Adam DeerDirector, Creative & Brand

Legible:A Visual System for Big Ideas

A brand and AI visual language for a new explainer series

Currently in progress

01The challenge

Legible is a new YouTube series about the systems behind the biggest news: supply chokepoints, private power, the hidden parts inside a phone.

Every episode needs visuals for big, abstract ideas. They have to look crafted, stay consistent from episode to episode and be fast to make.

02The insight

Meaning first. Style last.

The AI kept failing when it had to guess what an image was supposed to say. So every idea gets worked out as a plain white model before any style touches it.

03The system

Four metaphors

Four simple metaphors do most of the work. The metaphor stays the same across episodes. The story inside it changes.

A grey seesaw on a rusted gear, a factory photo cutout on the low end and a small paper house on the high end.
Seesaw: the balance tips as one side gains more power.
A paper-cut iceberg: a small grey peak above the waterline and a large rust-colored server room below it.
Iceberg: what you see on top hides the layers underneath.
A rusted valve on a grey pipe, with storefront photos on one side and a fan of payment cards on the other.
Valve: a chokepoint in the system.
A grey tower with a rust-colored ring orbiting it, small cutout figures of workers riding the ring.
Gravity: one central thing starts pulling everything else in.

04Built to scale

A rough wireframe comes first, so the AI renders the layout instead of guessing where things go.

Every prompt fills the same six slots: Frame, Subject, Camera, Style, Lighting and Constraints. Anyone on the team can pick it up and write one.

The subject, seed and lighting stay locked while the style changes, so one idea can become 3D collage, glass or abstract spheres.

Early attempt: a realistic ocean with a tiny iceberg on the horizon and a city of data centers under the water.
1 · Initial pass
The iceberg wireframe: a grey box above a wavy waterline, with a pyramid of plain circles below it.
2 · Wireframe
The locked iceberg frame: paper-cut peak above the waterline, rust-colored server room below.
3 · Style versions
Seesaw in 3D collage style.
3D collage
Seesaw in glass style: a clear glass beam on a rusted base against a dark background.
Glass
Abstract spheres

05Where it’s headed

A script-to-screen pipeline

Script, shot list, stills and motion, rough cut, then a Premiere file. The look lives in one style file. Swap that file, and the same system makes a different show.

The shot list review page for the episode “The Chokepoint”: 37 of 41 shots approved, AI spend $1.86 of $2.00. Each shot has its frame, timecode, type (host, motion, stock), status and a box to approve or ask for a revision.
Shot list review

06My role

Role
Created the brand identity, then built the visual language, prompting system and AI pipeline.
Through
The Big Bad Good
Status
In progress
Tools
  • Z-Image
  • Qwen Image Edit
  • Kling
  • Seedance
  • Premiere
  • Next.js
Work
  • Brand identity
  • Visual language
  • Prompting rules
  • Script-to-screen pipeline