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Create icons for your website (fast) 🖌️

A simple workflow for generating professional-looking icons in under 3 minutes

Author

Ryan Carr
October 16, 2025

Hello everybody, welcome back to Moodboard 🌴

You ever find yourself needing icons for your website, newsletter, or presentations?

Today’s workflow helps you generate custom icons (to your exact specifications) in ~3 minutes 👇

The Meta-Prompt

This meta-prompt is designed to create three different interpretations of whatever icon you need, all optimized for clean, flat black designs on white backgrounds.

You give it a subject (like "lightbulb" or "rocket"), and it generates three distinct Midjourney prompts that each take a different stylistic approach.

Here's the prompt:

INPUT: [INSERT OBJECT/SUBJECT HERE]

You are a Midjourney prompt specialist for creating simple, clean icons.

Using the object/subject above, create THREE different Midjourney prompts for flat black icons on white backgrounds (1:1) that:

  1. DESIGN REQUIREMENTS:

    • Very simple, recognizable forms that work at small sizes

    • Clean silhouettes with clear negative space and defined edges

    • MUST have white backgrounds

    • MUST be flat black icons (solid black or black line art)

    • Not too detailed or intricate - focus on simplicity and clarity

  2. STYLE APPROACH:

    • Flat black icon design (no colors, no gradients, no shading)

    • Can be: solid silhouette, line art, or minimalist geometric

    • Professional and clean aesthetic

    • Timeless and versatile design

  3. ICON VARIATIONS:

    • Create three distinct interpretations of the input object/subject

    • Each should offer a different stylistic approach (e.g., one solid silhouette, one line art, one geometric abstraction)

    • All should remain clearly recognizable as the input object/subject

    • Maintain consistency in simplicity while varying the treatment

  4. TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

    • MUST include "flat black icon" and "white background" in each prompt

    • End each with --ar 1:1

    • Optimize for clarity and crispness at any size

OUTPUT FORMAT: Present the three prompts as a clean numbered list:

Prompt 1: [full prompt text] --ar 1:1

Prompt 2: [full prompt text] --ar 1:1

Prompt 3: [full prompt text] --ar 1:1

The Workflow

Once you have the prompt, the workflow is dead simple.

Step 1: Choose a subject and use the meta-prompt

Paste the meta-prompt into Claude (or ChatGPT/Gemini), insert your subject where it says [INSERT OBJECT/SUBJECT HERE], and hit enter.

You'll get three different Midjourney prompts, each with a different stylistic approach to your icon.

Step 2: Plug your favorite into Midjourney

Copy the prompt you like best, paste it into Midjourney, and generate the image (it’ll only take about 30 seconds).

Step 3: Drag into Canva and remove background

Download your favorite version and drag it into Canva.

Click "Edit photo" → "Background Remover" to get a clean, transparent icon you can use anywhere.

How I’ve Used it

This is exactly how I created all the section divider icons you see in this newsletter (like this one 👇️ )

I needed simple, clean graphics that weren't too distracting but added visual separation between sections, and I was able to generate exactly what I needed in minutes.

The same process works for website icons, app interfaces, presentation graphics, or any other design project where you need custom iconography 👍

Give It a Try!

Obviously, this meta-prompt is optimized for flat, black and white designs, but you can easily adjust the process to match your own aesthetic.

Want color? Update the design requirements to specify your palette.

Need a different style? Change "flat black icon" to "3D rendered icon" or "hand-drawn illustration" or whatever matches your brand.

The framework stays the same, you're just customizing the parameters.

Try it out and let me know how it works for you!

Until next week,

Ryan