SYMBIOSIS
Print and Digital Media in the Age of AI
Symbiosis is an exploration of how print and digital media interact in an AI-driven creative landscape. At its core, this project investigates how AI can act as a creative tool rather than a replacement for human artistry, while simultaneously challenging the divide between static and interactive experiences.
Designed as a CD digipak prototype, Symbiosis combines a physical magazine booklet and an album (Capitalist Death Machine), reinforcing the theme of AI and human collaboration. QR codes and NFC chips extend the experience into digital spaces, allowing users to engage with interactive Twine stories, music, and visual elements.
More than just an artistic experiment, Symbiosis is a functional prototype for the future of publishing—one where tangible and interactive storytelling merge to create something entirely new.
The Structure
Symbiosis is not just one thing—it’s a carefully structured hybrid experience that takes multiple forms:
The Physical Experience: A beautifully designed digipak case housing a print magazine booklet and an album. The booklet presents curated visual storytelling, while the album complements the themes with AI-generated music, lyrics, and production techniques.
The Digital Experience: Using QR codes, embedded NFC chips, and online content, the project moves seamlessly between print and digital storytelling. Interactive Twine-based experiences, multimedia content, and extended stories expand the themes beyond the printed page.
The Album - Capitalist Death Machine: Created through experimental AI-generated production and human intervention, this album questions the role of AI in creativity, blending post-punk, industrial, and electronic influences.
The Stories: Using Twine, Symbiosis includes interactive digital narratives that allow readers to explore AI, publishing, and creativity in a non-linear, participatory way.
Process & Execution
The making of Symbiosis was as much about the creative process as the final result. The project evolved organically, shifting from an initial magazine concept into an immersive, multimedia object.
Concept Development – Originally envisioned as a traditional print magazine, the project pivoted into a CD-style package to reinforce thematic and nostalgic ties between print and digital.
AI-Human Collaboration – AI was used for music production, creative writing, and experimentation, but always within a structured, intentional creative framework—proving that AI is not a replacement but a tool.
Interactive Design – The Twine narratives, QR codes, and digital extensions were designed to pull readers further into the world of Symbiosis, making them participants rather than passive readers.
Refining the Physical Object – Booklets, packaging, and NFC integration were meticulously designed to feel as seamless and immersive as possible.
Lessons Learned
Through Symbiosis, I uncovered insights into how AI affects creativity, the future of publishing, and the changing nature of digital-physical interaction.
AI is an Expansion, Not a Replacement – AI’s creative power is in its ability to expand human imagination, not to replace it. The best work happens when humans maintain control of the creative process.
Print & Digital Are Not Opposites – Instead of seeing print and digital as competing mediums, this project proves that they can enhance one another when combined intentionally.
The Future of Publishing Needs More Experimentation – The most engaging media of the future will likely be hybrid, experimental, and participatory, blending old formats with new technologies.
Capitalist Death Machine
& The Symbiosis Connection
🔗 Symbiosis directly connects to Capitalist Death Machine, which serves as both a musical extension and a narrative continuation of the project. The themes explored in CDM—AI’s increasing role in creativity, the loss of human agency, and the blurred line between human and machine-made art—are core to the message of Symbiosis.
Together, these projects challenge how we think about authorship, technology, and the way stories are told.
Final Thoughts
Symbiosis is not an answer—it’s a question. It asks, what does it mean to be a creator in an era where AI is reshaping creativity? It doesn’t provide easy conclusions, but it offers a glimpse into the possible futures of storytelling, publishing, and human-AI collaboration.
Explore Symbiosis
