Learn how Christophe Nutoni, art director and founder of Instinct Créatif Communication, unveils his creative process for crafting posters with Recraft, complete with a detailed, step-by-step tutorial
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This interview is a can’t-miss piece in a series of case studies and success stories featuring top designers and art directors who use Recraft. Meet Christophe Nutoni — a talented graphic designer, art director, and the founder of Instinct Créatif Communication, based in Strasbourg, France. His impressive portfolio can be explored on posternirvana.com, and his creative journey is followed on Instagram.
In this conversation, Christophe reveals his creative process for crafting posters with Recraft, and a step-by-step tutorial awaits at the end of the interview. Recraft is about giving designers more control, allowing creators to manage every detail of their designs so that the final product looks exactly as envisioned.
The world of graphic design and music transformed Christophe’s life in the 1980s. While hosting free radio shows, he was captivated by the intricate designs of vinyl sleeves from underground British and American bands. This early exposure led him to study graphic design, setting him on a path that would define his career. Today, as a freelance graphic designer and art director, Christophe has built an impressive portfolio, collaborating with a wide range of local, national, and international clients.
For Christophe, the posternirvana.com project emerged from a blend of instinct and curiosity. With an ongoing quest to discover innovative tools that streamline his workflow, he ventured into the world of software technology and artificial intelligence roughly three years ago. Experimenting with various projects, he was captivated by the serendipitous results and the creative avenues they opened up. This exploration fueled his passion for visual storytelling.
As a seasoned graphic designer, Christophe views the fusion of typography and imagery as the pinnacle of design—a belief that led him to conceive posternirvana.com as a platform where the power of visuals reigns supreme, with every poster embodying a harmonious balance between text and imagery.
At its core, his work is driven by a desire to make digital elements tangible — a transformation that brings virtual ideas into the physical world. But his vision extends well beyond aesthetics. Christophe challenges conventional notions of reality by asking profound questions about how we construct our world. He likens our existence to a dream, suggesting that practices like lucid dreaming hold the key to materializing reality through the power of our thoughts. This perspective not only defines his creative process but also invites viewers to reimagine the boundaries between the digital and the physical.
The evolution of a poster collection is a testament to the power of serendipity and innovation. Christophe started without a rigid plan — simply driven by the thrill of exploring different software and creative prompts. This experimental phase quickly ignited a passion to share his work, leading to the rapid inception of posternirvana.
His original concept was to publish a daily poster, inspired by the captivating allure of repeating numbers — a nod to his fascination with synchronicities.
The game-changer was Recraft. Its ability to generate vector files pushed his creative boundaries, making his vision extraordinary.
Recraft V3 supports unique capabilities vital for graphic design space. The distinctive feature of Recraft is that it supports vector image generation, ranging from sets of simplistic pictograms all the way to highly detailed vector art.
“Recraft is really very intuitive, its interface is clear and doesn't weigh down the process of starting up a project like a poster. I do a lot of iteration, trying out different styles, the styles built into Recraft or my own styles imported into Recraft. The prompts are short because I've realized that Recraft uses keywords to create images and that there's no point in making prompts that are too long. I go from one style to another, from one prompt to another, until I find the perfect image for my project. The visual is associated with a sentence that I create, which enters the visual context. I can modify the images directly in Recraft, for example, the color, and there are also retouching tools. But the most important thing for me is to be able to export the images in vector format to create large posters. And for that, Recraft is the best software on the market in my opinion”.
Christophe explains that while Recraft offers the option to generate texts, for now, he prefers not to use it for his posters. Instead, he follows his own creative process and relies on Affinity's software to produce a PDF that's perfectly suited for high-definition printing. He explains that the initial creative prompts come from him — whether utilizing Recraft’s default styles or those he develops himself. He views artificial intelligence as a powerful tool that accelerates iteration and production, saving him significant time. However, the final artistic decisions are entirely his own, ensuring that the creative direction remains 100% human.
“For an art director, artificial intelligence is a tool that allows you to iterate and produce results more quickly. I save an incredible amount of time. I see it as a collaboration. But the final choice is always mine. So, the artistic direction is 100% human.
I'd like to think that this won't take creative people away from their creations, but I'm also aware that illustrators, photographers, and videographers are in a difficult position if they don't integrate this into their workflow. I think that if you want to listen to human creativity, you have to go back to the analogical world, nature, human relationships, and love for yourself and others. Creation is an inner work and a relationship with the invisible.”
“I've had excellent feedback from the television and corporate sectors, both nationally and internationally, as well as from the cultural world. On my Instagram account, a lot of artists like my posters”.
Christophe encountered some challenges with pixel files when creating large posters. For instance, when working on formats like 100cm x 70cm at 300dpi/400dpi, he needed to optimize the images further to maintain quality. However, he emphasizes that this additional step doesn't compromise the final output since the Recraft export serves as a robust foundation for further refinement. When asked about the impact of Recraft on his productivity, Christophe explained that the change has been monumental. Previously, he relied on photo libraries — a time-consuming process with the risk of using images already available to others. Now, Recraft allows him to generate original, unique images that he fully owns and can sell without any copyright concerns.
Sign up for one of monthly or annual subscription plans — Basic, Advanced, or Pro — and gain full ownership and commercial rights to artworks.
Christophe advises designers to dive into the world of AI by experimenting with the technology and trusting their intuition. He believes that making deliberate choices is essential, as these decisions shape not only one’s creative expression but also the reality that emerges from it.
“AI is a tsunami. Just as any technological revolution involves rapid transformations, here, time is even more accelerated. I think AI has to be ethical. AI will resemble our society's consciousness level, so we need to raise our level of consciousness. Creativity is an exchange between YOU and artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence cannot be stopped because it lives through technology. Some say it's like a virus; others say it's a way of connecting to yourself. I don't give it my creative power; it's a collaboration, nothing more. In the evening, when I finish my work, the AI disappears from my analog life”.
The text maintains the author's unique style and first-person narrative
Hi creators, I will show you how I used Recraft for a poster or magazine cover project.
First of all, I need to find a style for the theme.
For this example, I'm going to choose to create a visual related to women's fashion. I'm not going to use Recraft styles today. Recraft's styles are very good, but I need very specific styles for this example, which is also Recraft's strength. So, I'm going to create my own style in Recraft. So, I'm wandering around the web looking for royalty-free images in the public domain. I came across ‘The Library Of Congress’. I've chosen 5 jpg images from ‘The Library Of Congress’. Recraft needs a maximum of 5 images to create a style based on your chosen images. You can use less, but I prefer to give Recraft as much information as possible.
My default style is ‘Recraft V3 Raw’. I'm going to click on it to change my style.
A window appears with the Recraft Style.
This is where I'll create my style by importing my photos. I need to click on the ‘Create Style’ button on the right.
A new page will open where you can upload a maximum of 5 images.
I choose my 5 photos on my computer to create the style.
And I give my Style a name and add a ‘style-level prompt’, then I test the style by writing the following prompt: ‘Geometric shape, female model, magazine, Pink and Yellow’.
Then I click on the ‘Generate test image’ button. Now Recraft works its magic.. and here's the result!
If you like it, you can add it to your styles by clicking on the ‘Add to my styles’ button.
Now, my style is ready to be used in Recraft. It's easy. Just type in your prompt. Try several prompts until you're happy with the result. Here's my final prompt after various tests: «Model in a fashion show, with a brightly colored dress, in a spiral style, inspired by flowers, sculpted, pop inspiration». I can modulate with the ‘Eccentric’ level of detail slider.
I choose my image and use the ‘Reframe’ button to add the image. I'd like it to be possible to have an image within an image (a frame within a frame), as if the image had been cut and pasted. And attention, when adding a frame, the default style of the frame is ‘Recraft V3 Raw’. Don't forget to change your style.Then I click and drag my image into ‘Frame’.
Now click in the ‘Frame’ box and choose the style you have created, then click on the ‘Recraft frame’* button (*clicking in the image will regenerate an image). I went through several generations to choose the one I liked.
Now I choose the text tool, and I click on my image, I type a title and choose a typeface, I write the title and orient it vertically (to orientate your text, your cursor must be close to the corners of the text creation block, your pointer will change shape indicating an arrow icon of rotation).
Now all I have to do is upscale my image using the ‘Crisp Upscale’ button to see the result and then ‘Creative Upscale’ to improve the detail.
Creative Upscale: This tool focuses on enhancing details and refining complex elements in the image. It doesn’t just increase resolution but adds depth by improving textures, fine details, and facial features.
Crisp Upscale: Designed to make images sharper and cleaner, this tool increases overall quality, making visuals suitable for web use or print-ready materials.
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HINT: to have the text in your image, you need to put everything in one frame (your text AND your image).
You now have an image ready for a cover or poster. For greater flexibility, you can also export the image without the text to make changes in other software and configurations if needed.
All you have to do is download the image in high-definition and enjoy.
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