Creative Director · AI Production

World-class creative,
built to run at machine speed.

View Film & AI Portfolio Explore Machine Lab

For twenty years I've directed how global franchises look to the world: the Dune franchise, Turtle Beach, the John Lennon Estate. Today I bring generative AI into that work, directing the tools to produce assets and content at a fraction of the time and cost.

Let's talk ↗ See the work
Trusted with the work

Most companies have to choose. The leaders who can shape a world-class brand rarely speak AI. The people fluent in AI rarely have the taste to run a brand. I'm both, and that's the entire point.

The vision leads; the machine executes. In partnership with the Turtle Beach team, and leading the visual direction on Victrix, I used generative AI to accelerate concepting, asset production, and creative iteration.

Companies don't bring me in to operate a tool. They bring me in because the idea and the means to produce it arrive in the same person: twenty years of directing taste, now multiplied by the most powerful production tools ever built.

Case studies

Two decades on the properties people recognize.

01

The Dune Franchise

Legendary Entertainment
Dune Film Style Guide cover art

The brief

Ahead of two theatrical releases, Legendary needed one of science fiction's most revered worlds translated into a global merchandising program, without diluting an IP its fans guard fiercely.

What I directed

Senior art direction for the global program: a style-guide system spanning houses, characters, type, and color, plus the brand artwork and approval standards that let 50+ licensees build product that still looked and felt like Dune.

What it did

A single coherent brand world across every licensee and both theatrical releases. Product on shelves worldwide that holds the tone of the films.

50+ licensees2 theatrical releasesGlobal program
The world I directed. 11 spreads from the Dune style guide.
Dune, composed key-art graphics Dune, Sandstorm composed graphics (Paul, Baron) Dune, Paul Atreides silhouette poster series Dune, 'See the Future' composed graphics Dune, character silhouette composition Dune, silhouette poster trio Dune, House Atreides world spread Dune, House Atreides logotype, typography, and color system Dune, House Atreides badges and icons Dune, House Harkonnen crests Dune, licensed merchandise range
Selected pages from the Dune (2021) Film Style Guide
02

A global brand language for an 80-year-old icon

Pioneer Electronics · Senior Art Director
Pioneer, 'Love of Music' campaign creative

The brief

Pioneer had 80 years of equity but, as a sprawling global brand, no consistent way to communicate it, and was losing ground with younger consumers.

What I directed

As Senior Art Director, I audited Pioneer's global brand communication and built a versatile graphic brand language (rules and assets for print, digital, in-store, signage, and packaging) rooted in what's at the brand's soul: music. Sound waves, DNA, and a bright palette gave the legacy brand new life.

What it did

A modern, music-rooted graphic language for an 80-year-old brand, designed to carry consistently across advertising, packaging, POS, and social.

Graphic brand languageMusic-rooted systemPrint · digital · retail
Pioneer, 2017/18 brand guide and graphic system Pioneer, in-car, retail, and CarPlay applications
Selected work · Pioneer 2017/18 global brand system
03

Future Rome for a gaming brand

Victrix (Turtle Beach) · Art Director & Lead Creative
Victrix, the launch film: product in the Neo-Imperium arena

The brief

Victrix, Turtle Beach's pro-esports gear brand, needed an identity all its own: premium, distinct from the parent brand, and unmistakable on a shelf crowded with black hardware.

What I directed

I led the visual direction. Using creative, AI-assisted workflows, I concepted the world, the Neo-Imperium: Roman coliseums reimagined as neon-lit cyberpunk arenas, the Victrix Imperator, a purple-and-obsidian palette, and product-line naming (ARENA, IMPERIUM), then designed it out with a 3D team.

What it did

A self-contained brand mythology Victrix can build on indefinitely: a world that scales across launches, packaging, retail, and campaigns.

Complete brand worldCharacter + naming systemConcepted + 3D-built
The launch film. Environments remade in 3D, motion and titles by me.
Explore the Neo-Imperium. 9 spreads from the Victrix brand world.
Victrix, the Neo-Imperium, neon-lit cyberpunk Roman arena city Victrix, arena environment backgrounds Victrix, ruined arena and statue environment Victrix, 'Victory Above Everything' brand lockup Victrix, Pro KO product campaign creative Victrix, fight stick and controller hardware Victrix, logotype and clearspace system Victrix, neon-purple color palette
Victrix (Turtle Beach) · art direction and lead creative at Show-More (agency of record)
04

Putting an airport on the map

Hollywood Burbank Airport · Campaign design at Anyone
Hollywood Burbank Airport, Delta nonstop campaign creative

The brief

For 93 years it was Bob Hope Airport, and travelers didn't know where that was. Location ambiguity and no brand recognition were bleeding passengers to the bigger LA airports.

What I directed

I designed the campaign and all the print and digital assets for the rebrand of Hollywood Burbank Airport: out-of-home, social, and the full digital rollout, under one confident, sunny voice tied to the studio history next door.

What it did

Since the 2017 launch, record passenger enplanements and a sharp lift in recognition. An award-winning rebrand that put the airport on the map, literally.

Record enplanementsAward-winning rebrandIdentity + campaign
Hollywood Burbank Airport, 'Convenience Elevated' brand campaign Hollywood Burbank Airport, airline-partner campaign creative
Hollywood Burbank Airport · campaign, print and digital at Anyone (CD: Steve Chavez)
05

Keeping a billion-dollar franchise alive

American Idol (Fremantle) · Art direction at Anyone
American Idol, the final season (Keith Urban, Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr.)

The brief

Fox cancelled American Idol after 15 seasons. Fremantle needed fans to know the billion-dollar franchise wasn't going anywhere, even without a network behind it.

What I directed

The design across the #IdolLove campaign: the "Music iS" platform, social and digital activations, and the content that reconnected the fanbase to the heart of the show.

What it did

1M+ new Facebook followers, 5M+ video views, and a run of viral fan moments. Brand continuity that kept Idol alive in culture.

1M+ new followers5M+ video views#IdolLove campaign
The #IdolLove campaign. Design across the farewell season.
American Idol, 'Music iS' campaign key art American Idol, #IdolLove social and digital American Idol, 'Music iS' web content
American Idol (Fremantle) · #IdolLove campaign at Anyone
06

A brand system for a peace icon

John Lennon Estate · Art direction at Berman Design Group
John Lennon, 'Gimme Some Truth' estate brand guide cover

The brief

One of music's most protected legacies needed a brand guide: a single source of truth for how John Lennon is presented across licensing, anniversaries, and partners worldwide.

What I directed

The estate brand guide end to end: the visual identity, the "Gimme Some Truth" art direction, and a system spanning the global legacy, the cultural footprint, and the rules every licensee builds from.

What it did

An estate-approved system rigorous enough to govern a legacy, handed to partners to keep Lennon's image consistent the world over.

Estate brand guideEstate-approvedGlobal licensing system
John Lennon, global legacy and memorials John Lennon, magazine-cover cultural footprint
John Lennon Estate · brand guide
07

Breathe, Nolan, Breathe

West Virginia University · Anti-hazing campaign at Anyone
Breathe, Nolan, Breathe, West Virginia University anti-hazing campaign

The brief

After 18-year-old Nolan Burch died in a hazing incident, his story became a campaign to keep it from happening to anyone else: to make students stop, feel responsible for one another, and step in.

What I directed

I designed the posters and campaign styling: the #WouldYou creative and the visual system that carried a hard, human message across campus and beyond.

What it did

A national anti-hazing campaign that met students where they are, alongside a documentary, Breathe, Nolan, Breathe, that won an Emmy.

Emmy-winning documentaryNational anti-hazing campaign
The posters and out-of-home. The #WouldYou campaign.
#WouldYou, 'Speak Out Against Hazing' poster system #WouldYou, 'Would You Accept Racism / Refuse Hate' posters #WouldYou, anti-hazing poster #WouldYou, anti-hazing poster
Breathe, Nolan, Breathe · campaign design
Further back
Pitbull · Mr. 305 Artist branding
Built the artist's visual brand, identity and curated design, for the Mr. 305 era.
Global superstar
The Meg Warner Bros
Senior art director on a worldwide tentpole franchise.
$530M box office
Hotel BPM Hospitality
A brand built from logo to lobby: identity, interiors, and every guest-facing asset.
Full brand world
Machine Digital Founder · est. 2004
Independent creative studio. The lab where the AI systems get built.
20+ years

One operator. Four ways in.

01

Creative direction

Identity, art direction, and a consistent visual world: the standard global franchises demand.

02

AI video & content

Hands-on generative production with Midjourney, Runway, Kling, and ComfyUI, from concept to delivered assets and content.

03

AI strategy & operations

Workflow audits and AI production design: deciding where AI actually fits, measured in cost, speed, and output.

04

Agents & teaching

Custom autonomous agents and RAG systems, plus keynotes, panels, and team workshops that level people up.

The most valuable thing I leave behind isn't the campaign.

Projects age out. Operating capability compounds. I install the systems, speed, and standards that keep a team producing long after the work I was hired for ships, so the value outlasts the engagement.

Faster
Leaner productionGenerative tools and systemization that get more from the same team, without adding headcount.
Global
Systems adoptedModular brand machinery used by internal and partner teams worldwide.
Teams
That level upAsset libraries, QA frameworks, and mentorship that raise velocity for good.
20yrs
In the roomWorking directly with executive, marketing, and product leadership.
NICK FOSTER · FORTHCOMING

Death of the Designer

HOW AN INDUSTRY DIED WITH A PROMPT

The argument behind the work.

What actually happens to creative professions when a prompt can do the job, and why the people who survive won't be the ones who fight the machine or surrender to it, but the ones who learn to direct it. The artist still holds the brush.

By Nick "Machine" Foster · Forthcoming
Let's talk

If the work has to look world-class and move at machine speed,

that's exactly what I do. Currently open to a select few roles, collaborations, and stages. Let's start the conversation.

nick@machinedigital.com ↗ Studio work lives at machinedigital.com