Breathe Clean Air

Air pollution is a major crisis in the word we live in today. This urban challenge not only impacts us but our future generations as well. We should all do something about it NOW!

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Inspiration

My inspiration comes from witnessing the rising levels of air pollution in urban areas and the harmful effects it has on both the environment and public health. Recent data shows that 9 out of 10 people worldwide breathe polluted air, making it critical to address this issue. I have personally lost a loved one to an air pollution-related illness, so I understand the detrimental impact of pollution. This issue affects not only our generation but future generations as well. The goal of this project is to relate to the audience via visuals that connect with them at an emotional level and urge them to act!

What it does

This project uses ideogram.ai to generate images that give a real picture of the effects of air pollution. These images are created with minimal text for a reason. The goal of this project is to connect with the audience on a deeper level than a random message urging action. Hopefully, these images resonate with the viewer, prompting action without saying a word!

How I built it

Project Breathe Clean Air was built using ideogram.ai an AI image generation tool. This AI model is less known to a lot of people because of the popularity of other models. This is a great tool for generating realistic images that generate better images than DALL-E-3, MidJourney or other popular LLM models. I personally use ideogram.ai to create images that resonate with the audience at a deeper level. A huge accomplishment in this project is that NONE of the images uploaded here have been modified or edited in any way. These are all pure AI generated images using ideogram.ai as the tool.

Each prompt corresponds to the image uploaded in that order (prompt #1 for image #1 etc.):

Prompt 1:

A photo of a bustling city street with tall buildings. There is a clear blue sky with a few clouds. The ground is covered with a thick layer of smog. A man with a mask is standing on the street. The background contains a few people and buildings. The overall image has a yellow hue due to the smog.

REASON: This image shows that one human can make a difference. This image was generated with no text for a reason - it allows the viewers to interpret the message which is extremely powerful. The man standing in the middle of the road, with yellow smog around & mask is enough to convey an impactful message that can resonate with the audience.

Prompt 2:

A photo of a diverse group of people standing on a rooftop in a US city. The background contains tall buildings with smoke coming out of the chimneys. The foreground contains the people holding their hands over their mouths and noses. The overall image is blurred.

REASON: I wanted to highlight diversity and again passing on a message without "saying a word". The blurriness in the image pops up the people in the picture which is more impactful.

Prompt 3:

A photo of a metropolitan city with a high level of air pollution. The sky is orange and there's a thick layer of smog over the city. The tallest building has a smokestack emitting smoke. There are buildings with smokestacks emitting smoke throughout the city. The ground is covered with a layer of smog. There's a road in the city with a few cars. The overall ambiance of the photo is gloomy and polluted.

REASON: I wanted to zoom out from our daily hustle and away from humans to a more 100 foot view of our city. The smoke and how the city looks from the outside conveys an important message of industrial air pollution (which is why there are no humans or cars in the photo). When we zoom out of our problems we always see a clearer picture.

Prompt 4:

A photo of a young child with respiratory issues holding a sign that says "Save the air I breathe". The background is a city with a yellow smog over the buildings. The foreground is a clean environment, with grass, trees, and a fountain. The overall image has a message of awareness about air pollution and its impact on vulnerable populations.

REASON: I have a daughter who is young and every time I think about air pollution I think about her. She is breathing the same air and I want her to be health just like all parents wish that upon their kids. In my opinion, kids radiate with innocence and a lot of times we do things for our kids that we wouldn't do for ourselves or others. The message here is clear - we need to take care of our future generations.

Prompt 5:

A photo of a city skyline with smog and pollution. The sky is filled with smoke and the buildings are partially visible. The ground is covered with litter. There is a banner hanging from a building that says "Save Our Air". The atmosphere is somber.

REASON: This one uses some text but the message I wanted to convey here is we can have all the banners but we need everyone to act. If we litter & there's smoke blowing right next to the banner which says "Save our air", we are breaking our promise of clean air.

Prompt 6:

A photo of an American father holding his daughter looking at the camera and is sad, both wearing masks. They are standing in front of a high-rise building with clear blue skies. The background is filled with air pollution, with visible haze and smog. There is no other person in the scene. At the bottom, a public awareness message reads: "Air pollution is a serious threat to our health. Let's take action to protect our environment and future generations."

REASON: This message is meant to resonate with all fathers on protecting our children from the dangers of air pollution. It clearly states the message at the bottom. I wanted to ensure that people don't incorrectly interpret the message as "wear masks" or "covid is here" which is why I decided to add a simple yet powerful message with a call to act!

Prompt 7:

A photo of a heavily polluted city with factories emitting smoke. In the foreground, there is a river with a scum of oil on the water. The ground is covered with litter. A public message is written on a wall, saying "Save our planet, reduce pollution".

REASON: This is another example of a banner which doesn't go well with it's background. I want to convey contrast and show hypocrisy in human behavior. We want clean air yet here we are polluting all our natural resources (both water & air).

Prompt 8:

Create an image that creates awareness about air pollution which will resonate with the audience. Create a conflicting background and foreground in the image that shows how we take air pollution for granted. This image can be used on billboards or other avenues to create awareness. Show air pollution with a hue of yellow smog for effect. Show show vulnerable population and the impact of pollution on them.

REASON: The most vulnerable population are the elderly who are often the forgotten ones. In my inspiration I mentioned I lost a loved one to an air pollution related illness and I wanted to have at least one image dedicated to the seniors and to all our parents & grandparents.

Prompt 9::

A photo of a group of zombies protesting peacefully about air pollution in a completely air polluted world. The zombies are wearing masks and holding banners that say "Clean Air Now" and "Stop Pollution". The background is a blurred cityscape with tall buildings and a smoggy sky.

REASON: This was a fun experimental and I wanted to push the envelope of image generation. The idea is that the world is now a zombie due to pollution and the zombies are still fighting for clean air. We need to ACT NOW!!! :)

Challenges I ran into

One of the known challenges with a lot of AI models is the text generation. Text generation in AI visuals is challenging due to the complexity of language and the need for contextual understanding. I experienced this issue consistently on a lot of models I tested. I was fascinated to see how easily ideogram.ai is able to generate text within images.

The second issue I ran into is that the image generated doesn't look 'realistic' and can easily be identified as AI generated. The goal of this project is to keep the images simplistic, realistic and relatable to all viewers.

Lastly, prompt engineering was a huge challenge. Even with a very detailed set of instructions, I got inconsistent results and had to continue to tweak my prompt to produce a visual that met the quality standard and the goal of this project. This becomes increasing difficult without using image editing tool which I wanted to avoid at all costs.

Lastly, there are a few technical limitations in various AI models such as hand anatomy, facial expressions, or accurately rendering textures in certain environments. These can only be resolved by choosing the right model.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

What I am proud of the most is the fact that I was able to research different image generation tool and come up with one that creates visuals with the most impact on the audience. This creates awareness by connecting with them at a deeper level. All of the images I generated are more "human" to ensure they resonate with audience, connects with them at a deeper level and urges them to act! I am proud to say that all images uploaded have NOT been modified from the original AI generated image. Lastly, this cause is near and dear to me, so I feel great to have contributed in making a difference.

What I learned

What I learned is that AI image generation tools have capability to generate impactful images to for a variety of urban health challenges and only sky is the limit. Early in my research phase, I understood that prompts are important for generating images and minor tweaks can have a huge impact on the quality of the image. However, I quickly understood that the underlying model you choose is equally important. Each model comes with it's own set of limitations. Making sure you are creating images with the correct model will yield better results. Lastly, images have to look real for the audience and viewers to connect at the human level which is why I chose Ideogram.ai. I will leave you with this question - when was the last time you looked at a piece of art generated by a computer and were amazed or inspired by it?

What's next for Breathe Clean Air

For project - Breathe Clean Air, we want to continue to use this platform and similar platforms to generate awareness on the impacts of air pollution. My next goal is to create awareness of different types of air pollution and provide steps to control/reduce it. This would mean giving the audience simple steps they can take to act on reducing air pollution. One example is using clean transportation or promoting the use of sharing a ride with someone to reduce pollution.

Built With

  • ideogram.ai
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