Summary for Graphic Design
In the Graphic Design category, utility and precision reign supreme over raw artistic flair. The data reveals a distinct split between "Artistic" models and "Design" models.
🏆 Top Performers
- ChatGPT 4o and GPT Image 1.5: Consistent top-tier performance due to flawless text rendering and strict adherence to geometric constraints.
- Ideogram 3.0 (Quality): Exceptional at integrating complex typography with organic elements.
- Recraft V3: demonstrated superior understanding of vector aesthetics, often beating larger models in pure style adherence.
📈 Key Trends
- Text is the Great Filter: Models that cannot render text reliably (e.g., Midjourney V6.1) struggled significantly in this category, regardless of their artistic quality.
- "Flat" is Hard: Many models defaulted to 3D/rendered styles even when explicitly asked for "flat vector" or "minimalist" designs.
- Counting Challenges: Complex prompts requiring a specific number of items (like the Icon Set) caused failures in over 50% of the models tested.
The analysis of the Graphic Design category highlights that intelligent constraint satisfaction is more valuable than raw rendering power for commercial design tasks.
1. The Typography Divide
Graphic design often requires integrating text with visuals.
2. Vector vs. Raster Aesthetics
A recurring issue was style bleeding. In prompts requesting "flat vector" styles, such as the Mascot Character or the Weather Icon:
- Nano Banana Pro and Recraft V3 correctly interpreted "flat" as solid colors with no shading.
- Conversely, models like xai and Midjourney V6.1 often introduced baked-in lighting, ambient occlusion, and 3D textures, which technically failed the specific style constraints despite looking visually pleasing.
3. Complexity Management
The Banking Icon Set prompt was a stress test for coherence.
- Success: GPT Image 1.5 managed to generate exactly 5 icons with correct labels.
- Failure: Most models generated 4, 6, or 9 icons, often with hallucinated labels like "Sccount" or "Ininsfer." This indicates that while image quality is high across the board, logic adherence remains a frontier for improvement.
Different design tasks require different model strengths. Based on the data, here are the recommendations by use case:
🖋️ Logo & Brand Identity
For clean, geometric logos with text:
🎨 Typography & Creative Text
For prompts where text is the art (e.g., letters made of vines/objects):
📊 UI/UX & Icons
For app icons, button sets, and flat assets:
- Best Choice: Recraft V3 or Seedream 4.5. These models seem tuned for digital assets, respecting flat design principles better than generalist models.
- Avoid: Models heavily biased toward photorealism (like standard Flux or Midjourney) unless you specifically want skeuomorphic 3D icons.
🧱 Textures & Patterns
For background elements where text is not required:
- Best Choice: Flux 2 Pro. It produced the highest-rated Art Deco Pattern, balancing the metallic gold texture with the flat geometric requirements perfectly.
- Best Choice: Nano Banana (2.5 Flash) also performed exceptionally well here, proving that lighter models can handle pattern recognition effectively.
