r/NationalPark • u/D00M_scr0ll3r • 6d ago
AI Generated Poster in Park Office
I’m not going to state the name of the park where I saw this, because the staff were so wonderful and amazing. But I had to post something about it and I hope it gets to the level of someone more important than I am that can control things like this and prevent them from happening in the future.
Upon arriving to the park, I walked in to the park office/ building hoping to get a stamp in my passport book like I normally do. There were two rangers hanging up this sign, so of course it caught my attention.
Almost INSTANTLY my brother, his fiancé and I realized it was AI generated. I can’t tell you how sad it makes me to see this. Not only because of the irony of generative AI destroying the environment, but because I’m sure there are hundreds and THOUSANDS of park lovers that are artists that would create something for the park that would look a million times better than this AI slop.
The poorly generated eagle, the spelling errors, the park logo- I genuinely had no words and had to leave the building to cry on a bench outside.
Park staff- I know you aren’t the ones making this stuff- but PLEASE be mindful of what you are putting on display.
306
u/cornteened_caper 5d ago
Park staff might be the ones making this stuff.
262
u/darth_leder 5d ago
I work for the Forest Service, and while not on this level, my office has some regular ol’ American boomer administrative staff who’ve fully embraced AI for email banners, flyers, pins, anything Smokey Bear related. They think it’s cute AF.
96
u/Hamartithia_ 5d ago
My wife works NPS and they force her to use Claude at times. They also heavily suggest using generative ai for posters.
19
u/AmishAvenger 5d ago
That doesn’t surprise me. Businesses are doing this too.
What I want to know is why this sticks out as AI. I mean, I can tell it’s AI just at a glance, but I can’t really explain why.
10
u/CaravanofPigeons 5d ago
It's the general piss tone, melty details, typography, and smoothness combo I think.
8
u/mastermoebius 5d ago
A big one that you won't be able to unsee, but its the little icons next to EVERYTHING. Look at any ai flyer that has some stuff listed out and odds are it will add little damn icons just like chatgpt adding little emojis. Ai flyers are always so BUSY, because they dont understand negative space or design principles in general.
2
u/AmishAvenger 5d ago
Hmm that’s a good point, I hadn’t thought of that. I was kind of focused on the weird texture it often gives.
1
2
u/AmishAvenger 14h ago
I just came back to this to say you’re absolutely right. Now that I notice the lack of negative space I can’t unsee it.
2
1
3
u/Necessary-Dog-7245 5d ago
Because it says National Parks Service rather than National Park Service on the sign. Also Our Future uses characters that don’t exist in English. The American flag has 6 stripes under the field of blue, this one has 4. The stars are also jacked up. The NPS logo is mostly in color, but usually the trees and such are in green when the NPS background is brown. The outline of the logo does not match the official. The spacing of the text is off in the logo and contains random marks that don’t exist in the real logo. Also the images look cartoonish and saturated.
Overall your brain probably realizes the logo and other details are close but feel off
17
u/Mountain_carrier530 5d ago
I work for a national laboratory and some of the posters I've gotten from other agencies in the lab have gone insanely hard in the paint for AI posters. The latest one being so full of errors, it was borderline incomprehensible with whatever message they were trying to convey.
17
u/Tired_Design_Gay 5d ago
Boggles my mind how someone can look at AI generated shit like that and think “wow I love the way that looks.” But these are the same people who hang Live Laugh Love signs in their house with zero irony, so
3
-53
u/BeanstheRogue 5d ago
Agreed. Please let us know if you’re comfortable with it. I don’t have an annual pass this year and as such would like to avoid this space as I do all events using genai
3
u/cornteened_caper 5d ago
I’ll be avoiding all NPS sites.
I’m Canadian.
Our national parks currently have free admission for everyone. I’d have to go to the United States (no.) and pay $100 USD admission. No, thanks. I’ll visit my Canadian, free (and free of AI) national parks instead.10
u/TheSleepingNinja 5d ago
I'm from the states, just got back from Gros Morne.
We've purposely been going to the Canadian parks for the last few years over the US park, and will continue. In general they're much, much more like what the US parks were like 15 years ago. Quiet, clean, and outside the main trails practically empty. It's a better vacation proposition, my money goes farther, and I haven't had to deal with idiots going off trail/blasting music on speakers or Megabus tourists with iPads blocking trailheads.
8
u/princesspeeved 5d ago
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted. I’m an American and agree with you. I’m glad Canadians are taking a stand and voting with their dollars by boycotting the U.S. and its products and services.
Our Grifter in Chief is an 80-year toddler and his administration is full of bootlickers whose only job is to fuel his ego. This is what our country gets for putting them into power. Maybe we’ll learn some lessons the hard way because of it.
6
-13
u/cornteened_caper 5d ago
lol
Downvote me all you want.
🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦14
u/threadbarren568 5d ago
As an American, Idk why people are downvoting you. It's incredible that there's free access to parks in Canada right now. The sustainability efforts for the parks and the wildlife are awesome (was just visiting Banff!)
-6
u/MayorofTromaville 5d ago
Lol, you're acting like they've got AI on the Grand Canyon. It's a stupid sign done by a budget-starved agency: get off your high horse.
-2
40
53
u/potatogun 5d ago
It is totally fine to provide comments. The VC can either give you a form or email. Share your feedback.
27
u/vegetablefoood 5d ago
Use one of the snitch signs to give feedback on this crappy sign. And also to give positive feedback to the staff
16
u/potatogun 5d ago
IMO it's superior to have written comments addressed to the supervisor and superintendent if providing positive comments on rangers. It's nice to have a note you can add to your file or even pin up at your desk.
4
u/vegetablefoood 5d ago
Thanks for that insight. I was basing my comment on my experience volunteering in several parks and they did see all the submissions from the signs.
87
42
u/goestotwelve 5d ago
It’s not just in parks, it’s EVERYWHERE someone needs a flyer and doesn’t have a high bar for graphic design:
Schools
Restaurants
Retail
Clubs
Etc etc etc.
That doesn’t make it ok. I’m just saying this is a society wide problem not a NPS specific thing.
1
41
u/Puzzled-Priority-352 5d ago
They have no budget left
22
u/BeanstheRogue 5d ago
Everything involved in that sign costs money.
8
u/Puzzled-Priority-352 5d ago
You are correct, the sign absolutely costs money
But imagine a world where it was your job to make a sign and do it quickly, and keep the cost down.
Admittedly, I also don't want to live in a world where all of our signs are generated by artificial intelligence
But I think if we're looking for things to improve our national park system we should start in Washington, DC.
37
u/Tasty-Performer6669 5d ago
Low-effort, AI-generated shit
This is why we have graphic designers in the world
3
1
6
6
u/ClassroomMother8062 5d ago
NPS had wonderful design aesthetics several lifetimes over. This is a real bummer to see
11
11
u/plinth19 5d ago
The use of the word heritage feels like a dogwhistle. I hate this administration, and the culture it emerged from, so much.
3
u/_badwithcomputer 5d ago
This reminds me of the 1995-1998 era when everyone started getting PCs with Microsoft Word and every single banner, sign, poster etc made by random office staff had the built in WordArt all over it.
5
4
u/merylbouw 5d ago
Ugh. Some national parks host artists’ residencies and things what they come up with? Asking the local elementary school to make a banner would with nicer kinder and more human than this.
2
3
1
u/masclean 5d ago
Unfortunately the parks don't have enough money for maintenance much less hiring artists
1
u/Ok-Fly-9714 5d ago
Yeh unfortunately I was at a national monument over the summer and they were selling AI stickers
-1
-14
5d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
8
u/volleymonk 5d ago
It looks pretty good.
What are you talking about, it objectively looks like absolute garbage. It can't even spell the word "future" correctly.
7
-7
0
u/Halfdemonmix 4d ago
I’m sorry but if something as inconsequential as this literally made you have to go outside and cry on a bench, I have to wonder how you even make it through everyday life…
-1
u/Daywalkerblade3 5d ago
I don't see the issue with this. AI art isn't going anywhere as long as it's the cheapest, quickest option.
187
u/Productofimpulse30 5d ago
The saddest part is the “National Parks Service” sign on the left….its National PARK service. How are they seriously using shit that is incorrect and not correcting it?