This will not be perfect. ~Me
I’ve thought about what these icons should be and wanted something else, but I didn’t know what that was. Instead, I looked at the bucket list items under each category and used a simple prompt that I modified slightly to get each of these icons. Some didn’t need additional prompting, others required a lot of help, or I ultimately had to redo the prompt.
Here, I’ll show all the prompts and outputs, the good and the bad. My goal was to create a set of icons representing the categories into which I’ve broken the bucket list. I want to place these icons in reports, i.e., blog posts, where something within that category is being discussed.
I used ChatGPT 4o to create these icons. The overall goal was to create a round icon that was simple and easy to understand. While not perfect, these will do well for now.
The Assemble Icon
The first prompt created an icon that came out better than expected, so I was off to a great start. The lines were bold and thick, an art style I enjoy. There is detail without being overwhelming or too realistic. Lastly, it comes across well enough to stand for the word ‘assemble.’
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that is a of a hammer, pencil, and building block.
The Design Icon
I’m glad that my first prompt went so well the first time because I had to work on all my prompts a few times to get closer to what I wanted. For instance, when coming up with an icon for design, I re-ran the same prompt a few times.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that is, an artist's ink pen and computer mouse.
The Vocation Icon
For the next round of icon generation, the vocation icon, I wanted it to be represented by a coffee cup. This proved to be a stricter prompt as the cup ended towards the top and made a lot of noise that I didn’t care for.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that is a coffee cup.
I added a location to the prompt in an attempt to align the coffee cup center and fill up additional space. The second cup was more in line with my vision, so I tried inverting the icon.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that is a coffee cup in the center.
The icon to the left was better, but I wasn’t after the “coffee” text in the icon. A second regeneration gave me what I thought I was looking for, so I asked for the colors to be inverted.
Prompt: With the image above, invert the colors.
After inverting the colors, I felt that the noise became more pronounced, and I disliked how rough this icon looked compared to the others. So, I tried another prompt that asked for a pot of coffee instead of a cup.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that is a pot of coffee in the center.
Success!
The Entertainment Icon
The next icon to be created was for the entertainment category. I wanted something that covered video games, card games, and miniatures. Starting with the same prompt as the others led to ok results, but I had a problem with poker chips and playing cards constantly being added in. It took several prompts to get closer to my intended goal.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style that has a video game controller, playing card, and miniature horse figurine.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style that has a video game controller, a blank playing card, and a miniature horse figurine.
Prompt: In the image above, remove the poker chips.
Prompt: This is a great image, but there are still poker chips in the image.
At this time, I tested rewriting the prompt. It gave a better output on the second regeneration and came as close as I thought it would get.
Prompt: This is a great image, but there are still poker chips in the image.
The Nutrition Icon
The following section icon to be created is for nutrition, which is a fancy way of saying health. I wanted the icon to have a shoe for running and general workouts, a human heart, and a crushed can of soda to show that I am working to be healthy overall.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that has a human heart, crushed soda can, and tennis shoe.
This is about thirty percent there, but the soda can is way off, and I’m not sure what the noise is between the heart and the can. I made a slight edit to the prompt and regenerated it twice.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that has a human heart, a soda can that has been crushed, and tennis shoe.
The first image is a definite no-go, with the Niki logo visible. The second image has a tennis racket, most likely due to the prompt.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that has a human heart, a crushed can, and tennis shoe.
The word tennis seems to be driving the prompt to generate a tennis racket, and I hadn’t thought of a way to remove it yet. So, I did the next best thing; select a portion of the image and attempt to remove it that way.
While the weird broken bottle isn’t what I’m looking for, I tried to refine this image further with an additional selection prompt.
The next attempt was to use the selection prompt to crush and dent the can. After three regenerations, the icons were getting closer.
The can wasn’t coming out correctly, so I decided not to include it in the following prompt. However, I reintroduced the issue of a tennis racket.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that has a human heart and tennis shoes.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that has a human heart and tennis shoes.
I finally removed the tennis bit by changing the prompt to include the words ‘gym shoe’. A few regenerations later, a passable icon was created that I liked well enough to call it good.
The Transcribe Icon
The next icon to create was for transcribe. Otherwise known as writing. This prompt was a winner right out of the gate.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that has a book and writing quill.
The Transcribe Icon
This next icon is close to transcribing but fundamentally different. It means to understand or learn something. I wanted to go for a scroll to get the feeling of old knowledge or what a wizard would use to learn a new spell.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that has scroll and tome.
I changed the prompt slightly to add some books and give the icon a bit more of a feeling that the viewer is trying to learn a lot.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that has scroll and stack of books.
The Reading Icon
The past two icons and this icon do seem to flow together and intertwine. This prompt is to create an icon for reading. It was a first-time success, I think!
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that has an open book.
The Extra Icon
The very last icon is a catch-all for the extra things that don’t fit anywhere else—a bucket, if you will. This following prompt was way off the mark, and it was my fault for not composing something better. This is a journey, and the result in the second prompt, after a few regenerations, hit the mark.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, that means extra.
Prompt: Create a round image in black and white lines, cartoon style, of a bucket.
That’s it! I hope you found all the prompts and regenerations I used to create the icons for A.D.V.E.N.T.U.R.E. helpful in future prompts of your own.