Intention Over Automation

Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how we design, communicate, and make decisions in our cities and communities. That's not inherently a bad thing. The potential to streamline public services, surface better data, and reach more people is real. But so is the risk of losing the human judgment, empathy, and nuance that make civic work meaningful in the first place. The technology is moving fast, and the question isn't whether it will change what we do. It's whether we'll be intentional enough to make sure it changes things for the better.

As designers, planners, and communicators, we have a responsibility to ask not just what AI can do, but what it should do for the people we serve. That starts with each of us thinking critically about where we invite it into our own work.

–Robert (@robertvidaure)

Transport for Wales is evolving from a rail operator into a unified national transport organization, and Cardiff-based brand studio Uned built a new multimodal identity to match. To help scale that identity across a large organization, Algo created a generative creative tool that lets anyone on the TfW team produce on-brand visuals and motion graphics without design expertise, all rendered directly in the browser.

What's most interesting here isn't the brand itself, it's the delivery system. Rather than handing off a static set of guidelines and hoping for consistency, Uned and Algo built a tool that bakes the rules directly into the creative process. It's a smart model for any large civic organization where dozens of people need to produce brand assets, but few of them are designers. If branded creative tools like this become a standard deliverable in identity projects, it could fundamentally change how public agencies maintain visual consistency at scale.

JPW Communications is a California-based strategic communications firm founded by former government communicators, specializing in public participation, community outreach, and marketing campaigns for public agencies. Now celebrating its tenth year, the firm partners with agencies across the state to make complex civic projects understandable and build public trust.

Their work for the City of Glendora is a standout for me. Rather than defaulting to the safe, clean approach most cities lean on, JPW went with a hand-lettered wordmark and a color palette inspired by local filming locations, bougainvillea, and citrus groves. It's bold, it's unconventional, and it doesn't look like every other municipal brand in Southern California.

Feed.news is an AI-curated global news platform that evaluates articles based on their relevance to humanity across four issue areas. It operates with transparent methodology, a free public API, and no ads or tracking.

In a media landscape drowning in noise, clickbait, and misinformation, tools like feed.news serve a real civic purpose. Giving people a way to cut through the clutter and surface news that actually matters to their lives is more than a convenience. When people can focus on what's relevant and trustworthy, they make better decisions for themselves and their communities.