Hi Reader,

I went to a quiz a couple of weeks ago for a local charity and during the break there was a buffet.

A beige buffet.

Samosas. Quiche. Chicken nuggets. Scampi bites. Chips. Onion rings. You get the idea.

It tasted good. I hadn’t had this kind of food for a while. It was easy to eat (and for the venue, cater)

But all the plates merged into one. From the outside, it wasn’t always easy to tell what was a chicken, cheese or fish.

It’s like when I was 17 at my first grown up awards ceremony for Millennium Volunteers at Star City in Birmingham.

Biting into a beige, battered ring, my friend Adam called out “Watch out for the onion rings. They’re a bit chewy.”

I called back, “Adam, it’s not onion, it’s squid.” I still remember the look of shock on his face. 😂

This is one of the main issues with The Beige. Everything looks the same, when inside it isn’t.

‘Beige’ marketing was a problem before AI. But with AI, now it’s a problem at scale.

AI makes creating content easy. Quick. Cheap (for now).

But without original thinking, real experiences and human judgement, it all starts to look and sound the same.

And this is such a shame.

It masks the personalities of people and organisations. It's making us beige.

In YouTube, I have videos queued up about “Is AI turning us all into the same person?”, “Why are people starting to sound like ChatGPT?”, “Is AI making us boring?”. People are concerned.

So what’s the antidote?

Making intentional choices and using judgement.

That doesn’t mean being outrageous, wacky, or extreme.

It’s dialling into real experiences, real people and real stories.

I’ve recently been working with Dr Sophie Gwinnett and Brightside Psychology on PR for their Note from a Neighbour project.

There are 10 collection boxes across Codsall where people can write anonymous notes of hope, encouragement or support. The Brightside team collects and checks the notes before sending them to local people who've requested a little encouragement during a difficult time.

On Monday morning Sarah Julian, BBC WM’s breakfast show presenter, came to Codsall to interview Dr Sophie (Brightside Psychology’s founder and clinical psychologist), Charlie, an A level student who supported the project and some of the businesses and stakeholders involved.

Sarah could have phoned in from the studio, but she wanted to come in person. She wanted to do the interviews in the Compton Care Cafe and Treetops Dental Practice to get the background noise and hubbub.

Sarah made a deliberate choice about how she wanted to tell the story. And being there made a difference.

She got to see first hand some of the notes written by strangers.

Not just notes, pictures drawn by children at a local nursery.

It was surprisingly emotional. People had taken time to write thoughtful notes. Handwriting gave the notes personality, and perhaps a glimpse into the age of the writer.

From the few we saw, one stayed with me:
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​I know you don’t feel like dancing -

“let’s just hold hands”

Xxx

There was something about the handwriting and the kisses at the bottom that made this feel genuine. Like this came from a real experience (or maybe even a song they liked).

I’ve written a couple of notes myself.

One based on my own experience, the other was advice I heard at a recent funeral.

There’s something comforting about passing on advice. And (when it’s asked for) receiving advice. The tough times weren’t in vain and our hard-earned experience can help someone else.

Not every story has to have a life changing message.

Case studies can show how you’ve helped a business.

Tiny, day to day moments are relatable and give an insight into your personality, approach and/or outlook.

They build connections and relationships.

And help you stand out in a sea of beige.

That's a big part of the work I do: helping people and organisations uncover their stories, demonstrate their expertise and communicate what makes their work valuable through case studies, presentations and messaging development.

To find out more about Brightside Psychology visit Brightsidepsychology.com

So Reader, an important question: What’s your favourite item in a beige buffet?

Best,

Charlotte

How the cover was created

Since I had the moth in the ear and The Sci-Fly was born - Missed that one? Read it here) - I’ve been thinking about what other 'big bads' there might be in Charl Ex M’s world.

I don’t think they’re ‘baddies’ in the traditional sense.

Although I’m not ruling out rogue AI agents with ambitions of world domination 🫣

Other aspects of AI and the digital landscape are more nuanced. They have appealing qualities - like ease of use, ability to scale, cost - but the issues happen when they’re taken to extremes, or not thought through.

In this cover, it’s The Beige.

The Beige is a shiny, lava-like liquid which erupts from Server Mountain when the Cloud is too full of AI slop.

It flows across Data Lake City and whatever it covers, it turns the same shade of beige.

There are, however, some ways to protect yourself from The Beige.

Being intentional. Making strategic decisions. Leaning into real experiences and real life.

One of the decisions I made was that The Beige shouldn't change the shapes of buildings. A small independent shop and a huge corporation can both become generic without changing what they actually do.

And the buildings that resist The Beige aren't necessarily the brightest or most eccentric. They're the ones whose identities reflect deliberate choices.

ChatGPT helped me explore and visualise these ideas, but I had to decide what belonged in the world and what didn't.

As always, ChatGPT wanted to give equal weighting to all the design elements. Once we’d decided on the overall design, I made modifications like asking for a 10% fade on Server Mountain to add depth.

The source photos for Server Mountain were from my holiday in Spain - a mix of Santa Barbara Castle in Alicante and Sierra de Callosa.
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