# CreativeConnect: Supporting Reference Recombination for Graphic Design Ideation with Generative AI

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.11949 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.11949/

## Key facts

- Cited by 34 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 19 Dec 2023.

## Built on by (most cited first, 30 of 34)

- [Human-LLM Compound System for Scientific Ideation through Facet Recombination and Novelty Evaluation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.14634/) (2024)
- [How Far Are We From AGI: Are LLMs All We Need?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2405.10313/) (2024)
- [Literature-Grounded Novelty Assessment of Scientific Ideas](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.22026/) (2025)
- [Not Just Novelty: A Longitudinal Study on Utility and Customization of an AI Workflow](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.09894/) (2024)
- [Exploring the Collaborative Co-Creation Process with AI: A Case Study in Novice Music Production](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.15276/) (2025)
- [AI-Instruments: Embodying Prompts as Instruments to Abstract & Reflect Graphical Interface Commands as General-Purpose Tools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.18736/) (2025)
- [DesignWeaver: Dimensional Scaffolding for Text-to-Image Product Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.09867/) (2025)
- [POET: Supporting Prompting Creativity and Personalization with Automated Expansion of Text-to-Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.13392/) (2025)
- [CHIMERA: A Knowledge Base of Scientific Idea Recombinations for Research Analysis and Ideation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.20779/) (2025)
- [GenTune: Toward Traceable Prompts to Improve Controllability of Image Refinement in Environment Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.15227/) (2025)
- [Constella: Supporting Storywriters' Interconnected Character Creation through LLM-based Multi-Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2507.05820/) (2025)
- [CANVAS: A Benchmark for Vision-Language Models on Tool-Based User Interface Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.20737/) (2025)
- [StoryEnsemble: Enabling Dynamic Exploration & Iteration in the Design Process with AI and Forward-Backward Propagation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.03182/) (2025)
- [ThematicPlane: Bridging Tacit User Intent and Latent Spaces for Image Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.06065/) (2025)
- [The AI Memory Gap: Users Misremember What They Created With AI or Without](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.11851/) (2025)
- [Exploration vs. Fixation: Scaffolding Divergent and Convergent Thinking for Human-AI Co-Creation with Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.18388/) (2025)
- [The Variance Paradox: How AI Reduces Diversity but Increases Novelty](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.19264/) (2025)
- [Imagining Design Workflows in Agentic AI Futures](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.20731/) (2025)
- [AnimAgents: Coordinating Multi-Stage Animation Pre-Production with Human-Multi-Agent Collaboration](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.17906/) (2025)
- [Bridging Gulfs in UI Generation through Semantic Guidance](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.19171/) (2026)
- [Group Selection as a Safeguard Against AI Substitution](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.03541/) (2026)
- [LitLinker: Supporting the Ideation of Interdisciplinary Contexts with Large Language Models for Teaching Literature in Elementary Schools](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.16097/) (2025)
- [When Discourse Stalls: Moving Past Five Semantic Stopsigns about Generative AI in Design Research](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.08565/) (2025)
- [Exploring the Innovation Opportunities for Pre-trained Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.15790/) (2025)
- [Imagine for Me: Creative Conceptual Blending of Real Images and Text via Blended Attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.24085/) (2025)
- [GRAPHIC--Guidelines for Reviewing Algorithmic Practices in Human-centred Design and Interaction for Creativity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.17443/) (2025)
- [Personagram: Bridging Personas and Product Design for Creative Ideation with Multimodal LLMs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2602.06197/) (2026)
- [Design Generative AI for Practitioners: Exploring Interaction Approaches Aligned with Creative Practice](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.03074/) (2026)
- [CogInstrument: Modeling Cognitive Processes for Bidirectional Human-LLM Alignment in Planning Tasks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.10587/) (2026)
- [Brief2Design: A Multi-phased, Compositional Approach to Prompt-based Graphic Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.11019/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Graphic designers often get inspiration through the recombination of references. Our formative study (N=6) reveals that graphic designers focus on conceptual keywords during this process, and want support for discovering the keywords, expanding them, and exploring diverse recombination options of them, while still having room for designers' creativity. We propose CreativeConnect, a system with generative AI pipelines that helps users discover useful elements from the reference image using keywords, recommends relevant keywords, generates diverse recombination options with user-selected keywords, and shows recombinations as sketches with text descriptions. Our user study (N=16) showed that CreativeConnect helped users discover keywords from the reference and generate multiple ideas based on them, ultimately helping users produce more design ideas with higher self-reported creativity compared to the baseline system without generative pipelines. While CreativeConnect was shown effective in ideation, we discussed how CreativeConnect can be extended to support other types of tasks in creativity support.