Studio · Drafts · Design & visualisation

How thoughts become pictures.

Sketches, key visuals, AI images, painting and the making of my own brand – insights into my visual thinking and a collection that grows over time.

One face. Many eras.

Who am I – and if so, how many?

An experiment: how well can an AI create pictures of me in which I recognise myself? At first, not at all. Today my own portrait photos serve as the template – the setting, dress and light come from the AI, the face stays mine. That way I stay in control of my pictures.

KI-Bild: Maren Westphal in mittelalterlichem Samtkleid vor einem Klostertor

Middle Ages · 12th century In the footsteps of Hildegard of Bingen Velvet, brocade and convent walls – a tribute to the polymath who combined nature, medicine and music. AI-generated from an original portrait

KI-Bild: Maren Westphal im blauen Ballkleid in einem Ballsaal mit Kronleuchtern

Ballroom · 19th century A princess for a day I love palaces and palace gardens. Here I follow in the footsteps of Empress Sisi – with stars in my hair, candlelight and crystal. AI-generated from an original portrait

KI-Bild: Maren Westphal im Stil der 1930er-Jahre in einer Art-déco-Bar

Berlin · late 1920s Babylon Berlin The Roaring Twenties: Art Deco, jazz and a spirit of change – before the Wall Street Crash of 1929 changed everything. AI-generated from an original portrait

KI-Bild: Maren Westphal im schwarzen Kleid mit Perlenkette in einem eleganten Salon

Early 1960s Breakfast at Tiffany’s The little black dress, pearls and an updo – elegance in the style of a film classic. AI-generated from an original portrait

What is actually real?

AI images are labelled – rightly so. A beauty filter that changes a face beyond recognition usually isn’t. Here it’s the other way round: the world around me is invented, my face is real.

View the originals

I trained the AI with these three unretouched photos: a studio portrait taken by a photographer and two photos taken at home.

Originalfoto von Maren Westphal, unretuschiert – Studioporträt

Studio portrait taken by a photographer

Originalfoto von Maren Westphal, unretuschiert – Zuhause fotografiert, Tageslicht

Taken at home, daylight

Originalfoto von Maren Westphal, unretuschiert – Zuhause fotografiert, vor grauer Wand

Taken at home, in front of a grey wall

Personal brand · Mood images

Water, sand
and two waves.

My colours come from the North Sea and the Elbe beach between Övelgönne and Wedel: sand, sky, water and stone. My brand grew out of these pictures – right down to the two waves in my logo.

Centre mood image AI-generated

Sand #D9D0C1

Sky #C6DAF4

Elbe #8AB7E9

North Sea #23405B

Stone #4C565D

What the waves
in my logo mean.

Two lines beneath my initials – small in the logo, but meaningful. They stand for what shapes me and for what drives me.

Maren Westphal – Strategie, Marke, Kommunikation, Marketing

First wave · Water

The Elbe and the Alster.

Hamburg is a city on the water – and for me, water is a piece of home. By the Elbe and the Alster I catch my breath, think things over and feel at home.

Second wave · Development

Always in flow.

A river never stands still. That is how I understand learning: growing personally and professionally, taking in new things, questioning the familiar. There is no end point – only the next stretch.

Key visuals & campaigns

From an idea
to a visual.

For me, a key visual grows out of the message, the target group and the setting. For my Igelhörnchen project, I developed a first poster draft from these – using AI as a tool.