Designing with AI: logos & vehicle graphics.
AI image tools — like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Gemini and others — are a brilliant way to explore ideas for your logo or vehicle livery before committing. They're fast, fun and great for sparking inspiration. This guide shows you how to get the most useful results, and explains clearly where AI stops and our design team takes over.
AI images are a guideline, not finished artwork. Anything an AI generates is a visual starting point — a way to show us the direction you like. For anything we print or apply, and especially for vehicles, signage and large-format work, our designers will need to recreate the artwork properly from scratch. We'll explain exactly why further down.
Think of AI as a sketchpad.
AI generators are at their best when you treat them like a quick, tireless sketch artist. Use them to explore directions and gather references — not to produce the final thing.
- Trying out colour combinations and overall "feel".
- Exploring visual styles — minimal, bold, vintage, hand-drawn.
- Seeing rough layouts and where things might sit.
- Building a mini mood-board to share with us.
When you send us the results, you're showing us the direction you like — which is the perfect way to start a project.
How to write a good prompt.
The clearer your instructions, the more useful the result. A strong prompt usually covers six things:
Subject
What it is — "a logo for a plumbing company".
Style
Flat, minimal, vintage, geometric, hand-drawn.
Colours
Name them — "navy blue and warm grey".
Mood
Professional, playful, bold, premium.
Details
A symbol, an initial, an icon idea.
Format
"Simple vector-style logo on a white background".
Put together, that becomes…
Example prompts — logos.
Copy these as a starting point and swap in your own business name, colours and ideas.
Example prompts — vehicle graphics.
Asking for a side-profile view on a plain background makes concepts far easier for us to work from.
Don't worry about getting your real phone number, web address or accreditation logos into the image — we'll add those properly when we build the production artwork.
Tips for the best results.
- Be specific. More detail almost always gives a more useful result.
- Name your colours rather than leaving the AI to guess.
- Ask for "flat", "simple", "vector style" for logos — cleaner art is easier to recreate.
- Keep text out of it. AI is famously bad at spelling — describe where the name goes instead.
- Generate several and keep your favourites side by side.
- Show us what you like — and tell us what you'd change.
Pitfalls to avoid.
- Don't expect print-ready files. Downloads and screenshots are low-resolution and can't be printed at large sizes.
- Don't trust the spelling. Any text the AI adds is usually wrong — treat it as a placeholder only.
- Don't assume the colours are accurate. On-screen colours rarely match printed vinyl.
- Avoid overly busy, detailed images. Fine detail and photo-realistic effects don't reproduce well in large-format vinyl.
- Steer clear of other brands. If a result includes a real company's logo or a familiar character, we can't use it — it isn't yours to print.
Why AI artwork is a guideline only.
This is the most important part. An AI image can capture a look you love — but it can't go straight onto a van or a sign. Here's why our designers always rebuild it:
It's a pixel image, not vector art
AI produces fixed-resolution pixels. Signage and wraps need vector artwork that stays razor-sharp at any size — even metres long. Blow a pixel image up to van size and it turns blurry and jagged.
Colours have to be matched for print
Screen colours (RGB) don't translate directly to printed vinyl (CMYK and Pantone). We colour-match to your brand and to the materials we're using.
Real fonts and correct text
AI can't use licensed fonts and frequently misspells. We set your name and details in proper, legible, licensed type.
It must fit your actual vehicle or sign
Vehicle graphics have to be designed around the real doors, panels, curves and windows of your specific vehicle — something a generic AI image never accounts for.
In short: think of the AI image as a detailed sketch. We turn that sketch into polished, production-ready artwork built to last.
You'll get a different result every time.
AI tools are random by design. Run the very same prompt twice and you'll get two different images — different layouts, colours and details each time. There's no button to "make that exact one again".
So when you find one you love, save or screenshot it straight away and send it over. That single image becomes the reference for your final design — otherwise it may be gone for good.
A few common questions.
Can I just use the AI image on my van?
Not directly — it needs to be recreated as proper print-ready vector artwork first. Think of the AI image as the brief; we make the real thing.
Will the final design look exactly like the AI image?
It will capture the same idea, style and colours — but cleaner, sharper and built to fit your vehicle or sign. More often than not, it ends up looking even better.
Which AI tool should I use?
Any of the popular ones are fine for ideas. The tool matters far less than a clear prompt and sharing what you like with us.
Can you help generate ideas with me?
Absolutely. Tell us your thoughts and we're happy to explore directions together — it's what we do best.
Got an idea? Let's talk.
Send us the AI concepts you like and one of our designers will help turn them into the real thing — print-ready and built to last.