Schrödy Cat Universe

The Schrödy Cat Universe is a five-part science-fiction zine series built around Strangeworks’ company mascot, a character inspired by Schrödinger’s cat. Across the series, Schrödy travels through interconnected worlds, confronts quantum anomalies, and works to make quantum knowledge accessible beyond the scientific community.

The project began as a playful way to give the mascot a richer personality, but developed into a broader storytelling platform for the Strangeworks brand. The printed zines were distributed at conferences, shared with clients, and used as memorable conversation pieces with audiences in the United States and internationally. They were especially popular at the annual Q2B conference in Japan.

The first installment launched at SXSW in March 2023, during a period when generative AI was only beginning to appear in mainstream brand and conference experiences. Rather than using the technology to produce isolated images, we explored how it could support a complete editorial narrative with recurring characters, settings, and visual themes.

Creating that continuity required a highly iterative process. We used tools including Midjourney to develop characters, environments, props, and individual scenes, often generating many variations before finding imagery that aligned with the evolving story. The selected pieces were then reconstructed and refined in Photoshop through compositing, retouching, color adjustment, and detailed visual corrections.

Consistency was one of the project’s greatest challenges. Generative tools did not automatically preserve a character’s appearance or the logic of a scene from one image to the next. Each installment required careful prompt development, reference building, storyboarding, and post-production to ensure that Schrödy, the supporting characters, and the environments felt connected across the series.

We also used generative writing tools to support story development, helping us explore plots, character arcs, and the fictional rules of the universe. The creative team shaped those ideas into cohesive narratives, then designed each zine with its own editorial rhythm while maintaining a recognizable visual system across the collection.

The series included:

• Schrödy Cat: Wanted Dead and Alive
• Schrödy Cat and the Rise of the Quantum Alliance
• Schrödy Cat and the Polaris Paradox
• Schrödy Cat and the Nexus of Anomalies
• Schrödy Cat and the Pixel Phantom

As the series progressed, our process became more structured and efficient. We developed stronger character references, more reliable prompting methods, clearer visual conventions, and a repeatable workflow for moving from story concept to final print piece. What began as experimentation gradually became a working system for AI-assisted visual storytelling.

My role included concept development, storyboarding, AI image direction, image generation, compositing, editorial layout, typography, and print preparation. The project pushed me to think beyond individual assets and build a connected world that could evolve across multiple publications while remaining recognizably part of the Strangeworks brand.