Tatiana Cooper
  • Booklet cover titled MatchBook Psychology over a warm, grainy close-up of a face with a cigarette
  • Booklet spread: close-up of a person drinking from a white cup, a narrow text column, and a small portrait with a cigarette
  • Booklet spread: close-up of a person with dark green nails biting a sandwich while holding a lit cigarette
  • Booklet spread: text column on the left, black-and-white photo of two people smoking on the right
  • Pale yellow spread asking "But, what makes a good matchbook in NYC?" beside a snapshot of children on a street
  • Spread listing six design choices for a collectible matchbook, with photos of real matchbooks
  • Spread: three people lighting cigarettes in a tiled room, a Kikkoman matchbook and a close-up of red lips
  • Spread: six AI-generated "Primos" matchbooks and a street photo of a person with a cigarette in their mouth
  • Spread: two AI-generated seafood-themed "Primos" matchboxes and a photo of a blonde person smoking
  • Final spread: a person in jeans holding a cigarette at their side, with a concluding paragraph
  • Open paper matchbook with a grainy black-and-white image of a kiss on the cover

MatchBook Psychology

Format
Booklet
Context
Master’s program project

During the rise and ensuing panic surrounding AI, I became curious about what these rapid technological shifts meant for digital artists and designers. As a newcomer to New York City, I found myself captivated by the city’s matchbook culture—the way these tiny objects serve as nostalgic tokens of connection, memory, and community across restaurants and bars. For a project in my master’s program, I decided to experiment with the concept of matchbook design through the lens of AI. I wanted to see whether AI tools, which were generating both excitement and fear in 2023, could produce designs that felt authentic and visually compelling enough to be used by real restaurants—and to question whether this technology posed a genuine threat to the creative identities of digital artists. This booklet is a creative description of my findings, exploring both the aesthetic outcomes and the broader implications of AI’s role in visual storytelling and design.