How to use Midjourney AI in UI design - AHN Media Group
Contact

Design

March 13, 2025

SHARE:

As AI increasingly makes its way into the UI designer’s toolkit, Midjourney is fast becoming one of the most popular image generators. 

With a simple text prompt, you can use Midjourney AI to create custom digital artworks, whip up an app screen, design individual UI elements, and generate colour palettes—all in a matter of seconds.

For UI designers, this can really accelerate the ideation process and help you expand your own creativity. 

So how does Midjourney AI work? And how can you leverage it in the UI design process? Let’s take a look. 

What is Midjourney AI and how does it work?

Midjourney is a generative AI tool created by Midjourney, Inc.—an independent research lab based in San Francisco.

Midjourney AI generates images and digital artworks based on text prompts. If you enter a prompt asking for an image of a mermaid swimming underwater surrounded by marine life, Midjourney will generate four versions for you to choose from. The more specific your prompts, the better—but we’ll get to the art of prompt-writing for Midjourney in a later section. 

Midjourney works within the Discord platform. Discord is an instant messaging app, commonly used to create communities where users can chat via text, voice, and video. Discord essentially facilitates communication between the user and the Midjourney bot.

Midjourney uses two key machine learning technologies:

  • Large Language Models (LLM): this is how Midjourney understands and interprets the text prompts provided by the user.
  • Diffusion Models (DM): in very simple terms, this technology converts random visual noise into a meaningful image. You enter a text prompt, which sparks a field of visual noise. The AI then progressively removes that noise in incremental steps, eventually resulting in an image that resembles what you’ve asked for. 

Now we know what Midjourney is and how it works, let’s drill down to some key functions and features. 

What can Midjourney AI do? Key features

Midjourney’s core function is to convert text prompts into images. This allows you to generate unique digital artworks and graphics in a range of styles. 

You can guide the image generation process by applying custom parameters to your prompts. You might specify a certain aspect ratio, for example, or a particular style such as ‘watercolour’ or ‘flat design’. 

You can also customise the quality of your images by specifying, within your prompt, a value for the rendering quality. You might specify ‘q 1’ (that’s the default quality level) or request that images be rendered to a higher quality by specifying ‘q 2’ in your prompt. 

Once you’ve entered your prompt, Midjourney will give you four different image versions. You can choose to upscale a particular version, which will increase the size/dimensions of the image and also improve the quality. 

Beyond image generation, Midjourney serves as a great source of community and inspiration. You can share your creations and browse images created by others, allowing you to see what’s possible with Midjourney and sparking ideas for your own work. 

How to get set up on Midjourney AI

To use Midjourney AI, you’ll need to create both a Discord account and a Midjourney account. 

If you’re not already a member, first head over to the Discord platform and follow the instructions to create your account. Once you’re signed up, join the official Midjourney Discord server by clicking the ‘Accept invite’ button. 

You’ll then find yourself in the “Getting started” channel, where you can create your Midjourney account (if you haven’t already done so) by clicking “Get your Midjourney membership” (visible in the chat):

This will take you to a separate page, the Midjourney showcase, where you can click “Sign up” in the bottom left corner to create your Midjourney account. 

Once you’re signed up and logged in to Midjourney, you can navigate back to the Midjourney Discord server and enter one of the so-called “newbie” bot channels. You’ll find available newbie channels on the left-hand side.

You can then enter your own prompts into the chat box to start generating images. 

At the time of writing, Midjourney is no longer offering a free trial for new users. If you want to start prompting, you’ll need to sign up for a paid subscription. 

How much does Midjourney AI cost?

Midjourney offers four price tiers:

  • Basic Plan for $10 per month or $96 per year with an annual subscription (that’s around €9 per month / €89 per year)
  • Standard Plan for $30 per month or $288 per year with an annual subscription (that’s around €28 per month / €267 per year)
  • Pro Plan for $60 per month or $576 per year with an annual subscription (that’s around €55 per month / €533 per year)
  • Mega Plan for $120 per month or $1,152 per year with an annual subscription (that’s around €111 per month / €1,066 per year). 

For more information about each price tier and what’s included, visit the official Midjourney pricing page.

How to use Midjourney AI in UI design (with example prompts)

Midjourney can generate custom visuals in a matter of seconds—making it an incredibly interesting tool for UI designers. You can use Midjourney to quickly create screens and individual UI components, come up with themes, styles, and colour palettes, and generate unique digital artwork. 

Note, however, that the graphics you create with Midjourney won’t necessarily be directly usable—and working with Midjourney doesn’t eliminate the need to create your own screens and elements using the usual UI tools like Sketch and Figma. If you generate an app screen with Midjourney, for example, you’ll still need to actually create that screen from scratch yourself. 

Where Midjourney really comes in useful is helping you to explore different ideas and concepts and gather inspiration. You might use your AI-generated artwork to inspire mood boards, kick-start an ideation session, or serve as a guide for certain layouts or colour schemes. 

With that, let’s consider some examples of how to use Midjourney for UI design. 

Use Midjourney AI to generate app screens 

If you’re designing for mobile, Midjourney can help you ideate layouts and designs for various app screens. If you’re designing a dating app, for example, you might try the following Midjourney prompts:

  • /imagine a vibrant and fun login screen for a dating app, with an eye-catching background, username and password fields, and buttons for login and social media sign-ins
  • /imagine a user profile screen for a dating app, featuring a large profile picture at the top, user bio, interests, and match percentage displayed in a clean layout
  • /imagine a match screen for a dating app, showing potential matches with profile pictures, a brief bio, and buttons to like, dislike, or super like
  • /imagine a chat screen for a dating app with a clean interface, message bubbles, timestamps, and an input field at the bottom

Create UI components such as icons, buttons, and logos 

Perhaps you want inspiration for the finer details of your app or website. In that case, try using Midjourney AI to create individual UI components such as icons, buttons, and logos. Here are some prompt examples to guide you:

  • /imagine a set of modern buttons for a mobile app, including primary, secondary, and disabled states, using a black and white colour scheme
  • /imagine a collection of minimalist icons for a mobile app, including icons for home, search, messages, settings, and notifications
  • /imagine a sleek and modern logo for a dating app, incorporating elements of connection and love, with a vibrant colour scheme

Generate theme and style concepts 

In the early stages of the design process, you might focus on coming up with an overall visual style for your website or app—and Midjourney can help with this, too. Specify your vision or initial ideas and let Midjourney bring them to life. 

Consider the following prompt examples:

  • /imagine a light mode theme for a productivity app, featuring white backgrounds, soft grey UI elements, and navy blue highlights
  • /imagine a dark mode theme for a music app, with black backgrounds, dark grey UI elements, and neon pink highlights
  • /imagine a vibrant and colourful theme for a creative design app, with bold colours like orange, pink, and teal, playful typography, and dynamic UI elements

Create custom website imagery 

Imagery plays an important role in UI design, helping to reinforce brand identity and enhance the visual appeal of your website or app. 

Whether you want to create cartoon-style illustrations, abstract artwork, or realistic images of products, places, or people, Midjourney can generate custom imagery that reflects your brand and vision. 

Here are some examples of how you might prompt Midjourney to generate images for different use cases:

  • /imagine a stunning hero image for a tech startup website, featuring abstract technology elements and a modern cityscape in the background
  • /imagine a set of custom illustrations for a health and wellness website, featuring people doing yoga, eating healthy, and meditating
  • /imagine a unique background image for a creative agency website, with abstract shapes and vibrant colours

Generate colour palettes 

Perhaps you want help coming up with the perfect colour palette, or you’ve already got a colour scheme in mind and want to see how it looks in practice. Again, Midjourney is an excellent source of inspiration here. Simply specify the kind of look and feel you’re aiming for and Midjourney can generate multiple colour palettes accordingly.

Consider the following prompt examples to guide you:

  • /imagine a pastel colour palette for a wellness app, featuring soft shades of mint green, blush pink, lavender, and light grey
  • /imagine a bold, split-complementary colour palette for a fitness app, comprising three colours
  • /imagine a monochromatic colour palette for a finance app

How to write effective prompts for Midjourney AI

As with all generative AI tools, the quality of the output depends on the quality of the input. In other words, it’s up to you to tell the AI what you want—and to master the art of prompt-writing for the specific tool you’re using. 

Here are some tips to help you write effective prompts for Midjourney AI:

  • Start each prompt with the /imagine command, followed by a description of what you want the AI to create.
  • Keep it simple and specific. To quote the official Midjourney guidelines for prompt-writing: “The Midjourney Bot works best with simple short phrases that describe what you want to see. Avoid long lists of requests and instructions.”
  • Specify what you want the image to include, rather than what you don’t want it to include. Even if you specify “no flowers” in your prompt, the AI will likely only focus on the word “flowers” and therefore create an image that does indeed contain flowers. If you absolutely want to exclude something from the image, use the “no” parameter. For example: – – no flowers.
  • If necessary, specify your desired aspect ratio using the following parameter: – – ar [value]. If you wanted to generate an app screen, you could specify – – ar 16:9.
  • Use the stylize parameter to control the level of artistic flair that Midjourney injects into each image. If you imagine that the default level, 2500, gives you a medium level of stylization, you can dial it up or down by specifying values higher or lower than 2500. If you wanted to generate an image of a garden that’s more realistic than artistic, you might specify – – stylize 500. If you wanted to create an image of a garden that looks magical and fantastical, you might specify – – stylize 3500.
  • Use the quality parameter to adjust the level of quality and detail in the image. – – q 1 is the default, so work from that value to dial the quality up or down. 

Most importantly, be prepared to experiment. The more you use Midjourney, the more intuitive the art of prompt-writing will become. You’ll start to get a feel for what works and see how different words, phrases, and parameters influence the output. 

Ethical considerations when using Midjourney AI

If you’re using Midjourney AI (or indeed any AI tools) throughout the design process, you must take care to use it responsibly. Here are some of the most important ethical considerations to bear in mind.

Intellectual property and copyright

When generating images with AI, be careful about replicating existing images or artworks created by other artists or designers. You might use a famous logo for inspiration, for example, but you wouldn’t want to emulate the style too closely to the point of copying. 

Deceptive and misleading content

This is like the visual equivalent of fake news—creating image-based content that deliberately deceives, misleads, manipulates, or spreads misinformation. Don’t do it!

Stereotypes and bias

It’s well-documented that AI can and does perpetuate harmful stereotypes and biases. As a human user, you must be diligent about actively looking out for such biases and taking steps to mitigate them.

Strive to generate images that are inclusive and representative of diverse groups. If you generate an image that doesn’t feel inclusive or could potentially exclude or harm certain people, don’t use it. You can learn more about the importance of designing inclusive content in this guide. 

As a general rule: always review AI-generated content with a critical eye, and use your better judgement. As a human user, it’s your responsibility to consider the impact of any content you create—and to ultimately decide what makes it into the public domain. 

The takeaway

Midjourney AI can generate custom images in seconds, making it an excellent tool for gathering inspiration, sparking your own creativity, and ideating and exploring different design concepts, layouts, and styles. 

Whether you use it to generate fully-fledged app screens, individual UI elements, impressive artworks, or colour palettes: Midjourney AI is a powerful addition to your UI design toolkit. 

Ready to get started with Midjourney AI? Experiment with different prompts and use cases, explore other Midjourney users’ creations, and be mindful of the ethical considerations we’ve laid out in this guide. You’ll soon be generating images like a pro! 

Related Articles

1-jpg

Stories

How China’s Anta Became Puma’s Largest Shareholder and the World’s No. 3 Sportswear Giant Behind Nike and Adidas

China’s Anta Sports is making a bold global move, stepping beyond its home market with a major investment in Puma.

The company acquired a 29 percent stake in the German sportswear brand in a $1.8 billion deal, becoming Puma’s largest shareholder.

This signals Anta’s growing ambition to compete head-to-head with the biggest names in the global sportswear industry.

Image Source: Yicai Global

From Small Workshop to Global Brand

Anta’s journey began in 1986 when founder Ding Shizong, a high school dropout from Fujian, borrowed 10,000 yuan from his father to start reselling shoes. After quickly turning a profit, he reinvested his earnings and built a small manufacturing workshop. This early hustle laid the foundation for what would become one of China’s biggest sportswear companies.

By 1991, Anta had officially launched its own brand and began expanding across China. Over time, the company focused on scaling production, improving product quality, and building strong local distribution. These efforts helped Anta grow from a small business into a global brand with a strong foothold in the sportswear market.

Image Source: CGTN

Competing With the World’s Biggest Brands

Today, Anta controls around 23 percent of China’s sportswear market, surpassing both Nike and Adidas within the country. Its dominance at home has helped fuel its rise on the global stage, where it now ranks as the third-largest sportswear company. This growth reflects both strong local demand and strategic expansion beyond China.

Founder Ding Shizong has made it clear that Anta’s vision goes beyond being a regional leader. Rather than becoming the “Nike of China,” he aims to build what he calls the “Anta of the world.” With its recent investment in Puma, the company is taking a major step toward that goal and solidifying its place among the industry’s global giants.

  • 2 min read
image-png

News

Why Bhutan is the Smartest Place for Founders and Entrepreneurs to Reset in 2026

Most founders today are running on packed schedules but feeling mentally drained, and burnout is quietly becoming part of the routine.

When everything feels urgent, there is barely any space left to think — and decisions made from pressure rarely lead anywhere worth going.

That is exactly where Bhutan comes in. Its slower pace and untouched stillness create the kind of environment that gives ambitious minds the room to pause, reflect, and return with sharper focus.

The Philosophy That Reframes Success

Bhutan approaches progress differently, placing equal importance on well-being and growth. Through its Gross National Happiness framework, the country measures success beyond economic output, and recent data shows that over 93% of the population falls within the happiness gradient. This perspective is not theoretical, it is reflected in how people live and make decisions every day.

You start to notice it in small but meaningful ways, like how conversations are not rushed and how people are fully present. There is a steady rhythm to daily life that feels intentional rather than pressured. That alone creates a different kind of mental space.

For founders and entrepreneurs, being in that environment naturally raises questions about what really drives their decisions. It becomes easier to see how much of leadership is shaped by urgency rather than purpose. That shift in awareness is often where real clarity begins.

The Travel Model That Guards Your Headspace

Bhutan keeps tourism at a manageable level, which helps protect both the experience and the environment. In 2025, the country welcomed nearly 210,000 visitors, a number that is intentionally kept low compared to other destinations. As a result, places feel calm and never overcrowded.

There is also a Sustainable Development Fee of about USD 100 per night, which supports conservation and local communities. This approach ensures that tourism grows in a way that does not take away from what makes Bhutan special. It also sets the tone for a more thoughtful way of traveling.

Because of this model, the pace of each trip feels more balanced and unhurried. Days are not tightly packed, which gives you time to take in each experience without feeling rushed. For founders and entrepreneurs, that space often becomes the most valuable part of the journey.

The Environment That Resets How You Think

Bhutan’s landscapes make it easy to slow down without trying too hard. In places like the Phobjikha Valley, the wide open views and quiet surroundings create a sense of calm that is hard to find elsewhere. Even visiting Tiger’s Nest requires a steady climb, which naturally shifts your pace and focus.

There is no constant noise pulling your attention in different directions. Instead, the stillness gives your mind room to settle and process things more clearly. It is often in these quiet moments that new ideas begin to form.

Over time, you notice a change in how you think and respond to things. Decisions feel less rushed and more intentional, which is something many founders and entrepreneurs struggle to achieve in their usual environment. By the end of the trip, the reset feels real and something you can carry with you.

If you are looking for a reset that goes beyond rest and actually changes how you think, explore Bhutan with Druk Asia here:

📍Website

  • 3 min read
unnamed-png

Stories

The Journey of 20-Year-Old Alex Eala to the WTA Top 50 After Taking Down the Biggest Names in Women’s Tenn

At just 20 years old, Alex Eala is emerging as one of the most exciting new forces in women’s tennis. The Filipina athlete has captured global attention after defeating some of the sport’s most established champions.

In a sport historically dominated by Western powers, Eala’s rapid climb is a major milestone for Asian representation in tennis. Her growing success signals a shift in the global landscape of the sport.

Image Source: SCMP

A Breakthrough That Turned Heads in Miami

Eala’s breakthrough moment came at the 2025 Miami Open, where she entered the tournament as a wildcard. Few expected the young Filipina to make a deep run, but she quickly stunned the field with a series of commanding victories.

During the tournament, Eala defeated multiple Grand Slam champions, including Iga Świątek, Madison Keys, and Jeļena Ostapenko. She later added a win over Coco Gauff, further proving she could compete against the very best in the sport.

Her run to the semifinals became one of the biggest stories of the tournament. It pushed her ranking into the WTA Top 100 and introduced her to a much wider global audience.

Image Source: DZRH

Climbing Into the WTA Top 50

Following her breakout performance, Eala continued to build momentum throughout the season. Strong results in several tournaments helped her steadily climb the rankings and establish herself among the sport’s rising contenders.

By the end of the year, Eala officially entered the WTA Top 50, becoming the first Filipina player to reach that milestone. The achievement marked a historic moment not only for Philippine tennis but also for Southeast Asian representation in the sport.

More than just a personal accomplishment, her rise is inspiring a new generation of young athletes across Asia. As she continues to compete on the world stage, Alex Eala’s journey shows how talent, discipline, and opportunity can reshape the future of global tennis.

  • 2 min read
unnamed-jpg

Stories

The Spirit of a Fighter: How Stepping Into a Muay Thai Ring Changed the Way Alice Shikina Works as a Mediator and Negotiation Trainer

The first time Alice Shikina stepped into a Muay Thai ring, the moment felt bigger than the fight itself. The gloves were heavy, but what weighed more was everything she had been carrying in the months before.

She was in her late thirties, newly divorced, and raising two young children on her own. Her kids were just two and five years old, and the life she had carefully built no longer looked the same.

At the same time, she was trying to establish herself as a mediator and build her own business from the ground up. She didn’t know it yet, but the self-trust she was about to forge in that ring would become the foundation of how she led others through their own conflicts.

The Fight Before the Fight

Kickboxing began as a way to cope during a season that felt completely overwhelming. It gave Alice a physical outlet when her thoughts wouldn’t quiet down and her emotions felt too heavy to carry.

A few months later, Alice’s coach asked if she would consider competing. The idea unsettled her because she had never fought before and had never faced someone trained to strike back. For two months, she wrestled with the decision. What frightened her most was not losing, but the possibility of doubting herself under pressure.

When she finally committed, her routine became disciplined and demanding. She trained three hours a day, carving out time in the early mornings and late evenings while continuing to care for her children and grow her work.

The night before her first fight in Iowa, a coach told her that the real fight was already over because it happened during the grueling months of preparation. Once she realized that, her nerves calmed and a quiet steadiness took over. Even as she approached the ring to step in and fight, she felt unusually calm. She didn’t win that match, but she stayed on her feet until the final bell, and for a woman rebuilding her life, that was more than enough.

What the Ring Taught Her About Pressure

Alice went on to fight three more times. Afterwards, Alice turned her sights to competing in triathlons and even placed first in her age group at the Alcatraz Duathlon. While the medals were nice, the real reward was the quiet discipline she built through the discomfort of training.

She came to understand that fear does not simply fade with time. It softens only when you decide to move toward it.

She also learned that preparation changes how you carry yourself in difficult moments. When you put in the work, you stand differently, breathe more steadily, and think more clearly under pressure.

Today, those lessons shape how she sits with couples navigating divorce and teams facing workplace conflict. When emotions rise and conversations begin to unravel, she remains steady, drawing on the same discipline that once kept her composed in the ring.

Building Her Practice on Her Own Terms

Alice now runs Shikina Mediation and Arbitration full-time, helping divorcing couples, families, and organizations reach agreements they once thought were out of reach. Most clients come to her when communication has broken down and trust feels fragile.

Early in her career, she tried building her business by networking with attorneys, but quickly saw the bias against non-attorney mediators in a field long dominated by older white men. Instead of forcing herself into a system that did not fully welcome her, she shifted her focus to working directly with couples and workplace clients, growing her practice into a thriving full-time business over the past decade. In 2025, Alice was awarded the prestigious Raymond Shonholtz Visionary Peacemaker Award by San Francisco’s Community Boards.

Her work has expanded beyond the mediation room. She hosts the podcast, Negotiation with Alice, now over 100 episodes strong. She authored the book Negotiating with Your Kids, and continues to teach communication and conflict resolution to executives and C-Suite staff. As a second-generation Okinawan American whose parents survived the Battle of Okinawa as children, resilience runs deep in her story. 

Nothing in business, she says, will ever feel as intimidating as stepping into a ring to face an unknown opponent. In that ring, she rebuilt her confidence. At the mediation table, she now helps others rebuild their lives with clarity, courage, and peace.

Discover more from Alice Shikina here:

📍LinkedIn

Learn more about Shikina Mediation and Arbitration here:

📍Facebook

📍Website

  • 4 min read