Beyond magic
Prompting for style as affordance actualization in visual generative media
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 7477112 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nataliia Laba (0000-0003-0724-1467, University of Groningen, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 28 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 148-168 |
| Publication date | 2024-10-29 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | New Media & Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1461-4448 • E-ISSN: 1461-7315 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/14614448241286144 |
| OpenAlex | W4403871971 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 6 |
| References cited | 30 |
As a sociotechnical practice at the nexus of humans, machines, and visual culture, text-to-image generation relies on verbal prompts as the primary technique to guide generative models. To align desired aesthetic outcomes with computer vision, human prompters engage in extensive experimentation, leveraging the model’s affordances through prompting for style . Focusing on the interplay between machine originality and repetition, this study addresses the dynamics of human-model interaction on Midjourney, a popular generative model (version 6) hosted on Discord. It examines style modifiers that users of visual generative media add to their prompts and addresses the aesthetic quality of AI images as a multilayered construct resulting from affordance actualization . I argue that while visual generative media holds promise for expanding the boundaries of creative expression, prompting for style is implicated in the practice of generating a visual aesthetic that mimics paradigms of existing cultural phenomena, which are never fully reduced to the optimized target output
Aesthetics · Affordance · Art · Cognitive psychology · Cognitive science · Generative grammar · MAGIC (telescope · Multimedia · Physics · Style (visual arts · Visual arts · Visual media · Communication · Computer Science · Creativity in Education and Neuroscience · Design Education and Practice · Digital Games and Media · Psychology · Artificial Intelligence
The Relevance of Algorithms
Understanding and Creating Art with AI
Aberrant AI creations
AI and the social construction of creativity
From sublime awe to abject cringe
Art Platforms and Cultural Production on the Internet
Enchanted Determinism
Humans “in the Loop”
Seeing without knowing
Engine for the imagination? Visual generative media and the issue of representation
Sociotechnical challenges to the technological accuracy of computer vision
Mind ascribed to AI and the appreciation of AI-generated art
The Lovelace effect
The emergence of autolography
Foundation models are platform models
Machine learning and the politics of synthetic data
Imagined Affordance
Doubt and the Algorithm
Thinking Colours and/or Machines
| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 6 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |