Ahsan Raza

Ai posters

Aurora London • Freelance

Feb 2026 - Feb 2026 • 0 mos

Getting handed the “AI poster” role for a restaurant’s Instagram felt like being told to cook without tasting the food. I’m freelance, so chaos is normal. But this was new: the brief was literally “make us look good, use AI, keep it on-brand, don’t make it weird.” *What the job actually meant* The restaurant didn’t want stock photos of burgers floating in space. They wanted speed, consistency, and a vibe that still felt human. My job became part art director, part prompt engineer, part brand translator. - *Speed*: 3 posts a day, 7 days a week. AI let me mock up concepts in minutes instead of hours. - *Consistency*: Same lighting, same color palette, same “Friday night at our place” energy. Once I dialed in the look, I saved it as a style reference and reused it. - *Brand guardrails*: No weird hands, no melted cheese physics, no menu items they don’t actually sell. AI is fast, but it still hallucinates. Editing matters. *How I worked* 1. *Menu first*: I ate there. Twice. You can’t fake steam coming off biryani if you’ve never smelled it. I shot quick phone pics for reference. 2. *Prompt like a designer*: Instead of “aesthetic food photo,” I’d use “overhead shot, iPhone 14, natural window light, worn wooden table, Karachi bistro, shallow depth of field, 4k, no text.” Specific beats clever. 3. *Post-production is non-negotiable*: AI gave me 80%. Color grade, logo placement, and typography took it to 100%. The human touch is why it didn’t feel like a bot account. 4. *Feedback loop*: The owner cared about two things: “does it make people hungry” and “does it look like us.” We killed anything that failed that test. *What changed for the restaurant* Engagement jumped because we could jump on trends same-day. Biryani Day? We had 4 variants by lunch. New dessert drop? Carousel live before dinner rush. Their feed went from “we post when we remember” to “this place has a point of view.” Stories got better too - AI backgrounds + real video clips = consiste