Introduction
Did you know that 60% of people who try AI design tools give up after three tries? They enter a few words, get back something jumbled, and say, “This doesn't work for me.” Sound familiar?
I have a little secret for you: it's hardly ever the AI that's the problem. Instead, it is your ability to give it direction. Think about if you give someone directions to your house. If you say, "Come over" you may never see them again. But if you give them your address and step-by-step directions, they'll be at your door without fail.
Making images with AI is just like that. You give the AI information. You tell it what you want to see. It listens to you and gives you back a picture. This is all dependent on something called the AI prompt.
This article serves as your walkthrough. We're going to take your most basic of ideas and transform it into a beautiful, refined design together. It's easier than you think—and it's fun! Let's go on this journey together!
The First Step: Know What a Prompt is for AI
So what is a prompt for AI? A prompt for AI is the command you give. This is how you communicate with the machine, through language, to create an image that you believe necessitates such creation. Essentially, prompts for AI are your commands.
Therefore, a successful prompt consists of a few parts and feeding the AI all these parts is like giving the AI a recipe. The more you give, the more it can potentially emulate your vision.
The components of a good prompt for AI are:
The focus: what is the main subject of your image? Who/what is in the dedicated spotlight? Be as specific as you can!
For example: Instead of "a dog". Say "a fluffy golden retriever puppy."
The action: What is the subject doing? This gives action to the image and tells a small story.
For example: "...sitting in a wicker basket."
The setting: Where is this happening? This gives context.
For example: "...on a wooden porch in the morning."
The style: How is this supposed to look? This is giving a filter option to your picture; how will it come across?
For example: "...in the style of a simple cartoon illustration."
The details: Colors, light, mood etc. These little touches can make all the difference.
For example: "...with soft morning light and warm pastel colors."
Now let's put it all together!
A weak prompt could be: "a picture of a dog."
A strong detailed prompt could be: "A fluffy golden retriever puppy sitting in a wicker basket on a wooden porch in the morning, in the style of a simple cartoon illustration with soft colors and soft morning light."
Notice the difference? The second prompt gives the AI so much more to work with and this is how you start creating refined images right off the bat! Without revisions needed!
Creating Your First Masterpiece: A Walkthrough
Let's do it for real together to see how easy it is! Let's say you want to create an image for your social media about reading.
Step 1: Start with Your Basic Idea Your basic idea is "a person reading a book." While this is great, It's much too basic. The AI could give you anything from a caveman reading scrolls to an astronaut reading a manual while in space!
Step 2: Build Your Core AI Prompt Then let's add some detail from the list above.
Subject: "A young woman wearing a cozy sweater and reading a hardcover book"
Action: "reading a hardcover book"
Setting: "in a cozy window nook"
Style: "digital art"
Details: "soft and warm lighting, raining outside the window"
Therefore, your new prompt could read: "A young woman wearing a cozy sweater and reading a hardcover book in a cozy window nook, digital art style with soft warm lighting and rain outside the window."
Step 3: Use Your New Prompt Go ahead and type that into your design AI tool. The result will already be a thousand times better than just "person reading a book." You'll get something specific with the mood around it.
Step 4: Refine Now maybe the AI gave you something you love but the book is green and you wanted it to have a red cover. No problem! This is where you refine. You can change your prompt to: "...reading a red hardcover book..."
See? You're having a conversation with the AI. You're asking for something, getting back something and then asking for small edits. This is how every great AI design is created!
Practical Uses for AI Prompts
When Using Design Software Remember that AI prompts don't only yield logos! You can use them in many forms;
- Linings inside boxes - use boxes around texts and important elements with fill-in-the-blank-like ease.
- Logos and branding - create identity images around your business.
- Posters and flyers - create event or sale announcements in no time.
- Social media graphics - keep your pages fresh and active.\ Presentations - create professional slides in no time.
- Web images - create headers, banners, icons.
Whether you're an undergrad creating a project, a business owner creating promotions or someone exploring creative ventures, access to easy potential time savers can keep everyone up and running seamlessly!
Conclusion
And that's the entire walkthrough! As you can see it takes just a few simple steps to change everything; Starting with an idea and basic image prompts and adding clear details and stylistic words gives you everything so that your image comes to life - only to get small adjustments once it's done!
Almost anyone can learn how to write a good AI prompt; it just takes practice. Remember to be specific and describe everything that comes to mind; the AI is willing to listen and now you know how to speak its language!
Credit for the cover image: Judith Peter from pexels
