A Halloween decoration that delights even professional decorators would be a dream come true. But for us poor, unfortunate souls who struggle to create a cohesive aesthetic, this can be a nightmare. Being forced to watch helplessly as friends and neighbors – or worse yet, strangers online – demonstrate their mastery of the dark art of Halloween decorating on some of the most diabolical of all monsters: envy.
You don't have to face the daunting challenge of creating a clout-worthy Halloween decorating moment alone. I'm using Midjourney, an artificial intelligence tool that uses text prompts and commands to dynamically create custom images, to give me some visual ideas.
I'm also enlisting the help of ChatGPT, an AI tool that uses learning and chatting from large language models to generate answers to complex questions conversationally, to create concepts to decorate my work cubicle. The green-eyed monster has been warned.
See how to plan your Halloween decorations using AI.
Read more: Hack your home security to scare trick-or-treaters on Halloween 2024
Get some macabre goals
Let the AI tool know the vibrations. Since my decor will be in the office, it can't be too scary, but I would still like some fun, interactive elements that might provoke some screams. Include details in your instructions, like setting up decorations, so you can draw the line between gory and fun.
The images below were the results of my first Midjourney attempt at a “creepy doll decorated work cubicle” and are in fact not safe for work, meaning your co-workers will no longer feel safe around them. from you if you decorate your table this time. path.
ChatGPT gave me great options for office safes for decorating concepts. These G-rated interactions that took the cubicle into consideration.
In addition to the haunted house, witches' lair and spider invasion ideas, ChatGPT also suggested zombie apocalypse themes (barricade the entrance to your cubicle with duct tape and scatter body parts across the table); scary carnival (create a circus tent on top of your cubicle and add some clowns); pumpkin patch (decorate with a ton of pumpkins and gourds); and “time-traveling tomb” (an Ancient Egyptian theme).
Some of them are suitable for offices – others, not so much. I closely identify with the concept of the witches' lair, as retreating deep into the woods and living in a house made of candy features in my retirement plans.
The devil is in the details
Midjourney is not a conversational AI imaging tool, so be sure to provide all the information you need to build the blood-curdling decorating scheme of your wicked dreams. I used some details from the ChatGPT results to set the vibe of several options for my work witch cubicle.
Midjourney offered the decorating option below, which added a really fun detail that I hadn't considered in the form of wrapping the cubby drawers in colorful paper that could easily be translated to kitchen drawers if you wanted to do this at home too.
Take a photo before
Take a photo of the space you plan to decorate to give the AI tool a canvas to paint on. Midjourney has a prompt that allows you to merge or “blend” images, so you can match your starting point to the look you want for your final decor.
You may need to massage this a bit, as Midjourney will actually merge the images, resulting in a compromise between the two, rather than simply overlaying elements of one image onto another.
I tried combining the original image of my cubicle with the cubicle generated by Midjourney and the result was a little lackluster, although much easier to execute in practice.
My boring, witchless desk.
The mix of intense witch table and real world office environment.
Give yourself lots of options
There are so many scary clown, spider and zombie decorations that are also appropriate for an office environment. (Debatable, but I'm not going to die on that hill in the HR office. Not again.)
Go through various themes and outlines to get the tone right, and use descriptors appropriate for the potential audience. If you're using AI to help come up with ideas for decorating your home and you live in an area where kids go trick-or-treating a lot, adding the phrase “child safe” might be a good addition to your instructions.
