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bananarama

Source: vignettes/bananarama.qmd

bananarama makes it easy to generate multiple consistent images for use in a slide deck. You create a YAML file like this:

defaults:
  style: >
    Flat vector editorial illustration with a muted, desaturated
    color palette. Mid-century modern aesthetic. Calm and approachable.

images:
  - name: banana-1
    description: One banana on a plate

  - name: banana-2
    description: Two bananas on a plate

  - name: banana-fight
    description: Two bananas fighting on a plate

Then call bananarama::bananarama() to generate the images.

But how do you use bananarama effectively for presentation images? Here’s some advice that I have developed through trial and error:

  • Use illustrations, not photos or diagrams. I think AI-generated photos are fundamentally creepy/misleading and best avoided. Diagrams, at least today, have a different problem. Current models tend to produce highly visually detailed results that can be overwhelming, and fail their key purpose: abstracting a complex process into something more immediately digestible. Illustrations are a sweet spot: they can be simple and stylized, which makes it easier for the model to produce good results.

  • Spend some time coming up with a style that you like. Styles includes some examples to get your creative juices flowing, but I recommend experimenting with your own unique take. Look for styles that are simple and consistent, and that work well with the subject matter of your images.

  • You can also use a reference image to anchor the style and figures, which is key if you want consistent characters across multiple images. bananarama makes this easy by automatically converting [image.png] into a reference image. I often make these reference images by cropping out parts of generated images that I particularly like.

  • Roll with it. AI image generation is still pretty unpredictable, so you may need to generate a few rounds of images before you get something you like. Don’t hold too tightly to a preconceived notion of what you want the image to look like and instead embrace the happy accidents that come with the process.

  • Support the arts! Image generation is built on the work that millions of artists have published to the internet. Give back to artists by buying art and visiting art museums.