Mutabor is a Hamburg-based branding agency, which works with clients like PayPal, the Bundesliga and Porsche . Here they tell us how the studio is using AI, and how they feel about it.
You can see all the articles in this series here.
Broadly speaking, are you excited or nervous about AI in design?
Excited, honestly. We’ve always thrived on change – it’s literally in our name (Mutabor is the Latin term for the “will to change.”)
AI is powerful, fast, and yeah, sometimes a bit scary. But we don’t see it as a threat. We see it as another material to work with.
We immediately asked ourselves – how will this change branding? How will it change brand management? And what can we build with it?
That’s part of our DNA. We don’t just adapt to new tools, we think about what they mean for our work and we start building. So excited. But eyes wide open.
Do you have an agreed policy around AI as a business?
Yeah, we do. But honestly, there’s no blueprint for this yet.
From the start, we’ve been working with major corporations, helping them figure out their AI stance. We sit between marketing, IT, and legal helping them define standards that actually make sense for their business.
That’s taught us more than any handbook could. What works, what doesn’t, what keeps people up at night.
We’ve also worked closely with tech partners, legal advisors, and artists to build a solid foundation. Our own policy grew out of all that. It covers transparency, ethics, copyright, data protection, sustainable use. Being owner-managed helps. We can set standards and move fast instead of waiting for approval.
It’s not about limiting AI. It’s about using it responsibly and making sure everyone feels confident about how we work.
When did you realise AI was going to have an impact on design?
When AI entered the design world, we immediately started thinking about what it would mean for us. That’s when we created Mutabor.AI, our own brand-image generation tool.
It’s actually a very simple tool, but that was the point. We wanted to empower our clients to use AI early, in a way that non-designers to generate content consistently on brand.
That focus got us global recognition pretty quickly. It opened doors to partners, to knowledge, to talent. But more importantly, it forced everyone internally to engage with the topic. Not just the tech people. Everyone.
That’s when we knew – this isn’t a side project. This is the new normal.
As creatives, our role is to do the impossible with AI. Not just use it for efficiency, but to push it into territory where it creates something that couldn’t exist otherwise. That’s the work that matters.
Have you undergone any AI training, either as a studio or individuals?
Constantly. Everyone at Mutabor gets trained, not just creatives. Strategists, architects, account managers, everyone.
Each discipline has its own AI experts who dive deeper and share what they learn. But honestly, the best learning happens on the job. In real projects, with real clients. That’s where people gain confidence. Where they earn clients’ trust to actually use AI – not just for efficiency, but for creative exploration.
We tell our teams, “Easy tasks no longer exist. Hard tasks are the new easy tasks. Impossible tasks are the new hard tasks.”
If everyone has the same tools, creative thinking is what makes the difference. So we push people to do the impossible.
How do you use AI in the studio’s creative process?
It’s woven into everything now. Research. Concepting. Visual exploration. Content production. Workflow automation.
What’s it good for? Speed. Exploration. Iteration. Seeing possibilities you wouldn’t have thought of. It also opens up new creative territory. Things like vibe coding, creative coding, transforming code into design systems or motion. Stuff that used to feel out of reach is now accessible.
Where does it fall short? Context. Nuance. Emotion. AI doesn’t understand why something feels right. It doesn’t know when to hold back.
That’s where our teams come in. We curate. We edit. We kill things that don’t feel true to the brand. That part’s still human. And it has to be.
Do you think clients care if/how you use AI in your work?
More and more. But not in the way you might think.
Clients come to us for outstanding quality. They expect us to use whatever tools and methods deliver the best result – whether that’s the latest AI model, a traditional photoshoot, or working with artists and illustrators.
What they care about is that we make the right call. Of course, some clients have strict compliance rules around AI – data protection, copyright, legal frameworks. We’re transparent from the start about what we’re doing, why, and how we’re protecting their rights.
But ultimately, what they really want is honesty, and results. AI is a tool. The trust is still built between people.
Do you use AI for any non-creative aspects of running your business?
All the time – research, proposals, documentation, knowledge management, project planning.
It helps us move faster on the stuff that doesn’t need a human touch. That frees up time for what does – thinking, creating, collaborating. But we’re careful not to automate the wrong things.
Our meetings are still messy. Our conversations still loud. And that’s good.
Beyond the best-known tools, what is one AI tool that you would recommend to other design studios?
It’s less about specific tools, it’s about the models behind them.
We stay technology-agnostic so we can test new models without getting locked in. That said, here’s what we’re using right now:
For visual production – ComfyUI or Weavy. Node-based systems that give you real control to customise your generation pipeline
For analysis and collaboration – Langdock, which brings all major LLMs under one roof with EU-based data processing and strong compliance checks. We build agents and workflows directly with clients there.
For enterprise clients – Mutabor.AI, our own tool, built on clean, licensed data. For enterprise clients like Henkel, that means full copyright indemnification and EU AI Act compliance. Legal safety plus brand-specific customisation. If you need AI that protects your brand, talk to us.