In a measured dialogue between tradition and technology, Kelly Salchow MacArthur—professor and creative director at Elevate Design—explores the evolving role of art in an era dominated by algorithms. Through projects like “Artificial. Intelligent?” and “Future Forward,” she examines how digital innovation reshapes artistic boundaries, inviting us to reflect on the interplay between human intuition and machine precision.

By: Kelly Salchow MacArthur, Professor & Owner, Elevate Design

Artificial. Intelligent? 

The 27th Brand Design Association of Korea’s International Invitational Exhibition prompted poster designs to address the theme of artificial intelligence—a topic at the forefront of current dialogue and quite relevant within the context of creative disciplines. 

When I considered this challenge, I recognized that we have entered an uncertain realm as we observe AI rapidly replacing human activities and roles in society. This long-predicted development is no longer relegated to science fiction. For graphic designers, it raises the stakes to indelibly establish our value as creators and authors. Why must AI infiltrate the creative spheres that humanity cherishes and excels in? AI’s powerful generative capabilities would better serve the present and future by focusing on problems such as combating climate change and complex societal issues. 

As I often focus on environmental concepts, the photography that I integrate into posters commonly features natural elements. However, as the sketching, writing, and brainstorming process unfolded for this poster, I suspected natural forms may not be appropriate. So, I searched for machine-made elements to photograph. In the corner of my studio, a neon light tube was leaning against a fluorescent acrylic remnant from an earlier poster design project. I had explored the glowing edge of this acrylic when lit from the side in previous work and thought that the combination of the magenta neon light with a yellow fluorescent panel could result in unpredictable and unnatural images. 

A photoshoot of the neon and acrylic led to some interesting abstract images that implied the synthetic nature of AI that I hoped to visualize. Adjusting the hue of the photos in Photoshop and overlaying them in Illustrator began to fragment the poster format uncomfortably. Hierarchically, I prioritize “Artificial” and use a period, presenting a one-word characterization. The hyphenation is placed awkwardly to exaggerate the mistakes found in AI, which is devoid of human sensitivity. The white line that frames the one-word question “Intelligent?” is the neon light, as photographed. 

I found the play and manipulation of the saturated color palette and faceted composition to establish an especially engaging workspace. Within the exhibition’s collection, my skeptical view of AI was in clear contrast to many of the other posters’ messages.

Future Forward 

The 4th Emirates International Poster Festival invited designers to represent “a future-oriented and human-centric plan that calls for investments in the future and improving quality of life.”

Through sketching and ideation, I found an intriguing formal and conceptual interplay between FUTURE and FORWARD. Focusing on the typography, the repetition of angled strokes became an opportunity to capitalize on. Variable weights and densities of repetitive line intervals are used as unifying elements, especially clear in the right E. (As a noted bridge between my teaching and practice, the utilization of line intervals is a direct correlation to the first visual form studies that I assign to my undergraduate design students in our foundations course.) The rotation of text allows flexibility for the intersection of baselines to highlight UAE running horizontally.

This was initially designed as a purely vector piece but lacked depth. I had completed several photo shoots for the book cover of About Design: Insights + Provocations for Graphic Design Enthusiasts (written by my father, Gordon Salchow) a couple of years prior and had many unused images of paper sheets and shadows. The background of this poster is one photo—cut, duplicated, and offset. It is meant to emphasize the hybrid UAE letterforms while creating a contrast to the major angled axis of the poster. As I view the design of a black and white poster to be a unique challenge, I enjoyed working within these self-prescribed parameters. 

I was honored that this poster was chosen to be featured on the exhibition catalog cover in a lively complementary color version.

Kelly Salchow MacArthur is a professor of graphic design at Michigan State University and the owner of Elevate Design in Ann Arbor. She received her MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her BS from the University of Cincinnati. A two-time Olympic rower, the many miles she has rowed in her racing shell have inspired her to focus her creative work on environmental issues. She is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s Culture and Olympic Heritage Commission and has twice participated in the Olympian Artist Program during the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Kelly’s work has been exhibited internationally and selected by Graphis, Print, the International Institute for Information Design, the Emirates International Poster Festival, the Plaster International Festival, the B.I. International Poster Biennale, the United Designs Alliance, the Type Directors Club, and the Society of Typographic Arts.

Social: Facebook, LinkedIn

Check out our other Poster 2025 and Poster 2024 winners on our website!