Create images and icons with AI

You can produce images, icons and even a logo with AI in an evening. Here are the tools that suit different needs, and the pitfalls you should know.

Choose tool by need

• Text in the image (ads, simple logos): Ideogram is unusually good at including readable text. Most image AIs mess up letters.
• Fast and all-in-one: Canva combines AI images with templates for posts, so you get something finished straight away.
• Commercially safe: Adobe Firefly is trained on licensed material, which reduces the risk of copyright problems when you use images in marketing.

How to write a good prompt

Be concrete about subject, style, colour and format:

“Minimalist icon of a coffee cup, flat vector style, two colours (dark blue and yellow), white background, square.”

Ask for variations, pick the best, and refine in dialogue.

Pitfalls to know

• Commercial licence. That an image is free to create does not mean you may use it in a paid ad. Read the terms for your plan, especially if you sell the product with the image on.
• Brands and people. Do not ask the AI to imitate a famous logo or depict real people.
• Data storage. Most image AIs store data outside the EU. For images this rarely matters, but do not feed in sensitive material.

The more advanced path

If you are technical, agent tools (such as a coding assistant) can generate icons as SVG code directly (scalable and small). For most people, however, the tools above are enough.

Need help choosing? Try the selector tool or browse the Image & design category.