A DALL-E image render based on the prompt: The main pyramid of Giza rendered in Mondrian style. Colors are adjusted in Photoshop.

DALL-E, world-famous architecture, and grid-centric artists

Exploring ideas with AI image generation based on complementary parameters

Digital design is all about grids. Nothing happens without it. Every pixel-based shaped is based on a grid.

Designers and artists know that beyond the freedom of the drawn line, there lies the grid and geometry. Every blank page has a center, a foreground and background, compositional spaces, visible and invisible circles and triangles. Even if they final product looks as if it was done by magic, it is based on a grid.

Sometimes, when designing, we get stuck at the blank page. We experience designer’s block. Nothing happens. Nada. No shape appears, no line gets drawn.

However, luckily, DALL-E, as an AI tool, can help us with ideation. With the right prompts and conceptual thinking, we can explore new ways to look at a design problem, and if interesting, develop further and iterate.

Let’s experiment.

Understanding the prompt concept for the generative image

I find that setting a concise prompt for an AI image, in any AI tool, is crucial for understanding the outcome of the given prompt.

Precise narrative references and design data produces a less random AI image. The idea outcome is more relatable and ready to be iterated.

For this exploration, the DALL-E prompt entered is a two-prong input. Modernist, grid-based artist are referenced in combination with world-class architecture masterpiece. The geometry of the architecture meets the geometry of the artistic style.

Blend an example of world-famous geometry-based architecture with a world-famous, grid-based, modernist artist.

The DALL-E prompt: The _[building]_ in _[town]_ in the style of _[artist].

We’ll explore three landmark buildings matched with three artists.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris in the style of Carmen Herrera