AI Design Tools & Workflows

AI image generation (Midjourney, GPT-4o, Ideogram, SD, Firefly), design review, UI copywriting, design system automation, and text-to-UI tools.

AI Design Tools & Workflows

A comprehensive reference for AI tools that support design work: image generation, design review, UI copywriting, design system automation, and text-to-UI generation. Each tool has a specific role — the key is matching the right tool to the right job.

AI Image Generation

Tool	Best For	Pricing	Key Strength
Midjourney V7	Hero images, illustrations, mood boards	$10-120/month	Highest aesthetic quality; Draft Mode for 10x speed
GPT-4o Image	Quick concepts, text-in-image, iteration	Pay per use	Integrated into ChatGPT; replaces standalone DALL-E
Ideogram 3.0	Logos, typography, text-heavy designs	Free + $20/mo	90-95% text rendering accuracy
Stable Diffusion 3.5	Batch generation, style transfer, privacy	Free (self-hosted)	Full local control; ControlNet/LoRA customization
Adobe Firefly 5	Production assets, stock replacement	In Creative Cloud	Trained on licensed content — safest commercial option

Midjourney V7 (April 2025): Ground-up architecture rebuild. Draft Mode (fast, cheap iterations), video generation (5-21 second clips), improved hands/bodies/text.
OpenAI retired standalone DALL-E — GPT-4o generates images natively. DALL-E 3 API deprecation scheduled May 2026.
Ideogram 3.0 (March 2025): Text rendering accuracy pushed to ~95%. Go-to for anything with visible text.
Stable Diffusion 3.5: Three sizes (8B, 8B Turbo, 2.6B Medium), all runnable on consumer hardware. SD 4 announced August 2025.
Adobe Firefly Image Model 5: Photorealistic 4MP images with natural language editing, video editor, audio tools.

Tool	Text Accuracy	Notes
Ideogram 3.0	~90-95%	Best for logos, signage, UI mockups
Adobe Firefly 5	Good	Improving rapidly
GPT-4o	Moderate	Decent for short text
Midjourney V7	~30%	Poor — avoid for text-heavy
Stable Diffusion 3.5	Variable	Depends on model/config

Practical Applications

Mood Boards — 20 Variations in Minutes

Generate visual direction variations rapidly:

"Minimalist fintech dashboard, dark mode, glassmorphism,
 accent color #3B82F6, data visualization cards, clean typography"

Best tool: Midjourney V7 for aesthetic quality, Draft Mode for fast iteration.

Placeholder Content — Real-Looking Hero Images

Replace gray boxes with realistic images for stakeholder reviews:

"Professional woman using smartphone app, clean background,
 natural lighting, portrait orientation, no text overlays"

Best tool: GPT-4o for quick iteration, Adobe Firefly for commercial safety.

Icon Exploration — Style Variations

Explore icon styles before committing to an icon set:

"Set of 12 line icons for: home, wallet, meter, settings,
 notifications, profile — consistent 24px grid, 2px stroke"

Best tool: Midjourney V7 or in-Figma with figma-use’s figma_create_icon (150,000+ Iconify icons).

Logo Concepts with Text

Generate logo concepts where text rendering matters:

"Modern logo for 'AuraFlow' — clean sans-serif typography,
 gradient blue to purple, abstract flow symbol, white background"

Best tool: Ideogram 3.0 — 90-95% text accuracy vs. 30-40% for others.

Commercial Licensing: Midjourney and OpenAI-generated images have specific licensing terms. For production client work, verify your plan covers commercial usage. Adobe Firefly is explicitly trained on licensed content and is the safest option for commercial deliverables.

AI-Powered Design Review

Instead of relying solely on human reviewers, use AI for systematic design audits before handoff.

Check	How It Works
Color contrast	Feed hex values, verify WCAG AA (4.5:1) and AAA (7:1)
Touch target sizes	Verify >= 44x44pt (Apple) or 48x48dp (Google)
Consistency	Compare button styles, spacing, typography across screens
Copy quality	Evaluate labels, error messages, empty states for clarity
Responsive logic	Describe breakpoint behavior, verify completeness
Accessibility	Check alt text, focus order, color-only indicators

# Analyze the design system of the current file
figma-use analyze

# Lint against 17 built-in rules
figma-use lint

The figma_lint tool checks:

Design tokens — Unauthorized colors, sizes, spacing
Layout — Missing auto-layout, inconsistent padding
Typography — Mixed font families, non-standard sizes
Accessibility — Low contrast, small touch targets
Structure — Unnamed layers, deeply nested groups

When you need deeper review, feed a screenshot to Claude or ChatGPT:

Review this screen design for a mobile fintech app:

- Screen: [name and purpose]
- Target users: [demographic]
- Platform: iOS / Android

Check for:
1. Visual hierarchy — is the primary action obvious?
2. Consistency — do similar elements look/behave the same?
3. Accessibility — contrast, touch targets, color-only indicators
4. Copy — are labels clear, concise, and actionable?
5. Edge cases — empty states, error states, loading states

AI Copywriting for UI

LLMs produce better UI copy than lorem ipsum and often better than a first-draft human attempt.

Element	Prompt Pattern	Example Output
Button labels	“Action verb + object, max 3 words”	“Save changes”, “Add meter”
Error messages	“What happened + what to do, friendly”	“Payment declined. Try a different card.”
Empty states	“Explain what will appear + how to start”	“No meters yet. Tap + to add your first.”
Onboarding	“Benefit-first, one sentence per screen”	“Track your energy usage in real time.”
Tooltips	“What it does, not what it is”	“Sends a 6-digit code to verify your phone”
Confirmations	“Consequence + confirm/cancel”	“Delete this meter? You’ll lose all history.”

For large projects, get all microcopy at once:

Generate UI copy for a prepaid electricity app (48 screens).
For each screen, provide:
- Header text (max 4 words)
- Subheader (max 10 words, explains purpose)
- Primary button label (max 3 words)
- Secondary button label if applicable

Screens:
1. Splash — branded intro
2. Login — phone number entry
3. OTP — verification code
...

This produces consistent tone, terminology, and structure across the entire application.

Generate copy in all target languages simultaneously. LLMs handle translation context better than string-by-string translation tools because they see the full UI flow and maintain consistent terminology across screens.

Design System Automation

Extract Tokens

figma-use analyzes an existing Figma file and extracts its implicit design system:

figma-use analyze --output tokens.json

Output: color clusters, typography scale, spacing values, border radii.

Enforce Consistency

Use extracted tokens as lint rules:

figma-use lint --config design-tokens.json

Common violations caught:

#3B82F5 instead of #3B82F6 (off-by-one hex)
15px padding where system uses 16px
font-weight: 500 mixed with 600
6px radius when system standard is 8px

Continuous Audit

Run lint on every new screen before handoff. These subtle inconsistencies slip through manual review but create an unprofessional look. Automated linting catches them all in seconds.

Text-to-UI Generation Tools

A new category of tools generates complete UI screens from text descriptions.

Formerly Galileo AI (acquired by Google, May 2025). Generates UI screens using Gemini models.

Standard Mode (Gemini 2.5 Flash) — fast layouts, 350 gen/month free
Experimental Mode (Gemini 2.5 Pro) — higher fidelity, 50 gen/month free
Prototypes (December 2025) — multiple related screens in one project
Export — HTML/CSS + one-click Figma export

Acquired by Miro. ChatGPT-style conversation to wireframe.

Sketch/screenshot-to-wireframe scanner
Section-level editing
Figma export
Free plan (3 generations) / $12/mo

AI sitemap + wireframe generation with 1,000+ human-designed responsive components.

Design View (July 2025) bridges wireframe to polished design
Free (30 components) / $38-48/mo
Figma + Webflow export

When to use text-to-UI vs. MCP: Text-to-UI tools are excellent for initial exploration — generating a first screen concept in 30 seconds for stakeholder alignment. MCP-based approaches (figma-use, custom bridge) are better for production wireframing — 10-50 screens with consistent design systems and precise specifications.

Quick Reference: Which Tool When?

Scenario	Recommended Tool
Generate 1-2 concept screens quickly	Google Stitch or Uizard
Generate 10+ screens with design system	figma-use or Custom Bridge
Wire 20+ prototype interactions	Custom Bridge (Python)
Audit design for accessibility	figma-use lint + Check Designs
Generate hero images for mockups	Midjourney V7
Create logo concepts with text	Ideogram 3.0
Batch-generate production assets	Adobe Firefly
Feed designs to coding AI	Figma Official MCP

Figma + MCP Integration