Writing from the studio on brand, product, and how the work actually gets made.https://www.el-fin.com/enhttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/curating-photographs-in-the-performative-era/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/curating-photographs-in-the-performative-era/My connection to photography came first through my dad. He had a small film camera when I was about five years old. Like a lot of families in the late '90s and early 2000s, we had…Wed, 19 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTFabricio Romerohttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/the-devil-is-in-the-details-notes-on-ai-and-creative-direction/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/the-devil-is-in-the-details-notes-on-ai-and-creative-direction/AI can generate almost anything now. But the hard part is still knowing what makes sense visually, emotionally, and culturally.Fri, 26 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTAle Alarcónhttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/el-fin-presents-the-people-behind-the-studio/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/el-fin-presents-the-people-behind-the-studio/We’ve been doing our most meaningful work quietly behind the scenes over the last few years, and we want to changeFri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 GMTSam Portillohttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/delight-advanced-tech-as-the-new-normal/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/delight-advanced-tech-as-the-new-normal/Case study on Delight → an AI marketing platform redesigned to feel calm, clear, and human. A proof that the new frontier of advanced tech design is normality.Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMTSam Portillohttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/vibe-coding-and-design-critique-intuition-needs-guardrails/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/vibe-coding-and-design-critique-intuition-needs-guardrails/Some weeks, you’re moving fast. A visual lands. The team feels it. The client nods. Done, right? But speed tempts us to mistake intuition for alignment. That’s when we need to pause, lock in, and check: are we still designing or just reacting?Sun, 20 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTSam Portillohttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/understanding-neural-networks/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/understanding-neural-networks/A group chat about pancakes helped me understand neural networks better than any tutorial. It wasn’t the math. It was the mess.Sat, 12 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTSam Portillohttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/learning-snapshot-4d-structure-beats-style/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/learning-snapshot-4d-structure-beats-style/What makes a “good” prompt? It’s not just clarity or clever phrasing—it’s logic, structure, and awareness of how different AIs interpret instructions. We tested the 4-D Methodology (Deconstruct, Diagnose, Develop, Deliver) and came away with a usable mental model for high-quality, cross-platform prompts.Fri, 11 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTSam Portillohttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/learning-snapshot-cluely-and-the-virality-era/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/learning-snapshot-cluely-and-the-virality-era/Cluely didn’t just grow fast—it proved virality is designable. Here’s what it teaches us about attention, tools, and cultural timing.Fri, 04 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTSam Portillohttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/conversational-ai-use-talk-like-a-human-think-like-a-partner/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/conversational-ai-use-talk-like-a-human-think-like-a-partner/The best prompts aren’t one-liners—they’re conversations. Here’s how long-form, human-centered exchanges shape better AI work.Thu, 03 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTSam Portillohttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/design-is-a-business-act-our-unfair-advantage/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/design-is-a-business-act-our-unfair-advantage/EL FIN on why being business-first, not just design-led, has been our long-term unfair advantage.Thu, 03 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTSam Portillohttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/field-notes-el-fin-blog/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/field-notes-el-fin-blog/Field Notes from EL FIN—learning in public through strategic clarity and transparent insights on building AI-augmented brands.Tue, 01 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMTSam Portillohttps://www.el-fin.com/insights/designing-deeper-collaboration-with-your-brain/https://www.el-fin.com/insights/designing-deeper-collaboration-with-your-brain/EL FIN on why treating AI as a creative partner, not a search bar, unlocks deeper, not lazier, work.Mon, 23 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMTSam Portillo