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Designer Trained Her Own AI to Make Art - Escha Vera (Perplexity)
Escha Vera got death threats for posting AI art. She kept posting anyway.
Perplexity's designer runs a record label, trained her own LoRAs, and built the Comet invitations that broke the internet — each one unique, generated at scale, but deeply intentional.
We talk about the hate, the ethics, and why prompting isn't a gimmick skill, but communication.
Get the UX Tools Newsletter (written by me)
Join 100,000+ designers for weekly insights on creative software and the people shaping it: [https://uxtools.co](https://uxtools.co/)
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - "I can't post anything without death threats"
01:48 - How I found Escha's work
02:46 - Myspace and Neopets taught her to code
04:39 - Losing self-expression in client work
06:54 - "I call myself a designer and don't elaborate"
08:05 - Perplexity's culture: high trust, high autonomy
09:13 - "There's no roadmap, just do it"
11:53 - How the Comet invitations actually got made
14:51 - Scaling unique outputs to 10K+ generations
17:44 - Evaluating AI tools as inputs vs outputs
20:16 - Pushing Midjourney to break terms of service
21:35 - "Being a good designer is about communication"
24:22 - Trial and error prompting with Comet
26:22 - Prompting as a second-class citizen to features
30:48 - "Can you be pro AI and pro self-expression?"
36:13 - The ethics question that kept her at Descript
38:35 - The hate and vitriol from sharing AI work
40:51 - "Ask how it was made before throwing hate"
43:31 - The blurred line: how much of it is AI?
45:31 - Should we disclose AI in our work?
48:40 - Daily driving tools at Perplexity
50:37 - The spinning planet she shipped in 5 minutes
ABOUT TOMMY GEOCO
I spent 15+ years in tech and design. Former military. Father of five. Now building Internet Enjoyers, a weird little media + product studio rediscovering soul in creative tech. This show is how I'm rediscovering my love for the game.
ABOUT STATE OF PLAY
Host Tommy Geoco discovers what fuels the internet's most interesting designers and builders.
LINKS:
UX Tools Newsletter: [https://uxtools.co](https://uxtools.co/)
Follow Escha: https://x.com/eschadiol
Perplexity: [https://perplexity.com](https://perplexity.com/)
Comet: https://www.perplexity.ai/comet
FOLLOW ME:
X / Twitter: https://x.com/designertom
Instagram: https://instagram.com/itsdesignertom
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/tommygeoco
View all episodes
By Tommy GeocoEscha Vera got death threats for posting AI art. She kept posting anyway.
Perplexity's designer runs a record label, trained her own LoRAs, and built the Comet invitations that broke the internet — each one unique, generated at scale, but deeply intentional.
We talk about the hate, the ethics, and why prompting isn't a gimmick skill, but communication.
Get the UX Tools Newsletter (written by me)
Join 100,000+ designers for weekly insights on creative software and the people shaping it: [https://uxtools.co](https://uxtools.co/)
CHAPTERS:
00:00 - "I can't post anything without death threats"
01:48 - How I found Escha's work
02:46 - Myspace and Neopets taught her to code
04:39 - Losing self-expression in client work
06:54 - "I call myself a designer and don't elaborate"
08:05 - Perplexity's culture: high trust, high autonomy
09:13 - "There's no roadmap, just do it"
11:53 - How the Comet invitations actually got made
14:51 - Scaling unique outputs to 10K+ generations
17:44 - Evaluating AI tools as inputs vs outputs
20:16 - Pushing Midjourney to break terms of service
21:35 - "Being a good designer is about communication"
24:22 - Trial and error prompting with Comet
26:22 - Prompting as a second-class citizen to features
30:48 - "Can you be pro AI and pro self-expression?"
36:13 - The ethics question that kept her at Descript
38:35 - The hate and vitriol from sharing AI work
40:51 - "Ask how it was made before throwing hate"
43:31 - The blurred line: how much of it is AI?
45:31 - Should we disclose AI in our work?
48:40 - Daily driving tools at Perplexity
50:37 - The spinning planet she shipped in 5 minutes
ABOUT TOMMY GEOCO
I spent 15+ years in tech and design. Former military. Father of five. Now building Internet Enjoyers, a weird little media + product studio rediscovering soul in creative tech. This show is how I'm rediscovering my love for the game.
ABOUT STATE OF PLAY
Host Tommy Geoco discovers what fuels the internet's most interesting designers and builders.
LINKS:
UX Tools Newsletter: [https://uxtools.co](https://uxtools.co/)
Follow Escha: https://x.com/eschadiol
Perplexity: [https://perplexity.com](https://perplexity.com/)
Comet: https://www.perplexity.ai/comet
FOLLOW ME:
X / Twitter: https://x.com/designertom
Instagram: https://instagram.com/itsdesignertom
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/tommygeoco