Visionaries of Tomorrow: Measure Magazine to Feature AI Generated Student
General Manager Summer Juliano ’24 (left) and Branding and Marketing Director Janae Jeune ’24 (right) pose in front of the AI-generated cover at Marist Fashion Fest. Photo by Owen Whelan ‘27
Marist’s Measure magazine is known for being up-to-date in its style and content, but this year, it turned to AI face averaging for the back cover.
Student-run magazine “Measure” is slated to release its 11th annual issue this semester, featuring an AI-generated Marist College student on its back cover, in addition to its traditional senior cover star.
Issue XI, titled “Metanoia” for the Greek word for changing one’s mind, was formed through the efforts of “Measure’s” team of directors and students of Marist’s Fashion Magazine Production class.
Within the class, students split up into various teams to manage various parts of creating the magazine, such as deciding on the layout and managing social media pages. Student photography and writing make up the core of the magazine, and its production is entirely student-run.
In the past, “Measure” has featured a cover star on its front, a senior selected through community nominations and board approval. Issue XI is no different. An email was sent to Marist fashion students, asking them to nominate this year’s star. However, the back cover of “Metanoia” will feature an AI-generated image of a student, formed through headshots of students taken at “Measure’s” “Headshots with Measure” event.
“The idea of changing to AI art in the creative field is usually seen as negative, and it doesn’t have to be,” said Janae Jeune ‘24, who serves as the student director of branding events at “Measure.” “When it’s used to replace authentic art, it can be negative. We’re using it to represent the Marist community in tandem with our cover star.”
“Measure’s” approach to the AI cover had ethics in mind, with students opting in to be a part of the training data used for the Midjourney model that will create the final image using face averaging. While face averaging has been around, AI’s popularity has been on the rise only more recently, with the fashion industry seeing developments like AI generated shows.
The use of AI is also controversial, with some students at “Measure’s” photography events opting out of the process. Internally, the decision received both support and opposition.
“We definitely had a big conversation between the directors and our class,” said McKenzie Bruno ‘24, social media student director at “Measure.” “There was some positivity and negativity because we didn’t know exactly what to expect, but in the end, we decided the AI cover would be best for everyone.”
When selecting the face, “Measure” staff considers the clarity of the image and a face that more clearly represents an average Marist student, with diversity in mind.
“We wanted it to be representative of the whole student body,” said Jeune.
The cover is to be unveiled at Fashion Fest, a joint event between Silver Needle Runway, MPorium and the fashion department on April 17. The event will also give students a chance to preorder the upcoming “Measure” issue.
“I wanted to make sure all the events we host this year are geared towards students in general, not just fashion students,” said Jeune.
While AI is a hot topic for this issue, “Measure” doesn’t anticipate using AI for a cover again in a similar manner. Like with its “Synergy” issue last semester, it intends to ensure that issues after “Metanoia” are up-to-date with trends in both the fashion industry and the greater world.
“This is the one magazine we could do it for, so we decided to go for it,” said Bruno.