Using design principles to make excellent AI images
JULY 23, 2024
3 MIN READING
AI FOR: Creating
Using AI to help create visually striking images is a growing trend, and it’s easy to do with AI-powered Designer built right into Copilot. You can simply enter an AI art prompt into Copilot to see what Designer can make! But if you really want to elevate your AI image creation, try incorporating design principles into your prompts. Learn how prompting with the elements and principles of visual design in mind can help you generate excellent AI images.
What are design principles?
It’s important to understand the guiding principles of design that can transform your AI-generated images. Some of these design principles—including alignment, hierarchy, contrast, color balance, and negative space—are the building blocks of visual aesthetics in the tangible and digital worlds. By applying the following visual design elements and principles, you’ll not only enhance your AI images’ appeal, but also help them adhere to the fundamental rules that govern the world of design.
Let’s say you start by telling Copilot to "create a clear, high-quality image of a sun setting behind a grassy hill area." This is what you might get without adding design elements to your prompt:
Credit: Designer in Copilot
Now, try adding these design principles into the mix:
Create perfect symmetry with alignment
Alignment is a key design principle that’s crucial for maintaining the harmony of your AI image. It involves arranging visual design elements in a way that creates a sense of order and balance. Designer allows you to specify alignment parameters, such as centering certain elements. For example, ask Copilot to “make it look perfectly balanced. Center everything horizontally and vertically in the image, so it’s pleasing to the eye.” Designer could then give you this:
Credit: Designer in Copilot
Highlight the main attraction using hierarchy
Hierarchy is another fundamental design principle that helps you establish a clear structure of importance among various design elements within your AI-generated images. This principle is essential for guiding viewers’ attention. Designer enables you to emphasize specific elements by making them stand out. Give it a try by telling Copilot to “make a photo of a sunset over a hilly landscape with an old tree as the main attraction.” Designer might generate something like this:
Credit: Designer in Copilot
Enhance the drama with contrast
Contrast is a cornerstone of design principles because it can enhance your image’s visual impact. Designer offers options to manipulate contrast, such as adjusting brightness and color intensity. Tell Copilot to “make an illustration of a sunset across a beautiful landscape. Make the bright areas really bright and the dark areas darker for a striking visual effect.” Designer might then produce an image similar to this:
Credit: Designer in Copilot
Go for colorful harmony
Color balance involves distributing colors in a way that creates a pleasing and harmonious visual experience. Achieving the right color balance can be a useful design principle for evoking specific emotions. Designer allows you to adjust the color balance to suit your artistic vision. Try telling Copilot to “make a photorealistic image of a sunset. Focus on color balance to create a calming, harmonious feel.”
Credit: Designer in Copilot
Control your negative space
Negative space, or blank space, is the area around and between the visual design elements in your image. It’s an important design principle and plays a significant role in directing attention and creating a sense of breathing room in your AI-generated image. Designer allows you to control negative space to optimize your image’s overall impact. Try it out by telling Copilot to “make an image of a colorful sunset. Use the principle of negative space to add drama.”
Credit: Designer in Copilot
By integrating these principles and visual design elements with the capabilities of Designer, you can elevate your AI-generated images to new heights of beauty and aesthetic appeal. Create the excellent images you envision using Copilot and the Copilot app with these principles in mind and other tips in the AI Art Prompting Guide.
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