el.is.in.wonderland

This year, I had the chance to design the booth for the Indonesian Embassy Booth at the Athens Coffee Festival (27-29 September 2025). It was an exciting challenge, and for the first time, I decided to bring something new into my creative process: MidJourney.

I’ve always been curious about how AI could support creativity, but I’d never really tried it in a concrete project. Using MidJourney (and ChatGPT) to explore visual directions felt like having a brainstorming partner—one that could throw out hundreds of wild ideas in minutes. Some were completely off, some surprisingly close, and some sparked new thoughts I wouldn’t have had on my own.

I was honestly in awe. This was my first time trying MidJourney—typing in a prompt, tweaking it, refining it to better match my ideas, stumbling on something odd, then editing again. The way it instantly generated images left me speechless.

Here are just a few of the visuals MidJourney produced.

The final booth design still came down to my choices, my hands, and my taste as a designer. But the journey felt different. AI wasn’t there to replace the creative work—it became a tool that expanded the possibilities. In a way, it was like experimenting with a new ingredient in coffee: it doesn’t change who you are as a barista (or designer), but it can open doors to flavors—or visuals—you hadn’t imagined before.

[Overall look of our booth]

[Indonesian map with prompt below. And then I added Indonesian Coffee Mapping in Canva]

[Prompt: Clean, colorful pop-art illustration of the map of Indonesia, showing all major islands including Sumatra, Java, Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Papua, Bali, Nusa Tenggara, and Maluku. Each island is filled with batik patterns, cultural motifs, and textures like rice terraces, coffee farms, or waves. Map should be easily readable but artistic. Keep the top area clean for logo placement. Background in warm neutral or light pop-art tones. Bold outlines, halftone textures, modern cultural art style.]

I would say this one is my favorite! A photobooth where people can be an ankringan barista!

Walking through the festival and seeing people stop by the booth, I realized that this wasn’t just about coffee or design. It was about learning how tradition, culture, and new tools like AI can sit side by side—brewing something richer together!