The rapid development of artificial intelligence may worry artists and designers, especially after popular image generators like DALL-E and Midjourney started to create more original artworks. Let's see if neural networks are actually having a less than favorable impact on the design and fine art fields, or can they still be a tool for progress that helps artists grow?

What Neural Networks Can Do

Nowadays, we think that neural networks have suddenly become too much in our lives, but in fact, everything has evolved gradually. The auto-correct feature on our phones is a neural network that completes words and sentences. An app for recognizing music by ear is AI too, as are various online translators.

In simple terms, a neural network is a trainable program that gives an answer to a given question or solves a given problem using a lot of stored data.

Neural networks for image generation create visual images based on a query. With such a generator, you can create interior design, logos, advertising posters, and even website concepts; you just need to correctly formulate what the desired result should be.

How Neural Networks Are Used for Design

Artificial intelligence can perform various useful tasks in design. Let's analyze the main ones.

Idea Generation

No one says that the design from a neural network should be immediately carried to the customer. You can play a little with requests to see different variants, be inspired by some image and color scheme, or an unusual compilation of elements, and form your own idea based on it.

Search for References

Tools for drawing in neural networks sometimes save time on finding examples. In conditions of tight deadlines on a task, you can spend an hour searching for pictures of Swiss chalets in the mountains, and the neural network will pull the necessary images from its giant database for a few seconds. The main advantage of the AI assistant is its ability to process information and produce results quickly.

Concept Drawing

If you need to provide several design options in a short time, you can speed up and optimize the process with AI. Use the suggested colors, images, and elements, incorporating them into your unique concept.

Communication With Customer

This rather difficult stage in the designer's work can be almost eliminated with AI. Even people who are far from design can make a sketch of the task in a neural network and show what they want from the artist. In general, at the initial stage of discussion, quick examples from the program can be exchanged, creating a more visual subject of discussion.

How to Work With Neural Networks to Create Images

You need to know how to properly design a query. Each program has its own algorithm, but there are some common places.

The main thing when working with a neural network is a high-quality prompt. This can be learned if you remember the basic rules.

Don't Use Negative Queries 

The neural principle of building a program forces it to search for words and match them.

Create a Specific Request

If you want a retro logo for a burger shop, don't hesitate to specify: in the style of what years, with what inscriptions, and in what color scheme.

Add More Details

It's a good time to play with clarification ad infinitum. Definitions, references, and synonyms will increase the quality of the picture.

Prescribe the Desired Style

As a rule, neural networks, if you don't specify the boundaries of visual style, produce a photorealistic image to your taste.

Specify the Exact Number of Objects

Specify how many objects you want to see in the image, but remember — the more objects, the lower the quality of detail.

Avoid Emotions in Your Request

The AI's ideas about emotions are quite general and can even be frightening because of their unnaturalness. Instead of "cheerful" it's better to say "bright, summery, colorful."

Development Prospects for Experts

Rapid program development for creating graphics may seem threatening, but in fact, every tech development, cutting off some opportunities, gives others; and they are often more interesting and promising. What can designers and artists do now?

Expanding Skills 

For now, AI may take over some formulaic processes. A cool designer with a unique style is least likely to be replaced by a machine.

Actively Working With AI

If we can't stop the inexorable tech development, it's better to take an active part there: customize the training of neural networks, actively work with them to know well, and distinguish manual labor from machine labor. A program can be as good as it wants to be, but it remains just a tool in the hands of a human.

Concentrating on Creative Process 

The most important thing in design, along with visual beauty, is meaning and ideas. A neural network cannot lay down meanings, unlike a human being, which means that a human being will become an even more important figure in design.

AI art can be used for good, like any technology. The essence of any progress is initially to make life easier for people and to take away the most routine, mechanical work, which is usually uninteresting to do. Instead, it frees up space for new ideas and solutions. Don't be afraid to try something new; we often don't trust what we don't know well, but with proper study, amazing perspectives can be discovered.