The LukeW Character Maker is a small (but for me, exciting) example of what design deliverables can be today. Not just guidelines. Not just assets. But Tools.