Creating an App Icon with Midjourney

As a product designer, I know the importance of having a visually appealing and memorable app icon. However, not all of us are naturally gifted in graphic design, and that’s where tools like Midjourney come in handy. Midjourney is an image generation tool similar to DALL-E 2, and I’ve been using it to explore different styles for my app icon.

I started by experimenting with different prompts in Midjourney to see what kind of designs it could generate. Shoutout to Javi Lopez from twitter for an inspiring thread. You can see some of the different styles that I explored below. I’ve included the full command under each image, so that if you’re curious you can generate your own variations of it.

After trying out a few, I found one that I particularly liked and decided to explore it deeper by playing around with different variations of the design. Eventually, I found a design generated by Midjourney that went really well with the project.

The last image is uscaled version of the bottom left image generated in the previous prompt.

After upscaling the image in Midjourney, I brought it into Figma. If you look closely, you will find that there are some minor mistakes and inconsistencies in the image. Although the style is perfect for what I’m looking for, I hope to get rid of the mistakes here and there and add a layer of polish to the icon.

Using the image as a reference, I was able to create a vector version of the design in Figma. This made it easy for me to make adjustments and fine-tune the design to my liking. In the end, I was able to create an app icon that I was happy with and that I know will be memorable and effective for my app.

This image was created in Figma from scratch, using the Midjourney image as reference.

Although graphic design may not be my strongest suit, having a well-crafted reference image can greatly enhance the outcome of my designs. While I am proficient in using Figma, finding the appropriate inspiration can prove to be a challenge. However, with Midjourney, I am able to generate a vast array of images in a matter of minutes, providing a wealth of inspiration to choose from. This allows me to confidently design any app icon in any style using Figma.

This app icon is for a project that I am collaborating on with the amazingly talented Allison Fang.
You can follow us on Figma community:
https://www.figma.com/@allisonfang
https://www.figma.com/@alborz
Link to the free Figma project: https://www.figma.com/community/file/1199599990139361630/remaking-an-icon-created-by-midjourneyin-figma