Author: Chantelle van den Heever
Midjourney is a game-changer in AI-assisted design, democratising creativity for all skill levels. Pay attention, ’cause it is a game-changer, and you’ve been warned.
Like the moonshot thinking approach that put a man on the actual, literal Moon, this tool allows you, me, and everyone with internet access to put ideas into visual reality, even if you have zero design skills. Midjourney generates visual assets ranging from professional stock photographs to highly creative stylised illustrations and everything in between by using a text-based prompt or description of the image you want to create.
The Upsides
Midjourney shines as an accessible tool for those with or without media design expertise. The supportive community is a standout feature, readily offering assistance when challenges arise. For newcomers, pairing Midjourney with ChatGPT to craft prompts can be an invaluable time-saver, helping elevate the output quality from the get-go.
Its ability to intuitively refine ideas is impressive, providing a cost-effective solution for creative endeavours.
The Challenges
Navigating Midjourney is not without its challenges. The public visibility of design outputs could be a concern for some, though this can be addressed with a subscription that includes Stealth mode. AI-generated images may occasionally exhibit quirks, like missing or extra elements. While these can be fixed with additional software, refining prompts within Midjourney often leads to the desired correction. The Discord interface might seem intimidating initially, but it becomes manageable with some practice.
Furthermore, Midjourney recently launched Midjourney Alpha, a creation mode with a more intuitive user experience directly from the midjourney.com site, and it is becoming available to creators with over 1000 images generated. To use Midjourney effectively, you must invest significant time, with multiple iterations sometimes necessary to perfect an idea.
Understanding Content Rights
Regarding the content rights, Midjourney’s terms are summarised on their website. According to Midjourney.com: ‘If you’ve subscribed at any point, you are free to use your images in just about any way you want.’
The detailed terms provide further clarity:
Furthermore, it’s essential to acknowledge the rights granted to Midjourney when using their services:
“By using the Services, You grant to Midjourney, its successors, and assigns a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, sublicensable no-charge, royalty-free, irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and distribute text and image prompts You input into the Services, as well as any Assets produced by You through the Service. This license survives termination of this Agreement by any party, for any reason.”
For complete details, refer to Midjourney’s Terms of Service: https://docs.midjourney.com/docs/terms-of-service
As this tool develops and becomes commonplace, it will serve those with curious minds and a willingness to experiment. While human creativity cannot be replaced with AI tools, AI technology will contribute to efficiency in the creative process and empower even those with no design skills to enhance their ability to communicate ideas.