logo-ideation-prompts

Using AI Images for Logo Ideation (and Where to Stop)

Image generators are useful at the very start of logo work, when you need many rough directions quickly. This note explains how I use Raphael AI for that stage and why the final logo should still be drawn as a vector.

What it is good for

• Exploring metaphors: a bakery logo as a wheat stalk, a rising sun, a rolling pin.
• Exploring styles: line art, flat badge, geometric monogram, hand-drawn.
• Showing a client three directions before any detailed design.

Example prompt:

minimal flat logo concept for a bakery, single wheat stalk forming a circle,
two colors, white background, vector style, no text

Where to stop

Generated logos are raster images with uneven curves, and they may resemble existing marks by accident. Do not ship them directly. Instead:

1. Pick a direction from the concepts.
2. Redraw it from scratch in a vector editor with clean geometry.
3. Do a trademark search before using it commercially.
4. Add the wordmark with a licensed font.

Prompt tips

• Ask for "no text"; generated lettering is unreliable.
• Ask for "two colors" or "monochrome" so the concept will work in print.
• Ask for "white background" so you can judge the shape.

Concept generator: https://raphael.app