AI for Design in 2026: Recraft, Ideogram, Nano Banana

AI for design in 2026 is no longer one universal image generator but a set of tools for different tasks: one model draws icons and logos, another a layout with readable text, a third a moodboard and a visual. This article is about using AI for design in practice: which model to take for an icon, a banner, an SVG illustration or a social media post, how to write the prompt and where you will finish the result by hand. All of it works in Pixyn.

TL;DR

• Recraft: icons, logos, SVG, line art, illustrations, banners, design objects. It gives real vector (SVG), not just raster.
• Ideogram: layouts that need readable text: covers, banners with lettering, posters, typography. It also generates images with a transparent background.
• Nano Banana Pro: visuals, moodboards, backgrounds, art, concepts. It also edits from a reference (upload a picture and change it).
• Flux Kontext: precise editing of a ready image by a text instruction.
• New accounts get welcome tokens; plans are on the pricing page.

Which AI for design you need for your task

The main mistake is trying to do everything with one model. Each design model has its own strong zone. Here is how to lay it out.

Icons, logos, pictograms, SVG. Take Recraft. It can give the result in vector: SVG that scales without quality loss and is edited in Illustrator or Figma. Recraft also has styles (flat icons, line art, 3D objects, isometry, stickers) and a controllable palette, and its Vectorize mode turns a ready raster image into SVG.

A layout with text: a banner, a cover, a poster with lettering. Take Ideogram. Ideogram is tuned specifically for rendering text and holds Latin lettering noticeably better than its competitors. This is the story of YouTube covers, ad banners, posters and key visuals with a short line of text. When an object needs a transparent background, Ideogram has a separate mode for that.

A visual, a background, art, a moodboard, a concept. Take Nano Banana Pro. This is about aesthetics and atmosphere: backgrounds for a website, illustrations for an article, a moodboard for a client pitch, ad scenes. Nano Banana is strong in controllability and in editing from a reference.

Editing a ready picture. If the image already exists and something needs changing (remove an object, change the background, add an element), take Nano Banana Pro (editing by reference and prompt) or Flux Kontext (precise edits by instruction). No need to regenerate from scratch.

The catalog also has DALL-E, Seedream, Qwen and FLUX for a variety of styles; for design objects and text, start with Recraft and Ideogram.

Recraft: icons, logos, SVG and design objects

Recraft is the designer's workhorse on the platform. What it really covers:

• Icons and pictograms: sets in one style (flat, line, duotone). You can set the style once and generate the missing icons in the same key.
• Logos: simple marks, monograms, emblems. Right away in vector, which is essential for a logo.
• SVG illustrations: spot illustrations for a landing page, hero pictures, decorative elements.
• Line art: outline illustrations, doodles, diagrams.
• Design objects: stickers, badges, buttons, elements for UI and presentations.
• Banners and web graphics: layouts for specific sizes.

Recraft's key difference is vector. Any model gives a raster picture (PNG/JPG), but it cannot be enlarged endlessly and is inconvenient to edit. You open an SVG from Recraft in Figma or Illustrator, recolor it, split it into layers and export it at any size. For production design this saves hours.

Ideogram: layouts with readable text

If your layout has lettering (a heading on a cover, a slogan on a banner, text on a poster), you need a model built for text. Ideogram was created for exactly this. It is what you need for:

• covers for articles, videos, podcasts;
• ad banners with a short line of text;
• posters and bills;
• key visuals with typography;
• social media layouts with a quote or an offer.

A working technique: short text (1 to 3 words) in the frame, and longer lettering added in the editor on top of the generated background.

Nano Banana: visuals and moodboards

When you need not graphics but a mood picture (a background, a scene, an illustration, a moodboard), that is the zone of Nano Banana Pro.

Nano Banana Pro is about controllability and editing. You can upload a reference (your picture, a product photo, a sketch) and ask the model to change it, add to it or transfer a style. This is handy for moodboards based on the client's real materials and for "almost there, but change this" iterations.

Typical design scenarios: a moodboard for a client pitch, backgrounds and hero visuals for a website, illustrations for a blog and social media, ad creatives, pre-visualizing a concept before drawing it in an editor.

Step by step: how to make a design object with AI

Let's take a set of icons for a landing page, the most common task. The same steps work for a logo, a banner and an illustration.

1. Open the Studio. Go to pixyn.ai/studio. If you have no account, sign-up takes about 30 seconds via email, Telegram or Google, and new accounts get welcome tokens.
2. Choose the model for the task. For icons and SVG, Recraft. For text in a layout, Ideogram. For a visual, Nano Banana.
3. Describe the object specifically. Not "an icon", but "a shopping cart icon, flat style, two lines, rounded corners, one accent color". The more precise, the fewer iterations.
4. Set the style and the colors. In Recraft choose a vector or icon style and the palette for the set.
5. Generate variants. Get several variants and pick the one closest to the task.
6. Generate the series in the same style. For the icons to look like a set, keep the style wording the same and change only the object ("cart", then "heart", then "profile").
7. Download in the format you need. For Recraft, SVG (vector); for raster models, PNG.
8. Finish in the editor. Open it in Figma or Illustrator, align it to the grid, bring it to one line thickness and the brand colors.

Step 8 is not a formality. The finishing is what turns "a picture from AI" into a ready design object you can hand over to production.

A ready prompt for an icon (copy it)

A prompt for Recraft, a set of icons in one style. Change only the object at the beginning and leave the rest as is, so the series stays consistent:

flat line icon of [shopping cart], minimal, two-tone,
rounded corners, consistent 2px stroke weight,
single accent color #2AEE7F on a plain background,
clean geometric style, centered, no text

For a logo:

minimalist logo mark, [abstract leaf], geometric,
flat vector, single color, balanced negative space,
scalable, plain background, no gradients, no text

For a banner with text (Ideogram):

modern web banner, bold headline "SUMMER SALE",
clean sans-serif typography, soft gradient background,
high contrast, centered composition, marketing style

A tip: if the banner needs a long line of text, generate the background without lettering and add the text on top in the editor.

Batch processing: Workflow

If the task is a one-off, the Studio is enough. But when you need to run dozens of uniform objects (icons for a whole website, a series of banners for different offers, cards in one style), Workflow, a visual node-based builder, is more convenient. You assemble the "prompt, model, format, result" pipeline once and then run it on a batch of inputs. This removes the routine of copying the prompt by hand for each object. It suits marketers and SMM teams with a regular stream of uniform graphics. See the Workflow page.

What it costs in tokens

Recraft: from 2 tokens per image; Ideogram: from 3; Nano Banana: from 3. Recraft's vector models also start from 2 tokens.

The studio shows the exact charge before you run it, so check against it rather than the article: the catalog gets updated. Pack contents are on the pricing page.

FAQ

Which AI is best for design in 2026? It depends on the task. Icons, logos and SVG: Recraft. Layouts with text: Ideogram. Visuals and moodboards: Nano Banana Pro. There is no universal "best": different tasks need different models.

Can I get a logo in vector (SVG)? Yes, with Recraft: it gives real SVG that scales without quality loss and is edited in Illustrator or Figma. Recraft Vectorize also turns a ready raster logo into SVG.

Can AI make a transparent background? Yes. Ideogram has a mode that generates an image right away with a transparent background, handy for icons, stickers and UI elements.

How much does it cost? New accounts get welcome tokens to try it without paying. Plans are on the pricing page.

Try it yourself

Make your first design object with AI right now: an icon, a logo or a banner. Create in the Studio → Sign-up takes about 30 seconds via email, Telegram or Google, and new accounts get welcome tokens.

Questions about models and formats: support on Telegram, @pixyn_support.

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Read next:

• AI logo generator 2026: Recraft and Ideogram: how to make a logo with AI step by step.
• FLUX: a review of the AI image generator: where FLUX stands among a designer's tools.