How LABASAD is preparing creatives for an AI-powered future
The Barcelona School of Arts and Design (LABASAD) is training experienced creatives to work with AI-treating it as a collaborator, not a substitute. The goal: keep your taste and strategy in the driver's seat while AI accelerates the work.
Many students aren't "beginners." They're studio founders, creative directors, producers, and artists refreshing their edge during a major tech shift. That includes people like Lizzie Van Wassenhoven, co-founder at BeContent and owner of Resolut, who returned to study with a clear brief: keep brand integrity while using AI for new formats.
What LABASAD actually teaches
Isabel Martinez (Isabelita Virtual), who directs the Online Master in Generative Artificial Intelligence for Creatives, is clear: the biggest gap is fear. Public chatter fixates on replacement. LABASAD replaces that with knowledge, method, and critical thinking.
The program isn't tool-first. It starts with questions, ethics, concepts, and creative goals. Tools are introduced as enablers. You'll study how generative systems function, when to use proprietary vs. open models, and how to build a final project that shows meaningful integration-not gimmicks.
Case study: a fashion film built in Sora
As part of her coursework, Lizzie explored how generative video could serve fashion cinema and choreography. Working entirely in Sora, she produced an experimental short in under three weeks. Her process looked like a real production, not a prompt roulette.
She started with concept and mood, then translated intention into language, structure, and repetition. Before generating a single shot, she set a visual framework: influences from contemporary hip-hop choreography (think precise weight shifts, pauses, freezes, restrained energy) and had ChatGPT analyze and convert those moves into concrete instructions.
Specificity mattered. The tighter the choreographic rules, the cleaner the motion and intent. She locked casting, silhouettes, materials, and color across prompts to protect brand consistency. Where AI exposed small inconsistencies, she made editorial decisions-framing, cropping, masking-to manage imperfections while reinforcing fashion's visual logic.
Takeaway: AI didn't replace direction. It demanded tighter direction.
The discipline behind the craft
Lizzie's process shows what informed AI use looks like: intention translated into language, strict visual systems, and repeated rules to maintain coherence. It's creative direction with more constraints, not fewer.
Isabel puts it simply: this isn't "how to use a tool." It's how to use your brain and skills to make any tool useful.
Where AI fits across creative disciplines
- Graphic Design & Branding: Fast ideation, mockups, and variant testing to explore directions before committing resources.
- Creative Direction: A research assistant that scans trends, drafts initial briefs, or proposes taglines for you to refine with voice and emotion.
- UX/UI: Quicker prototyping-turn sketches into high-fidelity wireframes in seconds; early predictive UX checks to anticipate eye flow.
- Interior Design: Render multiple styles from a single room photo or 2D plan within minutes to align client expectations.
As international academic manager Danielle Oldson notes, these use cases are already improving quality and speed across studios and teams.
People behind the program
LABASAD integrates AI across most courses and highlights diverse approaches through faculty work. Projects by Camilo Güell (Director of the Master in Artificial Intelligence for Creative Industries, Spanish Edition) and Maria Vinagre (Instructor in Artificial Intelligence for Creative Industries, Spanish Edition) show how different disciplines apply the same principles: clarity of intent, repeatable systems, and editorial judgment.
What this means for your practice
This isn't about chasing trends. It's about preparing for a studio reality where collaborating with AI sits next to research, typography, layout, lighting, and editing. As Isabel says, the aim is to turn uncertainty into agency and critical use.
In Danielle's words, the next step is moving from "how to use AI" to learning how to lead with it.
Practical takeaways you can apply this week
- Start projects with constraints: define concept, brand pillars, visual language, and rules before generating anything.
- Write like a director: translate intention into explicit instructions, structure, and repetition.
- Lock the constants: casting, silhouettes, materials, palette, and typography to maintain brand cohesion across outputs.
- Use AI for volume, keep taste for selection: generate options fast, then curate hard and edit with purpose.
- Expect imperfections: plan for framing, cropping, masking, and retouch to keep quality high.
- Document your system: prompts, parameters, and editorial decisions-so you can replicate results under pressure.
Want to keep building your AI skill stack?
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