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All last year I was looking for one word describing my usual clients - people with bright ideas, thinking outside of the box, those who value emotional connection with their product, those who are aiming to build something really great, creating something unique.
And this year it finally clicked! Startups! I have a lot of common values with startup founders and really love to work with them.
Now I`m in the process of rebuilding my website specially for startup founders, bringing solutions to their main problems.
In the same time reading, watching, discovering every information I can reach about building successful products.
I help early-stage startups build emotional trust through character-driven visual systems - so users fall in love and stay, not just sign up.
Focused on ed-tech, mental health, and community products
Your right to be different - Bee seen for what you really are!
The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
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Beta doors are officially open 🚀
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Now it’s your turn to try it.
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17 months ago, we launched an AI chatbot for a small business client.
Here's an honest update.
Two months in, the numbers were modest.
80 conversations. 708 messages. 14% conversation-to-lead rate.
Not bad. But most visitors still preferred the contact form.
So we left it running.
We watched how people used it and made improvements. Nothing major.
17 months later:
1,350 conversations. 179 leads. 13.2% conversion rate.
At 16x the volume, the quality held almost exactly.
But there was a real shift around July 2025 that’s worth pointing out.
1. Average chats per month doubled, from 40 to 79.
A clear sign that where conversations are taking place is changing. People are no longer browsing sites in the same way.
They want their questions answered fast, and if you can’t deliver that, you miss out.
2. The chatbot became the #1 lead source on the site
From July 2025 onwards, the chatbot has consistently driven more leads than the forms, and that's held through 2026.
3. The average conversation runs 9 messages deep.
These are not quick FAQ lookups.
Some conversations span materials, pricing, customisation, planning permission and delivery.
These are real pre-sales conversations handled without a team member in the room.
PS: Only 3 thumbs down in 17 months. We'll take that.
Good work. Yeah as the industry shifts customer behavior does so as well
Title
Brand DNA Engine — ÆTHER
A workflow-native creative direction system for building coherent luxury brand ecosystems with AI.
Brand DNA Engine is an AI-native creative direction system built entirely in Melius that transforms vague startup ideas into coherent, launch-ready luxury brand ecosystems.
Using connected AI workflows and multiple node types, the system analyzes positioning, emotional tone, visual language, and audience intent before generating unified identity systems, UI concepts, campaign visuals, messaging systems, and cinematic brand outputs.
The workflow emphasizes collaborative refinement between human creative direction and AI orchestration, allowing the entire ecosystem to evolve coherently through iterative feedback loops.
For this project, I created ÆTHER, a fictional luxury AI wellness intelligence brand designed for high-performing creatives.
Process Overview
Creative Briefing Inputs
I began by creating structured input nodes for the startup concept, audience, emotional tone, and visual direction of the fictional brand ÆTHER.
AI Analysis Layer
Using Melius AI agents, I created workflow nodes that analyzed:
emotional positioning
visual language
luxury references
campaign tone
typography direction
architectural/editorial aesthetics
Brand DNA Synthesis
The workflow then synthesized these analyses into a central “Brand DNA” system that acted as the creative intelligence layer for all downstream outputs.
Parallel Creative Generation
From the Brand DNA system, the workflow branched into multiple generation systems:
Identity System
UI System
Campaign System
Messaging System
Refinement Loops
The most important stage was collaborative refinement. I introduced creative direction shifts such as:
“Push the system toward brutalist editorial luxury.”
The workflow then evolved the entire ecosystem coherently across campaigns, UI, typography, messaging, and visual tone.
Final Outputs
The final workflow generated cinematic launch posters, editorial campaigns, luxury landing page concepts, and a final “Brand Universe” visual, all designed to feel part of the same cohesive creative world.
Building with Melius
What stood out most while building this project was how naturally Melius supports workflow-native creative thinking instead of isolated prompting.
The visual canvas made it possible to structure creative direction as a connected system rather than generating disconnected outputs. The ability to branch workflows, connect reasoning layers, and iterate through refinement loops made the experience feel much closer to a real creative agency process.
The strongest part of the platform for me was the ability to visually orchestrate AI collaboration. Instead of a single prompt leading to a final result, the workflow became a living creative system where positioning, visual language, campaigns, UI, and messaging could evolve together coherently.
I also found the visual nature of the workflow particularly useful for storytelling and presentation. Seeing the progression from briefing > analysis > synthesis > refinement made the creative process feel much more transparent and intentional.
love how sleek this feels!
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