WE TRIED MIDJOURNEY SO THAT YOU DON'T HAVE TO

“Creativity is intelligence having fun”, supposedly Albert Einstein once said.

As a team of creative and artistic people, we relate to this statement. A lot.

Yet, it is only valid for human intelligence. In its turn, Artificial Intelligence (AI) combines massive data sets, intelligent algorithms, and patterns or features within its database to learn and create different outputs based on human-generated prompts. AI knows how to perform tasks that require human-like intelligence because we have taught it how.

But does AI have the experience of having fun and can it be compared to human creative abilities? For the first question, the answer is still no (most likely). For the second question, we would say that it depends.

Since AI tools and the hype around them are all over the place, for once we decided to follow the herd, and see what the fuss is all about.

We tried out Midjourney.

We played around with it, unleashed our mutual creativity and, last but not least, we definitely enjoyed the whole process.

What is Midjourney and why do I need to care about it?

Midjourney is an independent AI art generator that turns text-based prompts into images. Only with a few words, Midjourney has the capacity to create unique and impressive artworks that will take your breath away.

This is so cool! No doubt about it. But how would Midjourney perform if it had to create ad banners?

Is there a chance that Midjourney could replace our team of professionals with years of experience under their belts?

We sigh in relief because the answer is no (at least for the time being).

Why not?

1. Midjoureny can create only static images that are not at all as engaging as rich media HTML5 designs.

2. It turns out that this AI-powered software cannot produce text on the images, which means that you cannot fully convey your message. Even if you want to go with a simple image banner, you will need another software to get its final look.

3. It is a bit hard to get Midjourney to produce the specific result that you want. You have to have a designer at your disposal. Still, they have to know the nuts and bolts of the tool and have to get very good at writing the right prompts. This can be a long and frustrating process because you never know if Midjourney will give you exactly what you want.

To sum up, Midjourney is quite an impressive tool that is taught to deliver the best results based on what it is told to do and the information and patterns that exist in its database.

However, as of writing this article, Midjourney cannot replace human creativity and abilities, but for sure it can be used for inspiration.

If you are struggling to create the right banner for your business, that combines both visual creativity and gets your message across, reach out to our human-intelligence-powered team of talented engineers and animators.

In case you want to repeat our experiment, here is a cheatsheet you can use

• Useful prompt words: fantasy, 3D, pixel art style, muted colors (gives a calm presence to the image), surreal, abstract, aurora, cyberpunk, cosmic, dreamscape, futuristic, neon lights, galaxy, illusion, maze, mythical, underwater, zenith, vibrant, glitch-style, pop art, cinematic.

• Midjourney Prompt Helper - https://prompt.noonshot.com/

• Get inspiration from this prompt book: https://deft-maker-2038.ck.page/3b3bf4e5ef

What are the results of our Midjourney exploration?

In a few words, we decided to create an ad banner for Streameye and our Creative Management Platform.

1. To see what Midjourney will create a prima vista (see image 1), we started with a simple prompt. Even though the result was not what we expected, the visual design was not bad on the first try.

One thing that you may notice is that Midjourney is trained to create images and, for now, it is not able to produce text.

Prompt: a professional vector banner of a marketing agency called “Streameye” computer showing marketing-related symbols and icons.

2. We decided to add a few touches to the prompt to see if the result (see image 2), would be any better if we are a bit more specific. As you see, there is a big difference in both images. Yet, it was not the result we were looking for.

Prompt: generic productivity illustration for a marketing company, a man sitting behind a desk and watching statistics on a computer with marketing-related symbols and emojis

3. Next, we decided to try the image-based prompt (see image 3),. So, we could give Midjourney a basic idea of what image we expect it to produce.

Using images as prompts is pretty simple. You just have to open the image you want in your browser, right-click with your mouse, select “copy image address” and paste it into Midjourney’s Discord server.

4. From here we decided to add a few touches. We used the same image prompts. But this time we added a more specific description of what we wanted (see image 4). Here is when things started clicking and we got a much more professional look.

Prompt: tech illustration banner for a digital marketing agency

5. We didn’t stop here. Midjourney gives you a wide variety of styles and art genres to choose from. So, we tapped deeper into the capabilities of the software.

Here is what we got Andy Warhol style (see image 5).

6. And here is what you get when you add Dali into the equatio (see image 6).

7. We were also curious about what would be the result if we wanted to have a 16-bit pixel art design (see image 7).

8. This is our banner’s cyberpunk variant (see image 8).

9. Why not experiment with this catchy charcoal look? (see image 9).

So what do you think? How did Midjourney do with the task?