The “Interview with a Compeer” Series

▶️ In these videos or podcasts, I share my expertise in Storytelling, Art Direction, Narrative design, Foresight or Esotericism and I demonstrate how these, apparently, unlinked disciplines can actually be used to infuse Creativity and Analysis in many -if not all- professional activities.

Whether through Conferences or Interviews, I always reply to my interlocutor(s) with the same motto which guided all my life : Everything is Stories.

The Context

🎙️ François Lamé is a Marketing Consultant, expert in storytelling and narrative, cognitive, and behavioral strategies.

He created the podcast “Desfragmentations” where he welcomes guests who share his passion: Storytelling and how they integrate it into their personal or professional activities.

He asked me to inaugurate this podcast as his first guest:

As an Art Director, Illustrator, Author, Ludographer, Typographer, and Visual Storyteller, I use Storytelling in my work as both a goal and a means to convey Content through Form .

In Episode 1 of this Podcast, François invites me to introduce myself through the lens of Storytelling. In Episodes 2 and 3, we address two specific questions I pose to him…

The Episode

The Alchemical Vision as a Modern Creative Tool

François Lamé asks me about my background and my work. I share with him the anecdotes, motivations, and processes that led me to become a Visual Storyteller.

Through the interview, I tell him how I came to consider the ancient discipline of Alchemy as a working method that can be applied to all areas of life…

Audio Language

🇫🇷 French

Subtitles Languages available

🇫🇷 French (Quality)
🇫🇷 French (automatic subtitles)
🇸🇦 Arabic
🇨🇳 Chinese
🇬🇧 English
🇩🇪 German
🇯🇵 Japanese
🇰🇷 Korean
🇵🇹 Portuguese
🇷🇺 Russian
🇪🇸 Spanish
🇹🇷 Turkish

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This post belongs to the Category :

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Check my latest posts!

• “The 4M” : Designing Superheroes for Public HealthJuly 24, 2026
• Site Update : World Architect OffersNovember 27, 2025
• Interview with a Compeer #1.1 : Desfragmentations – “The Alchemical Vision”June 11, 2025
• Using AI creatively : Character Design – Yaràn MalakMay 12, 2025
• Article Header Design: “How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?”March 28, 2025

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Check the latest comments!

1. 

   Thank you very much for your comment coming from an IT expert, Nouha!

2. 

   Very interesting article and excellent choice for th Sphinx!!

3. 

   Splendid as always! And also this showcase the very broad scope of your design skills!

---

Related Themes :

---

Related Links :

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The Context

⭕ This is the design I created for The Red Team Analysis Society article [🇫🇷 🇬🇧] titled:

“How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?”

Whether you love it or hate it, President Donald Trump leaves no one indifferent. Since his election in November 2024 his declarations have been shocking and shaking the world, forcing the whole world to rethink policies and geopolitics around an entire new paradigm.

These decisions and declarations, what they imply for the future and how they might develop are called « Weak Signals ». This concept is an important part of the processes of strategic foresight and early warning. It is at the heart of the activity known as scanning or « Horizon Scanning ».

As the rise of President Trump is concomitant with the rise of the AI, The Red Team Analysis Society has decided to submit certain weak signals pertaining to Donald Trump’s decisions to three of the most important AIs of the moment :

• ChatGPT
• DeepSeek
• Grok

The Test was resting onto four themes consecutives of the declarations of President Trump :

• His views onto Canada
• His views onto Greenland
• His views onto Panama
• His declarations about Gaza

The essence of the Test itself was to input these weak signals into each of the three aforementioned AIs and have their results analyzed, interpreted and corrected by the geopolitics experts of The Red Team Analysis Society : how effective was the AI analysis? What is correct? What is missing? Find out the answer in their article here: How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?

The Design

Trump and the AI : the Revolutionaries

I immediately took into account the “Revolutionary” aspect of Donald Trump by making him wear the beret of “Che Guevara”. Since his personality is so provocative at so many levels towards so many factions, I have opted to make it provocative as well: Right-wing partisans might be indignant that I associate a Republican President -perceived as a hero- with a strong communist symbol representing a traditional opponent throughout History.

And Left-wing partisans might be indignant that I associate a Cuban historical figure -perceived as well as a hero- with everything Communism is opposed to.

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Therefore, and paradoxically, if this picture is shocking everyone from Left to Right, it would mean I have made my job well. Not out of masochism, but by using a visual oxymoron which would provoke a strong reaction and, therefore, a strong debate, if not a strong reflection. Which is exactly what Donald Trump is about.

And which is also exactly what the AI is about.

Since the AI is triggering so many opinions, arguments and counter-arguments; no one can deny, as well, that AI is changing radically the world and civilization that we used to know until today.

Therefore, I draw a parallel between the radical change induced by this technology and the radical change induced by the victory of Donald Trump : both are Revolutions. And Revolutions -whether they are technological or political- are never smooth transitions and are destined to turn everything we are used to upside down. They revoke what we were holding sacred and traditional thus far.

Revolution has many definitions: the first one is an abrupt change of a political regime by force. The second is the orbital movement a celestial body accomplishes around a central point, ending an old cycle and starting a new one.

And these two definitions apply to both Donald Trump and the AI technology.

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The Colors and the Mugshots

Since his second election, Donald Trump emphasized a very strong graphic communication, serving his storytelling, which embodies the concept of : “I resist against a system that wants to destroy me.”

His official President’s portrait has been purposefully reproducing the facial expression he displayed on the photograph shot by the Police during his arrest on August 24, 2023. This Donald Trump’s “mugshot” has been used astutely to become a “meme”, a graphic embodiment of a “resistance” of his partisans against a system presented as corrupt.

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Therefore, I used this official -very provocative- portrait in the same narrative context: three mugshots which would have many meanings, depending on how you view Trump and his policies or actions

Is it a series of Police photo shots -almost a “Wanted” poster from the Old West- meaning many people would put a bounty on him and have his head?

Are there more like a series of ID photographs you would get from a Photo Booth to get a passport? An US passport if you are an immigrant? A Canadian or Danish passport if you want to invite yourself in these countries for diplomatic reasons? A passport for the Future?

Are they an allusion to the efficiency of the mastery of his image and how they would embody his atypical personality to become a true Story Character, a symbol or even an idol? Pictures that everyone would print as a poster to make a point, a political statement or even a prayer? An holy pictural trinity which would save the Land where in God we Trust?

Hereby, since Donald Trump means to become the United States’ Icon. I have associated its graphic display with another American Icon: Marylin Monroe.

And, especially, her representation, immortalized through the famous series of serigraphies by Andy Warhol, master of Pop Art. Especially the “Shot Marylin Series” quadriptych.

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For, it happens that the official colors of both OpenAI/ChatGPT and DeepSeek are Pale Green and Pale Blue respectively; these colors being very close to the ones used by Warhol on the “Shot Series” on the top right and bottom right cases.

I therefore decided to use the same colors on Donald Trump’s background on the same locations. Also, I used a filter on his face to match the “serigraphy” effect made by Warhol on Marylin Monroe’s serigraphies.

Since the colors of Grok are Black and White, I have decided to keep the left top portrait’s background white; though, I have sampled the exact same Orange from the Warhol’s “Shot Series” from the lower left case to complete my own “Donald Trump Shot Series” on the same lower left case. This making it consistent with the concept of “Mugshots” that I have developed earlier on. I would even say that “Donald Trump Mugshot Series “ would be a more appropriate name…

Now, knowing that this very Marylin Monroe quadriptych version has been actually shot with a revolver by Dorothy Podber inside Warhol’s factory, it gives another layer of meaning about using this very version of Warhol’s Marylin.

Especially since Donald Trump has been shot two times himself.

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The Typographic AI, AI, AI…

As a subtle allusion, I have also added a typographic acronym reading “AI…” on the fourth case of the quadriptych. As much as to equilibrate the composition as to guide the viewer to understand that Trump and the AI technology are linked at more than one level: a first level concerning his relation with Elon Musk, creator of Grok; and on a second level to emphasize the substance of the topic of the article illustrated: the analysis of Trump’s major policies by three AIs.

The three dots after the acronym symbolize the three AIs used during The Red Team Analysis Society’s test; but it also gives a feeling of suspense : what the AIs have to say about Trump? What they will announce? What they will reveal?

Conversely, the opponents of Trump could read this acronym as an onomatopoeia: “AÏE…” or “OUCH…”. Like “Ouch, he is back… (and he is not happy)” or “Ouch, the AI is here… what will happen to our World?”.

So, in the end, why is this typography so subtle? It is not only because of its meaning, but also because of its nature : the Typeface I used is called Digi Grotesk and is actually the very first Typeface created by a computer in 1968 by Rudolf Hell…his name being certainly a coincidence.

By designing this Typeface by digital means, Rudolf Hell started a new era in computer creation, a revolution in the typographic world…

…as the rise of the AI is equally a new era in computer creation. A revolution in everyone’s world.

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Summary of the Topic

🔻 Detailed protocol of the experiment: selecting the question, selecting the signals and selecting the Ais

🔻 First onlook of the raw answers of the AIs, detailed with Chat’s excerpts and prompts

🔻 Analysis of their responses: when the AIs are right, when they are wrong and what needs to be elaborated

🔻 Completing the input by infusing the human expertise and refining both the stakes and the themes which need to be perfected

🔻 Synthesis and Conclusion about the experiment

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This post belongs to the Category :

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Check my latest posts!

• “The 4M” : Designing Superheroes for Public HealthJuly 24, 2026
• Site Update : World Architect OffersNovember 27, 2025
• Interview with a Compeer #1.1 : Desfragmentations – “The Alchemical Vision”June 11, 2025
• Using AI creatively : Character Design – Yaràn MalakMay 12, 2025
• Article Header Design: “How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?”March 28, 2025

---

Check the latest comments!

1. 

   Thank you very much for your comment coming from an IT expert, Nouha!

2. 

   Very interesting article and excellent choice for th Sphinx!!

3. 

   Splendid as always! And also this showcase the very broad scope of your design skills!

---

Related Themes :

---

Related Links :

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The Context

⭕ This is the design I created for The Red Team Analysis Society article [🇫🇷 🇬🇧] titled:

“Uranium for the U.S. Nuclear Renaissance: Meeting Unprecedented Requirements – Part 1”

This design is the Seventh in the Uranium Series, following “Towards a U.S. Nuclear Renaissance?”.

The U.S. has planned for a Nuclear Renaissance. It aims to reach 300 GWe capacity by 2050 for nuclear energy and envisions two scenarios to reach this goal.

Developing the future American fleet of reactors implies facing formidable challenges and uncertainties. Now, the U.S. must also be able to fuel the nuclear renaissance. This means the U.S. will need first to have uranium, which demands mining it, before even thinking about processing it from conversion to fuel fabrication through enrichment.

How do American nuclear objectives translate in terms of uranium requirements? What does that imply?

Will they manage to accomplish this task which appears to be near-impossible considering the short amount of time available and the weight of the logistics, political and geopolitical implications?

The Design

Sisyphus, painted by Titian – another great Renaissance painter, now embodies the task that lies ahead for the United States of America…

The Dantesque task of the USA is in fact twofold and, therefore, the Sisyphus represented is twofold as well. In perfect mirror image -like the Mythological hero, banished to Hell– the two Sisyphi carry a heavy load: one carries the immense quantity of Uranium that the country needs to face the energy challenges of the future…

…and the other embodies the immense burden of the geopolitical responsibility of the USA regarding the drastic decisions that they will have to make to make this achievable…and thus impact the world, for better or for worse.

Will these cursed Gemini, plunged into the hell of urgency, manage to bring their burden to the top of the mountain? And thus, transform it into a roaring volcano of nuclear power?

Will the rays of the American Stripes burst forth like insolent lasers, piercing the skies of Hades? For the star-spangled nuclear symbol can be born from the Forge of rediscovered Power?…

…or will the USA -like the damned character of the legend, like these two Sisyphi– be crushed by the weight of their burdens?

Will they realize too late that their efforts will soon roll at the foot of the mountain of Time that they have just climbed, thus sealing the impossibility of an ever-renewing task? Of an ever-heavier ordeal? And of deadlines that are ever more impossible to meet?…

Will everything have to be started again and again, all the time?

Will they then realize that they have fallen into the infernal trap of lack of anticipation? Will they be locked into an exponential loop of announced failures that will soon seal their destiny for all eternity?

In this case, the eruption of the volcano will not announce the Renaissance of their Energy, but rather the Renaissance of their Sufferings within the furnace of a dark and cold Hell. There, the American Stripes of the energy lasers that they will never produce shall become the bars of their imprisoned Future.

As Sisyphus, imprisoned in the Tartarus.

Summary of the Topic

🔻 Detailed description of the U.S. Uranium Requirements, complete with graphic charts and numbers.

🔻 Focus on the actual USA policy about choosing to purchase rather than to produce uranium.

🔻 Exposing the dependence of USA on foreign companies and foreign supply for uranium.

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This post belongs to the Category :

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Check my latest posts!

• “The 4M” : Designing Superheroes for Public HealthJuly 24, 2026
• Site Update : World Architect OffersNovember 27, 2025
• Interview with a Compeer #1.1 : Desfragmentations – “The Alchemical Vision”June 11, 2025
• Using AI creatively : Character Design – Yaràn MalakMay 12, 2025
• Article Header Design: “How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?”March 28, 2025

---

Check the latest comments!

1. 

   Thank you very much for your comment coming from an IT expert, Nouha!

2. 

   Very interesting article and excellent choice for th Sphinx!!

3. 

   Splendid as always! And also this showcase the very broad scope of your design skills!

---

Related Themes :

---

Related Links :

---

The Context

⭕ This is the design I created for The Red Team Analysis Society article [🇫🇷 🇬🇧] titled:

“Towards a U.S. Nuclear Renaissance?”

This design is the Sixthin the Uranium Series, following “Niger: a New Severe Threat for the Future of France’s Nuclear Energy?”.

On 30 September 2024, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published the latest edition of the Pathways to Commercial Liftoff: Advanced Nuclear.

Its aim is to contribute to accelerate advanced nuclear reactors’ commercial deployment in support of U.S. objectives in terms of nuclear energy, necessary notably to achieve its decarbonization goals.

The U.S. DOE document sets the civilian nuclear objectives the U.S. state would like to achieve, and presents arguments to convince American companies, including bankers and other financial institutions, that they should invest in nuclear energy. What is the American nuclear renaissance all about?

Why is it important knowing, in 2024, the U.S. is still the first civil nuclear power in the world? How does it fit in with the global return to nuclear power? What does it mean for the American National Interest? How does it compare with China’s surge in nuclear energy? Are the U.S. nuclear power objectives feasible?

Will a new Nuclear Divinity arise from the waters of uncertainty ?

The Design

Like Venus, the ancient goddess painted in Botticelli’s masterpiece, Nuclear Power emerges from the waters, the navel of self-centered Love shimmering through in its core… Will nuclear power be loved and cherished by the United States? Will they allow it to be born?

On the left, Zephyr, the gentle wind of Spring, dressed in the star-spangled mantle, blows the breeze of possible renewal on the young nuclear power that is shaking itself out of the waters… Is it the breath of rebirth or the one that announces the storm of inconsequence?

On the right, one of the Hours seeks to cover the fragile nuclear power with the red and white stripes of the thirteen founding states, symbolizing the monopolization of this newborn power into the foundations of the American State.

But which Hour is it? Is it Auxo, Hour of Growth? Thallo, Hour of Flowering? Or Carpo, the Hour of Fructification? Is there still time for the Nuclear Hour to arise?

The texture of the nuclear symbol is that of gold painted on the raw canvas, still iridescent from its crackling radioactivity… When this new divinity will open its eyes, what spectacle will it contemplate? What words will it pronounce? And will it be lively enough to survive its own (re)birth?

Or will its Renaissance remain only a sketch on the easel of States, too dreamy to see the Twilight of the ungrateful Gods and the carefree Men that is inevitably advancing?…

Summary of the Topic

🔻 Description of the drivers behind the American nuclear energy renaissance and objectives, mainly those related to international relations, American national security and constraints required for energy decarbonisation.

🔻 Why and how out-competing China and constraining Russia over the international chessboard is incorporated into that Renaissance.

🔻 Presenting the two scenarios of the U.S. Department of Energy… and possibly a third?

🔻 Uncertainty and Challenges linked to the stakes of that Renaissance.

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This post belongs to the Category :

---

Check my latest posts!

• “The 4M” : Designing Superheroes for Public HealthJuly 24, 2026
• Site Update : World Architect OffersNovember 27, 2025
• Interview with a Compeer #1.1 : Desfragmentations – “The Alchemical Vision”June 11, 2025
• Using AI creatively : Character Design – Yaràn MalakMay 12, 2025
• Article Header Design: “How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?”March 28, 2025

---

Check the latest comments!

1. 

   Thank you very much for your comment coming from an IT expert, Nouha!

2. 

   Very interesting article and excellent choice for th Sphinx!!

3. 

   Splendid as always! And also this showcase the very broad scope of your design skills!

---

Related Themes :

---

Related Links :

---

The Context

⭕ This is the design I created for The Red Team Analysis Society article [🇫🇷 🇬🇧] titled:

“AI at War (2) – Preparing for the US-China War?”

On 28 August 2023, the U.S. declared the need for mass producing drones in order to outsize China’s Army, as well as to efficiently protect NATO countries against cyberattacks, especially Russian and Chinese.

This whole project turned as a Military Artificial Intelligentization of the possible upcoming conflicts between USA and China.

The Design

The American and Chinese flags have lost their main stars because it is the Drone that is now the Star of all battles.

The AI, the cyberworld, computer-driven drones are now achieving what all past diplomacies have always failed to do : Unity.

Against a backdrop of castrated, grayed-out flags belonging to the past, the fall of nation-states is now embodied in a new universal Totem : the Drone, mother of all battles and father of all wars. War promises to be even more inhuman than usual…

This spidery Drone-Totem is divided into two colors : Red and Blue. Inherited from the old world, these colors are no longer those of the countries they were supposed to embody, but those of the generic Red Team against the generic Blue Team ; engaged in a digital conflict worthy of a video game, the two teams confront each other and resemble each other to induce that the casualties statistics will be now optimized in an ever more advantageous quality/price ratio…

The Drone-Totem is adorned with the Chinese yellow star… unless it is the American white star? But why does it matter in the end? Since the glow of the true stars of the real world sky seems to fade away in the fog of war…

“War is no longer stupid and dirty, since it is now digital and intelligent.” seems to conclude the cold, black eye of the Drone that observes us, making the link between the dark colors of the flags of the Past and the Darkness of the Future.

Summary of the Topic

🔻 Outline of the latest technological innovations in drones and weaponry controlled by AI for both China and the USA.

🔻 Conceptualization of a strategic and tactical synthesis of a new AI warfare in the form of American and Chinese “Skynets”.

🔻 Analysis of the cognitive, structural and cultural paradigm shift required within both armies to mutate towards the new type of warfare of the 21st century.

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This post belongs to the Category :

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Check my latest posts!

• “The 4M” : Designing Superheroes for Public HealthJuly 24, 2026
• Site Update : World Architect OffersNovember 27, 2025
• Interview with a Compeer #1.1 : Desfragmentations – “The Alchemical Vision”June 11, 2025
• Using AI creatively : Character Design – Yaràn MalakMay 12, 2025
• Article Header Design: “How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?”March 28, 2025

---

Check the latest comments!

1. 

   Thank you very much for your comment coming from an IT expert, Nouha!

2. 

   Very interesting article and excellent choice for th Sphinx!!

3. 

   Splendid as always! And also this showcase the very broad scope of your design skills!

---

Related Themes :

---

Related Links :

---

The Context

⭕ This is the design I created for The Red Team Analysis Society article [🇫🇷 🇬🇧] titled:

“The Future of Uranium Demand – China’s Surge”

This design is the Third in the Uranium Series, following “Uranium and the Renewal of Nuclear Energy”.

As the world is poised to make the effort to treble its nuclear energy capacity by 2050, there is a base case scenario for the future of nuclear energy capacities, upon which the 2023 decision to treble nuclear energy and related policies will apply.

These evolutions, country per country, reveal notably China’s surge, highlighting a direct geopolitical consequence of the multiplication of nuclear reactors on territories, as nuclear plants become essential elements in the theatres of war.

The Design

Hundreds of analyzes and reports aggregate. Meticulously. Studiously. They come together like red earth bricks to build the future of the Middle Kingdom, like a new Forbidden City, even more powerful, even more imposing.

Like the blueprint of a new empire, like the bird’s eye view flying above a new urban agglomeration, new neighborhoods are being drawn and new streets are being annotated. The global future of China’s energy empire is being built, almost silently, around its new Heart : The Nuclear Symbol.

And, all around this new Radiant and Radioactive Palace, four stars are approaching, religiously assembled. Each star is embodying 5 years of future time, totaling 20 years; which is year 2040.

Date on which China will become the world’s largest nuclear power.

The New Flag of the all-powerful Nuclear China will be then complete, ready to be unfurled above the Earth…

Summary of the Topic

🔻 Detailed tables and graphs on current nuclear energy production capacities by country.

🔻 Sourced projections of future production by country by 2040.

🔻 Projection of Uranium needs by country by 2040.

🔻 Analysis of the potential influence of China’s lead concerning security and warfare on the geopolitical level.

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This post belongs to the Category :

---

Check my latest posts!

• “The 4M” : Designing Superheroes for Public HealthJuly 24, 2026
• Site Update : World Architect OffersNovember 27, 2025
• Interview with a Compeer #1.1 : Desfragmentations – “The Alchemical Vision”June 11, 2025
• Using AI creatively : Character Design – Yaràn MalakMay 12, 2025
• Article Header Design: “How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?”March 28, 2025

---

Check the latest comments!

1. 

   Thank you very much for your comment coming from an IT expert, Nouha!

2. 

   Very interesting article and excellent choice for th Sphinx!!

3. 

   Splendid as always! And also this showcase the very broad scope of your design skills!

---

Related Themes :

---

Related Links :

The Video

The Context

▶️ In March 2023, the Master Management of Technology and Innovation (MTI) in Paris invited me as a speaker for their yearly conference…

The Master MTI is a degree of the University Dauphine / PSL of Paris, the Ecole des Mines de Paris and the INSTN…

The Theme of that year was : « Nostalgia ».

Four Experts in different fields were invited, each being located at four different places across the « Map of Nostalgia »…

Each of us had to respond to the inquiries of a young seeker, named Céka, who was travelling across that Map, searching for answers.

As a Design expert specialized in Foresight, I answered her questions…

Subtitles Languages available

🇫🇷 French (Quality)
🇫🇷 French (automatic subtitles)
🇸🇦 Arab
🇧🇩 Bengali
🇨🇳 Chinese
🇬🇧 English
🇩🇪 German
🇮🇳 Hindi
🇯🇵 Japanese
🇰🇷 Korean
🇮🇷 Persian
🇵🇹 Portuguese
🇮🇳 🇵🇰 Punjabi
🇷🇺 Russian
🇪🇸 Spanish
🇹🇷 Turkish

The Event

The event revolved around four major questions linked to the concept of Nostalgia, concerning a specific field of expertise. Four specialized experts intervened during the event, each in their field of expertise.

The scenography of the event symbolized a form of  “Initiatory Journey” or “Rite of Passage”  of the seeker – “Céka” – who met, in turn, each of these experts and dialogued with them in a “metaphorical place” on the “Map of Nostalgia”. Each place symbolizing both her questioning and the field of expertise concerned.

At the end of each interview, Eduardo – the Ringmaster – gave a fragment of parchment to Céka, allowing her to continue her quest ; ultimately allowing her to resolve all of her questions concerning Nostalgia.

The Experts and the Locations on the Map

In order of appearance and by symbolic location on the map:

The Cabinet: Paola Scemama-Ittah (Neuropsychologist) answered on the psychological and neuropsychiatric origins and influences of Nostalgia over the mind.

The Factory: Alexandra Vignolles (Marketing Specialist) answered on the influences of Nostalgia over branding and marketing innovations.

The Studio: Emma Bonneaud (Musician) answered on the influences of Nostalgia on Art and Music.

The Lair: It is in this fourth part that I intervened via video -posing as an “Artificial Intelligence Entity”- as a Design Expert, specialized in foresight and warning, over three main questions:

1–What is your vision of Nostalgia correlated to your field of expertise?

2– Why use the Past to build the Future as they seem contradictory?

3– How can we build a desirable Future through Foresight and Warning? What are the desirable issues for our civilization?

The entire Event with the Four Speakers can be accessed here : “MTI experience | Nostalgia: the quest for innovation” or watch directly the video below:

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This post belongs to the Category :

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Check my latest posts!

• “The 4M” : Designing Superheroes for Public HealthJuly 24, 2026
• Site Update : World Architect OffersNovember 27, 2025
• Interview with a Compeer #1.1 : Desfragmentations – “The Alchemical Vision”June 11, 2025
• Using AI creatively : Character Design – Yaràn MalakMay 12, 2025
• Article Header Design: “How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?”March 28, 2025

---

Check the latest comments!

1. 

   Thank you very much for your comment coming from an IT expert, Nouha!

2. 

   Very interesting article and excellent choice for th Sphinx!!

3. 

   Splendid as always! And also this showcase the very broad scope of your design skills!

---

Related Themes :

---

Related Links :

---

The Context

📚 This article is dedicated to a series of 28 practical exercises, one per article, consisting of applying a fluid and organic methodology which is : creating a story from a given visual, then impacting the art direction of the base visual, nuanced by the story thus created. It is an interdependent cycle generating the following creative flow: Basic Visual > Analysis and Psychological impact> Narrative reflection and Narrative design > Story > Improved Visual.

Through 28 concrete examples, and then 28 stories, I will present how a visual can inspire a story and how, in return, the story will guide the art direction to nuance the said visual. For it can improve the semiological atmosphere of the result of the narrative design, which is the Story.

I will also indicate how the differences in cultural context between the English version (or American) and the French version will slightly nuance the stories, mainly for the choice of the Title and Pitch. And, consequently, how these differences in titles will affect the final visual.

Each of these articles will then present TWO “back covers” of the same story, as well as TWO “front covers” for each of the two languages.

It is the reciprocity between Image and Story, Story and Image.

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The Story (English Version)

Under my Skin

“Is the person under your skin really you?”

A serial killer is suffering from a degenerative epidermal disease. To slow down this disease, this killer must hunt down a victim every month and dismember it to clad in their skin with which he fuses. Like a shark, he must touch them, brush against them and caress them beforehand to find out if they are to his “taste”…

It turns out that this ritual also gives the killer the ability to take on the appearance of the victim for a whole month…

Two FBI detectives are on this case: Agent Jill Deray, Psychiatry Doctor and profiler; and Agent Lance Skinner, a former member of the Delta Force specializing in infiltration and exfiltration.

They are working together for the first time. A man. A woman. A ruthless hunter.

A hunter?…


…or a huntress?

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The Story (French Version)

Manque de Peau

“Quand la Mort vous a dans la peau.”

Un tueur atteint d’une maladie dégénérative de l’épiderme se doit de tuer tous les mois afin de dépecer ses victimes pour se vêtir de leur peau avec laquelle il fusionne. Tel un requin, il se doit de les toucher, de les frôler et de les caresser auparavant pour savoir s’ils sont à son “goût”…

Il s’avère que cela lui donne
également la capacité de prendre l’apparence de sa victime pour un mois…

Deux détectives du FBI le traquent : l’Agent Jill Deray, également Doctoresse en Psychiatrie et profileuse ; et l’Agent Lance Skinner, ancien membre de la Delta Force spécialiste de l’infiltration et de l’exfiltration.

Ils travaillent pour la première fois ensemble. Un homme. Une femme. Un tueur.

Un tueur?…

…ou une tueuse?

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The Creative Process

Step 1: Analysis of the Picture

A-The emotional and psychological feeling

The proposed visual – before any graphic intervention – represents a zoom on two profile faces touching each other, skin to skin, which suggests an intimate contact.

Intimate but not necessarily loving or tender, since the expressions of the faces are relatively neutral: the two persons represented are not really smiling or grimacing, both have their eyes closed and seem immersed in intense reflection, or even a meditation.

• Are they immersed in a deep mutual love feeling, enjoying a moment of supposed intimacy?

• Are they in a form of restrained and symbolic adversity, like a “gentle face-to-face”?

• Are they in a purely tactile approach to the other, as if they were blind?

• Are they communing towards a common goal or dream, whatever it may be?

B-The ambiguity of the characters

The people depicted appear to embody a woman on the left and a man on the right, but is it really the case?

• The long hair and light eye makeup of the “woman” on left seems to indicate her feminine nature, as well as the red appearance of her lips which could evoke a lipstick touch.

• But “the man” on the right also has very red lips, and his hair is also long, his features are thin, emaciated, almost feminine in their symbolism; while the features of the “woman” are more babyish and rounded, they form an “archetypal opposition” between the pointed and the round, the concave and the convex. And this, regardless of their respective genres.

This “couple” is therefore visually ambiguous, deliberately departing from a standard classification of the male/female opposition.

In the current socio-cultural context, it could as well be two women, two men, a woman on the right and a man on the left, or two transgender people… since only a close-up of their faces is visible. And, therefore, this photo deliberately does not give us enough information to be able to deduce their sexual gender using a vision of their bodies, their clothes or their body language. A doubt remains.

Their “genders” rather evoke a form of combined and ambiguous androgyny where the sexual deduction of the representation of these characters is only a “narrative vagueness” which the storyteller can easily seize and play with narratively.

Consequently, the ambiguous sexuality and emotional neutrality of this image gives us the opportunity to be able to influence it in one direction or another, towards any given emotion or towards its opposite.

And, if necessary, to be able to create surprise by going against a cognitive bias that one could receive when interpreting this visual way too quickly.

From the surprise that goes against preconceived ideas, narrative interest is born.

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Step 2: Narrative Approach

A-Literary Genre

Our recent Western cultures are mainly focused on individual feeling and introspective emotional analysis. Therefore, most spectators viewing this image would deduce that this visual represents tenderness, sensuality, intimate proximity and, consequently, Love. With more or less hazards linked to the experimentation of this feeling.

In order to create an emotional contrast opposed to this commonplace, I decided to go against the general feeling and therefore to create my story on the theme of Thriller and Horror.

B-From intimacy to predatory “gustation”

Indeed, the neutrality of the characters almost immediately reminded me of something deeper than a “simple sentimental relationship”. However, intimacy had to be present in the story, because it is factual from the visual: the characters are skin to skin. However, there are many situations that can lead to epidermal proximity regardless of love: rape, hand-to-hand violence and predation, especially concerning certain animals for whom smell and taste are essential during hunting.

Some sharks have “taste buds” all over the surface of their skin, allowing them to “taste” their prey by simply “brushing” their bodies against the prey to check if it is to their liking. I therefore imagined that the killer could have a similar need, requiring to “brush” his skin against his prey – and therefore resorting to a certain intimacy – to be able to identify it as an “appropriate” victim to consume. Thus, I designed the concept of a predator who would synthesize a perverse need for intimacy with a physiological need to “consume skin” for a very specific use.

C-The “skin disguise” as a suspense leverage

I tapped in my knowledge of certain serial killers such as “Ed Gein” who skinned their victims out of morbid fetishism; then, the idea of a serial killer who would be driven by a need for survival seemed interesting to me. In fact, it allowed to not submit the intrigue exclusively to the “classic profiling” of a killer through psychiatric means alone, but also to induce a feeling of emergency dependent on biology to define the killer’s modus operandi.

Thus, the investigation could be enriched with twists and turns and a wider range of deductions, hypotheses or errors on the part of the investigators, throughout the story. This gives the opportunity to prod the reader in a wrong direction, while being faced with a wider range of emotions. The concept may even relativize the reader’s emotions to the point of possibly empathizing with a sick being who needs to kill to survive. The philosophical aspect of survival at all costs at the expense of morality was then interesting to explore and develop.

Finally, the fact that “consuming” the skin of his victims allows the killer to take on the identity and body of his victim adds an additional lever of suspense: the fact that his appearance can change very regularly during the story causes an intellectual and emotional instability in the reader. And this instability would be echoed by the growing paranoia of the investigators; after all, the killer could be right next to you…he could even be your co-worker.

This is why, in the end, I concluded the summary of the back cover with a question leaving open the field of possibilities: since the appearance of the killer can be indifferently masculine or feminine, his original gender can also be masculine or feminine (or even something else?…).

This brings us back to the visual ambiguity from the original photo picture: a “man” and a “woman”, skin to skin… except that, now, the filter of the story makes them appear in a different light… with, possibly, one of the two protagonists with intentions which may differ very much from what he – or she – initially appear to emit…

This also allows us to raise the question of sexual identity within our modern societies by linking it to a strong sociological theme, inviting the reader to position themselves towards it.

D-The Title (French and English)

• The French Title is “Manque de Peau” (Translated as “Lack of Skin”). It is a homophony playing on the French slang expression “Manque de Pot” (literally “Lack of Pot”) which means “Out of Luck”. In this case “Peau” (“Skin” in French) and “Pot” (“Pot” in French) are pronounced identically and have the same sound.

It is a pun implying that, if the killer is literally in a “lacking skin” mode, it also means that his next victim is therefore “out of luck” in crossing his path.

• The English Title is “Under my Skin”. The expressions and cultural context between France and the USA being very varied, it was not possible to literally translate “Lack of Skin” for the English version, as it would have no “second meaning” and, then, was lacking the subtlety needed for a paranoid thriller.

So, I chose a vintage reference to the American song by Frank Sinatra, “I’ve got you under my skin” which evokes a devouring and carnal love and I applied it literally to the story, as it was making more sense for American readers. Additionally, if the book was to be written, I was considering the song be heard by one of the characters to add to the semiological atmosphere.

E-The Pitch (French and English)

• The French Pitch is “Quand la Mort vous a dans la peau”. Literally translated from French, it means a slang expression: “When Death got you under its skin”; just like the reasoning on the English Title described above, it is a form of allusion to the song by Frank Sinatra “I’ve got you under my skin”, as this expression also exists in French.

The idea was to hook the reader with a familiar image of closeness, all-consuming intimacy and obsessive pursuit, while twisting this popular expression on the theme of skin.

• The English Pitch is “Is the person under your skin really you?”. Unlike the French pitch, I didn’t want any supplementary allusion to the Frank Sinatra’s song because that would have been a redundancy with the Title.

Asking a disturbing question is much stronger, as it questions the very identity of the reader and the relationship with their own body. It makes a direct link with the phenomenon of confusion and intimate paranoia leading to madness which will be diffused throughout the story.

F-Easter Egg Bonus: The names of Author and Publishing House

“Easter eggs” are very common in video games. This concept is a form of “private joke” hidden within the program which allows an allusion, a meme or a hidden message to be transmitted to those who know how to detect it. In this exercise and all the following ones, I use this playful semantics to “invent” an author name in relation with the story itself, as well as for the publishing house which is fictitious, according to the same principle.

The author of this book is “Stéphane Roi”, which is the literal translation into French of “Stephen King”, great master of horror.

The publishing house “Fleuve Rouge” means “Red Mainstem”. This is a reference to “Fleuve Noir” (“Black Mainstem”) which is a French publishing house specializing in police, espionage and anticipation novels… I simply added a little more blood…

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Step 3: The orientation of Art Direction for the Cover

A-Choice of picture enhancement

Once the story was designed, it was necessary to stage the initial visual without necessarily stripping it of its initial aspect: in fact, the neutrality and ambiguity of the initial characters were strong enough to stand on their own and to encourage the reader to a form of indecision.

I just had to add a slight “nudge” to orient the cover visual to dispel a possible romantic interpretation. Though, I had to achieve this without eliminating the mysterious aura of the photo where romance COULD be a possible interpretation, but not the only one.

In short: it is only at the end of the book that the reader will be able to “understand” retroactively the scene presented on the cover and deduce, at that moment, a romantic, horrific or suspicious reading from the visual.

• Therefore, I decided to apply a relatively discreet skin texture with a torn effect at the top and bottom of the cover. It did not have to be gory or bloody, but simply present enough to “evoke” the stakes of the story and reinforce the intimate aspect between the protagonists in the photo

• The “torn” aspect of the skin evokes the tearing of the killer’s modus operandi, of course, but also the emotional “tearing” of the protagonists: the one of the investigators, the one of the victims and the one of the killer who, too, is fighting for survival.

• The choice of skin color of the texture had to be one of either character in the visual, in order to create a semantic link between them and the design. It could therefore be of a “light flesh” tone like the face on the right, or of a more “brown” tone like the face on the left. Though, as the “brown” appearance was rather evoking leather – a dead material, I finally decided to opt for the “light flesh” tone – evoking (almost) living skin.

B-Typographic choice

As the literary genre oscillates between horror and thriller, it required a typeface that evokes these two atmospheres.

I opted for the Gabriele Dark Ribbon -Black.

• This typeface being related to the “typewriter” style, it evokes a purely informative, direct and pragmatic administrative character; suitable for illustrating investigation reports or documents where only raw information counts, without embellishment and without emotion. It is a typeface form related to the family of “Mechanistic” typeface which was born following the industrial era and, then, at the time of the security anxiety rising within growing modern megalopolises.

• In addition, its textured appearance -as if the glyph was engorged with ink– evokes even more the urgency of a report typed very quickly, without concern about the final presentation: this announces the stress linked to the “run against the clock” atmosphere within the story. Its torn contours also makes a visual link with the semantic tearing of the skin texture which comes in the background.

• To establish a chromatic balance with the color of the skin texture that I sampled from the character on the right (as specified above), I also sampled the darkest skin color from the character on the left. I used it as color for the font text, completing the link between the text color and the texture color, mirroring the two skin tones of the protagonists. There is also a slight reddish border outline in the lower part of the glyphs’ bevel effect, as if the text was branded and carved into the skin texture.

This post belongs to the Category :

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Check my latest posts!

• “The 4M” : Designing Superheroes for Public HealthJuly 24, 2026
• Site Update : World Architect OffersNovember 27, 2025
• Interview with a Compeer #1.1 : Desfragmentations – “The Alchemical Vision”June 11, 2025
• Using AI creatively : Character Design – Yaràn MalakMay 12, 2025
• Article Header Design: “How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?”March 28, 2025

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Check the latest comments!

1. 

   Thank you very much for your comment coming from an IT expert, Nouha!

2. 

   Very interesting article and excellent choice for th Sphinx!!

3. 

   Splendid as always! And also this showcase the very broad scope of your design skills!

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Related Themes :

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Related Links :

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The Context

⭕ This is the design I created for The Red Team Analysis Society article [🇫🇷 🇬🇧] titled :

“Apocalypse in the Red Sea”

In December 2023 the Pentagon launched “Operation Prosperity Guardian in the Red Sea” in order to protect trade routes constantly attacked by the Houthi movement; the latter having joined the Palestinian cause following the Israel Defenses Force attacks in the Gaza Strip.

This political-religious conflict impacting strongly on global geopolitics -whether at an economic, strategic, political or ideological level – this article focuses on the strategic action of the Houthis in the Red Sea and how their actions spread over the world way beyond this sector.

Listen this Article

Listen to the synthesis of this publication and what Alex Karlson and Iris Devocca from “Creative Compass” have to say about it! You may either listen directly this epidode below or access it through Spotify.

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The Design

The colors of Yemen’s Flag are White, Red and Black.

White is the leaden sky, announcing the storm of an upcoming globalized War, with unsuspected repercussions.

The silhouette of a Black ship looms on the horizon -so calm before the storm… Is it the menacing black of an American warship, the next herald of the war to come? Is it the black vessel of the Houthi movement which will be the spearhead of a new piracy of the 21st century, capable of shaking the very foundations of civilization? Or is it a prey ship, bearing the future mourning of its crew and cargo, wandering like a ghost ship on such a calm sea…

A sea so calm and so Red. Red like the Red Sea. Red like blood. Blood of the Martyrs? Blood of the Innocents? Blood of the Warriors?

In this deceptively calm sea, the ship is reflected in its waters and forms the silhouette of an AK-47, announcing the stake of this future conflict: is it the universal weapon of all terrorists or the one of all freedom fighters?

This weapon of asymmetrical warfare now forms a symmetrical reflection on the ship… the lines and ideologies blur and mix, the scale changes and ideologies vary… Who to believe and who not to believe? What reflection do we see in the mirror when it is tinted with the color of blood?

Is the ship now the new universally accessible weapon that threatens the fragile balance of a reduced globe? Or is it the spearhead of a new world? The announcement of a new order?

But whatever happens, the Blood will always remain the same color…

Summary of the Topic

🔻 Description of “Operation Prosperity Guardian”.

🔻 Analysis of the stakes of the situation via the study of convergence of tactics and wars.

🔻 Hypothesis of a possible multilevel strategy of the Houthi movement.

🔻 Insight of the emergence of possible “sea civilization and pirate economy” through events such as “Houthi maritime pirate theme parks and resorts”.

🔻 Analysis of the actual Houthi situation on Land and why it extends over Water.

🔻 Resurgence of modern-day Piracy in other areas of the globe, such as Somalia.

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This post belongs to the Category :

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Check my latest posts!

• “The 4M” : Designing Superheroes for Public HealthJuly 24, 2026
• Site Update : World Architect OffersNovember 27, 2025
• Interview with a Compeer #1.1 : Desfragmentations – “The Alchemical Vision”June 11, 2025
• Using AI creatively : Character Design – Yaràn MalakMay 12, 2025
• Article Header Design: “How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?”March 28, 2025

---

Check the latest comments!

1. 

   Thank you very much for your comment coming from an IT expert, Nouha!

2. 

   Very interesting article and excellent choice for th Sphinx!!

3. 

   Splendid as always! And also this showcase the very broad scope of your design skills!

---

Related Themes :

---

Related Links :

---

The Context

⭕ This is the design I created for The Red Team Analysis Society article [🇫🇷 🇬🇧] titled :

“Which Country has the most Influence in the World?”

Between 1945 and 2024 the alliances and counter-alliances have changed exponentially, disassembling and reassembling through increasingly globalized geopolitical events. Wars, pandemics, ecological, economic and systemic crises are all parameters capable of favoring or disfavoring the affinity that such or such country may have with another one…

But, over time, have the countries perceived traditionnally to be the most influential remained as such? And what about new states, new inter-state structures or new policies that enter into the global game? Which state has really the most influence in the world? When did things change? This timeline holds many surprises…

The Design

The world is nothing more than a gigantic chess game where each state seeks to become the King of the Chessboard. To achieve this, they grow… they amass influence and power across the world to be able to initiate the final move which will put their opponents in checkmate.

The most influential kings advance, clad in the colors of their flags: China, Iran, Russia and the USA… undoubtedly followed by a long line of kinglets, seeking as well to advance to the front of the stage.

But it is no longer a game that is played only by two, nor by four, nor by twenty protagonists… what will be the rules of this new game of chess when everyone is trying to become the only king?

The only other piece left which is not a king is the small Pawn symbolizing the Earth, which now seems far too small and far too expendable for all these new kings…

Summary of the Topic

🔻 Description of the method appraising the effective influence of all the worldwide actors.

🔻 Evolution of multilateral international influence from 1945 to 2024 through 10 detailed screenshots visualizing the dynamic links of influence between each state and systemic structures which appear over the course of History.

🔻 Dynamic animated chronology video of the aforementioned links visualization.

🔻 Extensive analysis of the rise and demise of the international influence of the main state actors from 1945 to 2024.

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This post belongs to the Category :

---

Check my latest posts!

• “The 4M” : Designing Superheroes for Public HealthJuly 24, 2026
• Site Update : World Architect OffersNovember 27, 2025
• Interview with a Compeer #1.1 : Desfragmentations – “The Alchemical Vision”June 11, 2025
• Using AI creatively : Character Design – Yaràn MalakMay 12, 2025
• Article Header Design: “How to use AI for Weak Signals – Trump, the International Revolutionary?”March 28, 2025

---

Check the latest comments!

1. 

   Thank you very much for your comment coming from an IT expert, Nouha!

2. 

   Very interesting article and excellent choice for th Sphinx!!

3. 

   Splendid as always! And also this showcase the very broad scope of your design skills!

---

Related Themes :

---

Related Links :