Generating images with AI

The first thing I needed to get this newsletter up and running was a logo. Because this newsletter was going to focus on AI I figured it only made sense to see if we can ask AI for assistance in creating a new logo. Before I talk about that process and give you some options to create your next logo or image for free with AI I think we need to talk about the elephant in the room.

Text to Image Generation

In recent years, the field of artificial intelligence has made remarkable strides, and one of the most captivating developments is text-to-image generation. This groundbreaking technology allows us to enter a prompt and receive a corresponding image generated from scratch. The results can be nothing short of magical – from surreal landscapes to photorealistic portraits, all created by AI in a matter of seconds.

These AI systems have demonstrated an uncanny ability to understand and interpret complex prompts, producing images that often surpass expectations in their creativity and fidelity. With applications ranging from rapid prototyping for designers to custom visuals for marketing campaigns, the potential for innovation seems boundless. However, we're still in the early stages of this technology, and its rapid advancement has sparked important discussions about its implications.

As exciting as text-to-image generation is, it also raises critical questions about ethics, copyright, and security. The practice of training these models on vast datasets of images scraped from the internet, often without explicit permission or attribution, has led to debates about copyright and fair use. Additionally, concerns about the potential misuse of the technology for creating deepfakes or spreading misinformation have emerged. As we continue to explore and refine this technology, it's crucial to address these challenges while harnessing its incredible potential to enhance human creativity and expression.

I just wanted to make sure we have that context before we move on and let you know that this is something I am thinking about. Is this something you’re thinking about? If so I would love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Why I’m using AI for my newsletter Logo

I've decided to use AI to generate the logo for my newsletter, and I want to be transparent about my reasons. Firstly, this is an AI-focused newsletter, so using AI-generated art feels thematically appropriate and gives me firsthand experience with the technology I'm writing about.

Secondly, as a new venture, I'm operating on a limited budget. AI-generated logos offer a cost-effective solution that allows me to get up and running quickly without initial design expenses. However, I recognize the value of professional design work. If the newsletter grows and becomes profitable in the future, I plan to invest in professional branding and logo design, collaborating with a human designer to evolve the newsletter's visual identity.

Generating Logos with AI

Just as crafting effective prompts has become a crucial skill in generating text with AI, it's equally important—if not more so—when working with text-to-image generation tools. While these AI models have made significant strides in the past year, understanding how to communicate your vision effectively to the AI remains a key factor in achieving the desired results.

While AI can generate images in a matter of seconds, it's important to understand that creating the perfect logo is an iterative process that requires patience, creativity, and persistence. My experience in designing a logo for my AI-focused newsletter serves as a perfect example of this journey. Let me walk you through the steps I took and the lessons I learned along the way.

Starting with a Simple Prompt

I began with a basic prompt: "Generate a new logo for my newsletter that discusses topics in the world of AI". The initial results were, to be honest, not particularly impressive. They lacked the specificity and uniqueness I was looking for. However, this served as a valuable starting point, giving me ideas to build upon and helping me understand what I didn't want as much as what I did.

From there, I refined my prompts by focusing on:

1. Logo Characteristics: Specifying a minimalist design with elements symbolizing intelligence.

2. Style: Experimenting with various design styles, from futuristic to more approachable.

3. Color Palette: Testing different color schemes that represent AI, such as blues and purples.

4. Additional Elements: Incorporating tech-inspired patterns or symbols.

Leveraging AI for Prompt Creation

You can also use AI models to help create prompts based on what you're looking for. This can be especially helpful if you're struggling to articulate your vision or want to explore different ways of describing your desired logo. By inputting a basic description of what you want, you can get AI-generated suggestions for more detailed and effective prompts. Here is a prompt I handed off to Claude:

I got back some really good results and decided to use the following prompt:

Image Generation Tools

In this section I will tell you about a few tools that I used during this process. This list is by no means exhaustive and we aren’t going to go into any in depth tutorials here. If you are interested in going deeper on any of these tools please let me know.

Adobe Firefly

Adobe Firefly is a suite of generative AI models developed by Adobe, designed to create images, text effects, and textures from text descriptions. It's particularly relevant for those looking to create AI-generated logos and other visual content.

What I really love about this tool is that you can use other logos or images as references. This means that if you want a particular style or color palette you can upload that image and the results will use that as a reference.

A feature I really enjoyed here was the ability to edit the image using Adobe Express. You can add text, shapes, graphics and more to enhance the image. I went through a bunch of iterations on Firefly and while I found some good results nothing was really speaking to me. So I decided to move on to the next tool.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot is an AI-powered assistant integrated into various Microsoft products and services. It's designed to enhance productivity and creativity across a wide range of tasks.

While this service is free you will need to sign into your Microsoft account to get access to it. I was able to use my GitHub login and didn’t need a dedicated account.

Copilot also offers an editor which I really appreciated. After some refining I got a logo that I was pretty happy with and decided to go with it. From here I exported it with no background and I will pull that into another tool to vectorize it and add some text to it.

Stable Cascade

Stable Cascade is a state-of-the-art text-to-image model developed by Stability AI, the creators of Stable Diffusion. It represents a significant advancement in AI image generation technology and can be particularly useful in creating high-quality, detailed images for purposes such as logo design.

The big difference between this model and the previous ones is that this one doesn’t have a web interface. This means that while it might be a little bit harder to get setup there are some pros such as running it for free on your own machine.

Accessing Stable Cascade

1. GitHub Repository: The model is open-source and available on GitHub (https://github.com/Stability-AI/StableCascade).

2. Technical Knowledge Required: Using Stable Cascade directly requires technical expertise in machine learning and Python programming.

3. Hardware Requirements: It needs a powerful GPU to run efficiently.

Options for Using Stable Cascade

1. Local Installation:

   • For technically adept users with appropriate hardware.

   • Requires setting up a Python environment and installing necessary dependencies.

   • Offers full control and customization but has a steep learning curve.

2. Google Colab:

   • A more accessible option for those familiar with Python but lacking powerful local hardware.

   • Notebooks are available that set up the environment for you.

   • Allows you to experiment with the model using cloud resources.

3. Third-party Implementations:

   • Some third-party services or applications may incorporate Stable Cascade.

   • These could provide easier access but may have limitations or costs.

Hugging Face

Hugging Face is a platform and community that has become a central hub for machine learning, particularly in natural language processing (NLP) and, increasingly, in computer vision and audio processing.

I decided to use Hugging Face here because it has the Stable Cascade Model and this would give me a web interface and access to GPUs to run the model. If you go this route you will need an account and it will cost you money to access their hardware.

Finalizing the Logo

Now that I had a logo I needed to put the final touches on it. The first thing I needed was a vector version of the logo so I could resize it to any size I might need in the future. There are a couple of services out there that will do this for you like Vectorize.ai but you will need to pay for it.

A tool I recently came across that I am in love with is Recraft. Generate and edit vector art, icons, 3d images and illustrations in a wide range of styles suitable for websites, print and marketing. I am going to do a deep dive into this into the future but for now lets just focus on this logo.

I was able to bring my logo in and vectorize it and the process was really easy. From there I used a text tool that had a large number of fonts to choose from to create the logo + words. I now had the 2 assets I needed to move forward with!

Conclusion

I don’t think this is the greatest logo ever but it looks ok and allows me to focus on the task at hand. In the past this would have been something that stopped me from moving forward. I need everything to be perfect and if it wasn’t I would have never started this newsletter. I will iterate on this later and If I can start making some money from this that will probably be one of the first things I invest in.