Welcome to the first niji・journey dev log, where I’ll talk casually about various niji-related topics.

One of the most interesting parts about this line of work is the study of aesthetics. In other words, the investigation of what people find to be most beautiful.

Consider the difference between drawing something correctly and drawing something well. For example, the prompt “Miku eating a burger”

These two niji outputs both answered the prompt correctly, but undeniably, you’d prefer one of them over the other.

Hence, aesthetics is not the message, but the way you say it.

This concept is very similar to language: past a certain point in quality (which we may think of as grammar), we can choose very different ways to deliver the same message.

And just like language, aesthetics is a localized phenomenon: people across the world find different things most beautiful due to the unique experiences that shape their worldviews. Upon the launch of niji, we found ourselves with a very interesting observation. Compared to other projects of its size, niji encompasses an abnormally wide audience: our server is divided across four languages: English, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. What is of even greater interest is that even though many in this project don’t share a common verbal language, we are connected by a shared visual language: anime. This shared understanding of the concept of “anime” forms the basis of an opportunity to imagine something very impressive together.

In the next phase of the niji・journey project, we want to explore the shape of what our combined anime aesthetic looks like. To that end, we are extending a special invitation to you, the audience of niji, to take part in the creation of niji.

What you have seen thus far on niji has been the result of careful hand-tuning from a group of dedicated artists and scientists. On this next phase of the niji・journey project, we are curious what niji will look like after a true collaboration with its audience, you!

We are collecting votes to improve the quality of the next version of niji.

The voting period will be between 2/25/2023 and 3/25/2023. Please go to the link here to vote:

https://www.nijijourney.com/rate/anime-3

Here are some simple instructions: - Please help us downvote photorealistic images (even if it’s pretty) - Please help us downvote non-anime images (even if it’s pretty) - Please help us upvote rare subject matter: things that niji doesn’t typically draw. (if you haven’t been using niji for a while, please don’t worry about this) - Aside from the above, don’t worry about what you think will be popular for others: please vote according to your heart.

In addition to the above, many of your thoughtful mods and guides have provided additional explanation and notes for the above process. Please refer to your regional #announcements channel for more information!

Your ratings will have a large impact on the development of niji. We look forward to taking this journey together with you!

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