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Lumina needed their fragrance to feel as luxurious on screen as it does in the bottle. I created a cinematic AI brand video that captured the essence of the product, moody lighting, elegant visuals, and a narrative arc that made viewers feel something before they even read the product name. Every frame was crafted to reflect the brand's premium identity. The client described the final output as exceeding what they imagined was possible without a full film crew. The video became their primary brand asset across social media and their website launch.
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I developed Within Café's refined brand identity and a cohesive packaging system spanning coffee bags, takeaway cups and gelato tubs.
Each piece features bespoke hand-drawn illustrations that bring the brand’s “Elevate Within” philosophy to life, capturing calm, connection and everyday ritual.
A carefully curated palette of deep greens, warm neutrals and soft pastels creates a premium yet welcoming feel, while consistent typography and layout ensure a seamless, elevated experience full of character across every touchpoint.
Nice Job!
Seeing a lot of people roasting Spotify’s disco-ball logo… and honestly, I get why.
From a pure logo-design perspective, it technically breaks a lot of the things designers are trained to protect: clarity, simplicity, scalability, or even just using the right green, etc.
But I actually don’t think Spotify’s disco-ball logo failed because of the design.
I think it failed because most people saw it with zero context.
Spotify is recognizable enough that they can stretch their identity and do something playful/cultural like this without losing brand recognition.
The problem is that most of us didn’t experience it as part of an anniversary campaign.
We just opened our phones and suddenly Spotify looked different lol.
So instead of feeling intentional, it felt random.
And honestly, that’s such a good reminder that branding isn’t just about the visual itself, it’s about the rollout, the storytelling, and the order people experience things in.
I genuinely think if Spotify had introduced the campaign world FIRST:
the visuals, motion, playlists, nostalgia content, anniversary storytelling, etc.
…and THEN updated the logo…
people probably would’ve reacted more positively.
Because people are usually way more open to change when they understand the reason behind it.
Curious what other designers think though:
Was the issue actually the logo, or just the way it was introduced?
And how far can a brand stretch its identity before recognition starts breaking?
That’s honestly the more interesting branding question to me than whether the disco ball itself is “good” or “bad.”
100% this. The issue wasn't the disco ball; it was the sequencing. We experienced the punchline before the setup! When you change an icon that people muscle-memory click twenty times a day without setting the stage first, it’s always going to feel jarring.
Such a great reminder that branding is 50% visual and 50% storytelling.
I created THE GIFT because the most devastating love stories deserve to be felt, not just remembered.
O. Henry wrote "The Gift of the Magi" in 1905, and most people know the ending before they finish the first paragraph. Yet I had never seen it made into something that stops your breath. I wanted to create a cinematic experience that makes the audience who already knows the story feel it as if for the first time, and the audience who doesn't feel something they cannot name until the very last frame.
What if we watched two people stand quietly in the ruins of their devotion, and simply refused to look away? That question became THE GIFT.
The Production Workflow
I came into this project with a vision but no pipeline. The Melius canvas workflow changed that completely, making something overwhelmingly complex feel creative and alive.
Audio-Driven Pacing: The original score was generated and structured with a strict tempo map in Suno, ranging from a 60 BPM cold open to a 140 BPM climax. Every visual decision followed the music, not the other way around.
Master Character Seeding: To ensure 1905 period accuracy and strict character continuity across every scene, I generated a single Master Character Reference node and wired it into every subsequent generation. The candlelit amber interiors, the cold blue gaslit streets, and the period film grain stayed consistent throughout without manual intervention.
Extensive Agent Use: I did not just execute instructions. I conversed with the Melius agent. It helped select the right models for the right moments, we even redid the whole canvas midway and restructured, as instead of more nodes, more important was the structure, matched the visual grammar to the emotional register of each scene, and made intelligent decisions I had not anticipated. I was not managing tools. I was directing a film.
The Assembly: Melius built the continuous, high-fidelity scene blocks the trailer required. I then brought those outputs into CapCut to execute the rapid sub-second flash cuts that match the music's climax, where the cuts land.
Platform Feedback
What moved me most was how Melius held the entire world together without me having to manually navigate the technical layer underneath, it took less than 3 hours on this. It chose what each moment needed and delivered it with a consistency that felt less like a platform and more like a collaborator who understood the story.
One honest piece of feedback: producing a continuous 2.5 minute cinematic trailer with these state of the art models requires a lot of iterative generation. A higher credit tier or more optimised rendering costs for long-form visual storytellers would make a meaningful difference for projects at this scale.
Ultimately, Melius helped me protect the silence at the end of the film when every instinct said to fill it. That restraint is where the whole story lives.
A Final Note:
I am a software engineer by trade, with zero professional background in filmmaking or the video industry. I came into this project with a feeling I wanted to convey, but no traditional pipeline to execute it. The fact that I was able to direct a period drama of this fidelity is the greatest testament I can give to Melius.
https://app.melius.com/projects/1a8d974e-4f5b-4647-844e-adb87b9c5573/canvas/69eb2820-9998-47e3-8059-3bf0450c1290
https://x.com/AshishSandhu/status/2056490013378986101?s=20
Loved the storytelling!!
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