Iconic? Not yet. Icon? Absolutely.

AI has advanced the production of icons to a new level, despite still having a ways to go before achieving true icon status.

Creating icons can be a time-consuming and challenging task, but AI can serve as a valuable tool in the ideation and creative process. Thanks to AI design tools, it is now possible to generate stunning app store icons for your mobile app or game in seconds. Let us explore a few of the options available.

Dall-E 2

Dall-E 2 is a text-to-image AI tool developed by Open AI that creates images using natural language. But how does it stack up against the competition? To find out, let's test it out with a prompt we will use for all the other tools in today's edition:

[prompt] icon for an overwatch mobile game

You can further customize prompts to suit your desired style, but we’ll keep it simple for this purpose. Here’s what the tool came up with:

One thing to keep in mind is that each platform has its own "language" that we need to understand. For example, if you use words like "cute" and "tiny" in Dall-E 2, it tends to create less intricate and detailed images.

Dall-E 2 also allows you to modify specific parts of an image and regenerate them or try a completely different prompt solely for that portion.

Midjourney

An AI tool that has recently received widespread attention on social media, but is it deserving of the hype? Let's see.

Like Dall-E 2, Midjourney starts with a limited free trial. The only difference is that everything happens on Discord, which might be a turnoff for some. But the registration process is simple: join their community, and start creating directly in one of their dedicated channels.

After entering your prompt, you'll receive four generated images that you can upscale or modify in different ways. All of your creations are uploaded to your library, which you can access on the web.

Here's what the tool generated for us:

Leonardo AI

Finally, let's take a look at Leonardo AI. To try it out, you'll need to pre-register and wait for approval before you can start creating.?

Let’s try the same prompt we used before and see what results we get.

The exciting news is that Leonardo has recently released a new Canvas editor that we can use to edit that funky text. So stay tuned!

Final Thoughts

While it can be challenging to bring the exact image we have in our mind to life, these AI-powered tools can be an excellent resource for storyboards, concept creation, or simply as an outline for a graphic designer.?

In fact, our Art Director Katya has already started using Midjourney in her work:

“I use Midjourney to generate ideas for visualizing concepts, brainstorming, and creating mockups. Sometimes finding a reference for your idea is a real struggle, and Midjourney does a great job with it. You can quickly test different directions and sometimes even discover something entirely out of the box. This tool is a game changer for me as now I can save a lot of time and get more precise search results.”

If you're curious to hear more on this topic, you can watch the How to Optimize your Mobile Marketing Strategy with AI webinar here.

Today's Insights ??

Jason M. Allen, a man who used MidJourney to secure the top prize at a Colorado fine-art competition last summer, is considering copywriting his winning prompt. Here’s what he told Politico:

“I originally said I was going to publish the prompt when I was finished with my project. I’ve since learned better: It’s like asking a chef to release his secret recipe. It’s a high-value prompt. That’s something people are searching for.”

Mind-blowing News ??

• Google is asking employees to manually correct its AI tool’s bad responses.
• Buzzfeed’s adding AI to its iconic quizzes, promising unlimited results uniquely personalized to each reader.
• The productivity web app Notion is harnessing the power of AI to help users “write faster, think bigger, and augment [their] creativity.”

Let’s see what next week will bring, stay tuned (and subscribe)!