Authentic Media: turning human design judgment into an AI product
Authentic Media, co-founded by Christian Ganaban and designer Jeff Lan, builds AI design agents shaped by the judgment of experienced designers. It sits under SI1 as its design vertical.
- StatusLive · 2 Oct 2026
- PillarSI1 design vertical
- StartedOctober 2026
- Authentic Media foundersChristian Ganaban and Jeff Lan
- Pages at launch4 (2 Oct 2026)
- PricingNot yet published
- Revenue$0 at launch: the baseline
- Visitauthenticmedia.com.au
The question. Can the reasoning of experienced designers be captured and built into AI design agents, so the work they produce looks intentional rather than generic?
The context. Generative AI has made design output cheap, and much of it now looks the same. Authentic Media is a separate venture co-founded by Christian Ganaban and Jeff Lan, who first worked together at carsales.com.au, and it sits under SI1 as its design vertical. SI1 itself was founded by Christian alone. Jeff brings a career in graphic design, web design and user experience. Christian brings strategy, AI systems and commercialisation.
What we did.
- PositioningA written brand brief set the position against generic AI-generated design: "AI can design anything. That doesn't mean it should."
- Product modelThree planned tiers: Core, a self-serve design agent; Pro, with ongoing upgrades and industry training; and Directed, where key work is reviewed by the Authentic creative team. No pricing is published yet.
- Critique LabAn internal training environment where designers review real work and explain their reasoning, so it can become design principles for the agents. It starts with Jeff's judgment.
- WebsiteA four-page site built with AI from the approved brief, with AI-generated background imagery and all copy as live HTML, hosted on Cloudflare Pages.
- Connected identityLinked to SI1 and ganaban.com, with Organization structured data naming both founders.
Timeline.
Updated as the case develops. Last updated 2 October 2026.
Brand and website brief written: positioning, product tiers, founder story and design doctrine.
Four-page website built with AI from the brief.
DNS moved to Cloudflare and the site launched on authenticmedia.com.au, linked to SI1 and ganaban.com.
Who did what.
The line between the two is part of the method.
The website build, page copy drawn from the approved brief, background imagery, structured data and the domain and hosting setup steps.
Jeff's design judgment and the doctrine it shapes, the positioning and tiers, approval of the brief, and every account and domain decision.
- Run the first Critique Lab sessions with Jeff and record the principles they produce
- Build a first working version of the Authentic Design Agent
- Set up a direct contact route and record launch baselines
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