MidJourney For Mood Boards

One thing you need to know about me is I love learning new tech and trying out something new especially anything related to design. Enter MidJourney.

I’d heard about the platform through the grapevine of the internet but hadn’t tried it out until a couple of weeks ago.

Needless to say, I love it and want to be using is all the time! Keep reading to learn more about how I use MidJourney for design projects and mood boards.

The Basics

It all started with a MidJourney workshop I took online with Drew Brucker inside AI for Non-techies, which is awesome definitely check it out if you have the time.

I had actually seen some of Drew’s posts on LinkedIn and was excited to learn the basics and get started. It’s definitely not a super simple platform to navigate but easy enough to figure out with someone explaining the settings and basic operations.

Creation Process

After trying out the sample project from the workshop I got totally lost, in a good way, inside the platform.

The endless scroll of the Explore page was so inspiring. All different types of design and art styles are on display.

So many of the images that popped up I couldn’t believe were AI generated.

Finding Prompts

When you’re starting with a mostly blank slate it can be intimidating! So I browsed through the Explore page and started saving images and prompts that intrigued me and I might want to put my spin on.

Then I used the search bar for keywords for various projects I tried like Neon Medusa which is a mood board I created in Pinterest.

Side note: I have no idea where the idea for Neon Medusa came from but I think the end result is pretty cool.

Experimenting

I searched for “neon” and “medusa” separately since there are some images like this but not tons.

I saved images and prompts that I thought I could modify to create something similar to the 80’s pop art aesthetic I was looking for.

After creating several versions and tweaking the prompts ever so slightly I created the image above which was exactly what I wanted.

It checked all the boxes: 80’s neon colors, pop art, and, of course, Medusa.

That sparked the idea to create an image for that mood board that might not exist on Pinterest, yet.

Trial and Error

Like any new platform, playing around with it is the easiest way to learn.

Sometimes I would be on a roll and think I’d totally mastered it. Then just as quickly I’d realize I was out of my depth a bit.

Keep adjusting your prompts, settings or just rerun the same thing again. This can create something completely different.

How I Use MidJourney

You can use this platform for anything from personal creative projects to brainstorming design ideas to creating an avatar image for social media and everything in between.

Being some sort of designer makes using a platform like MidJourney easier but I would encourage anyone who is intrigued by it to try it out.

My Prompts

Here are the prompts I used for the images in this post:

First Neon Medusa with Blue Face: Bright neon colored collage in a Pop art style. Medusa plaster head. Snakes in hair. Blue and pink purple green colors. trippy mc escher background, retro cartoon style, neon color scheme

Mood Board Medusa: blank scrapbook collage, page, template, an 80s themed scrapbook layout, Medusa plaster head, snakes in hair, filled with old magazines, vintage ads, and neon colors, with cloth scraps and glitter, textured style with layered materials, 80s fashion magazine style, stylish, nostalgic, extra fashion sketches, neon tones color palette

Pink Pony: Neon pink pony, my little pony, pink pony club inspired, glitter, disco ball

If you like these images feel free to modify my prompts to make something similar or completely different!

Using MidJourney for Mood Boards

My favorite way to use the platform is creating images for a mood board or creating the mood board through prompts.

The creation capabilities in MidJourney are so vast almost anything you can imagine can be created.

Obviously certain restrictions are in place but you weren’t going to use it for that, were you? :)

I created images to fully encompass the mood boards I’d created and to a create a mood board inside the program too. Mood board inception!

It’s easy enough to find mood board prompts, just search for “mood board” on the Explore page and see what catches your eye.

MidJourney for Design

The name of the game is experimenting to use this platform to its full potential.

I like using MidJourney to create images I can’t find or to create something that is similar but totally different.

Just for fun, I also created a pony mashup inspired by My Little Pony and Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan.

The end result makes my inner child giddy with delight. :)

No hate to ChatGPT but I won’t be using that platform for image generation again any time soon.

Want More Mood Boards?

I’m creating a workshop collab with another business owner all about mood boards!

If you want to know all the details, sign up for the Redesignia email list and you’ll be the first to know.