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1. 0:04Hello, I'm Eunkun Kim.
2. 0:06This section covers the core design basics for really putting Midjourney to work.
3. 0:13Have you ever had an experience like this?
4. 0:15You typed the same word, 'lipstick',
5. 0:18but sometimes you get a red lipstick, sometimes a pink one,
6. 0:21some days the lighting is soft,
7. 0:24and some days the background is dark marble.
8. 0:26You clearly typed the same words,
9. 0:29but the result comes out different every time.
10. 0:31Why is that?
11. 0:32Many people think of Midjourney as a generator that automatically makes pictures,
12. 0:37but honestly, that's not enough.
13. 0:39Midjourney isn't just a tool that outputs images.
14. 0:43It's a tool for designing visual language.
15. 0:46Instead of tossing in a few words,
16. 0:48you need a director's language: lighting, background, material, even mood.
17. 0:54Without a design, you're leaving the result up to luck.
18. 0:57But with a structure, you can reproduce the image you want again and again.
19. 1:02Four goals. First: fully understand the Midjourney web UI, its screens and features.
20. 1:10Second: the 5-layer prompt structure, designing mood as structured visual language.
21. 1:18Third: the 4 parameters you'll actually use: version, style, aspect ratio, and seed.
22. 1:25Fourth: a hands-on mockup exercise, designing three tones for one brand.
23. 1:34First, let's take a look at the Midjourney web screen.
24. 1:37When you first open Midjourney,
25. 1:40you'll see an interface laid out like the one on screen.
26. 1:43On the left, you'll notice that Explore is checked.
27. 1:48Explore is active by default when you first log in.
28. 1:52It's a user gallery page where you can browse images by other members.
29. 1:57There are various categories along the top.
30. 2:00You can see a random selection of other users' work.
31. 2:05Press the Randomize button on the right to reshuffle the list.
32. 2:13Next is the Hot button.
33. 2:15As the name says, it shows what's trending right now.
34. 2:19Next is the Top Day button.
35. 2:21It shows the daily top list.
36. 2:23Click the arrow to open the list and switch between Day, Week, and Month.
37. 2:32Back at the start, look at the top right: Video is currently checked.
38. 2:38Click Image and you can see the Top Day images as well.
39. 2:43In Explore you can browse other users' work and collect the pieces you like.
40. 2:50Works you've hearted like this are gathered under the Likes button.
41. 2:58You can see the piece I just hearted has been collected there.
42. 3:02This works for videos too, not just images.
43. 3:21See the video there as well?
44. 3:24Using Explore to look at other users' work,
45. 3:27you can keep up with current AI artwork trends,
46. 3:31find artwork in the style you're after,
47. 3:34and check what prompt that user used for reference.
48. 3:40Next is the For You button.
49. 3:42As the name suggests, based on your taste,
50. 3:45these are works Midjourney recommends to you.
51. 3:51If you're using Midjourney for the first time after logging in,
52. 3:54a popup like this one will appear.
53. 3:57That's because Midjourney has no personalization data for a first-time user.
54. 4:02Building a personalization model is simple.
55. 4:05Press the orange button and two images appear, left and right.
56. 4:10Click the one of the two that better matches your taste.
57. 4:16You need to make 200 picks like this.
58. 4:18It may feel tedious at first, but once you've personalized,
59. 4:22Midjourney gets a lot closer to your personal taste.
60. 4:26Moving on, there's a Styles button at the top right.
61. 4:30Click it and you'll find models trained on a variety of styles.
62. 4:34You can check the ones you like to collect them,
63. 4:38or generate images in the style you want.
64. 4:47To make an image with Midjourney,
65. 4:49just type a text prompt into the input field at the top.
66. 4:53We call this field the prompt box, or the imagine bar.
67. 4:58Click the settings icon on the right of the input field
68. 5:00and an options panel opens where you can pick various parameters.
69. 5:04At the top left is the control for choosing the aspect ratio
70. 5:08of the image you'll create, and it's very intuitive.
71. 5:11Slide toward Portrait and the image gets taller;
72. 5:15slide toward Landscape and it gets wider.
73. 5:19Hit Reset and it goes back to the default of 1:1.
74. 5:23Once set, the ratio stays until you change it, even when you run new prompts,
75. 5:29so the same width-to-height ratio keeps being applied.
76. 5:33If you type it in the prompt, add --ar 16:9 at the end of the prompt
77. 5:39and the output comes out in 16:9.
78. 5:42On the right is the Aesthetics menu.
79. 5:45Let's go through them one by one.
80. 5:47Midjourney's model is trained to favor artistic color, composition, and form.
81. 5:53Stylization controls how strongly that training is applied.
82. 5:58The default is 100, and you can pick values from 0 to 1000 in steps of 100.
83. 6:05To set it in the prompt, add --s followed by the value at the end.
84. 6:11You can adjust it in the options panel or in the text,
85. 6:16but a parameter typed in the text overrides the value set in the options.
86. 6:21The same goes for the other parameters.
87. 6:25Weirdness introduces quirky, unusual qualities into the generated image,
88. 6:29for when you want unique, unexpected results.
89. 6:34It's recommended if you want happy accidents, but if you want solid-quality images,
90. 6:39Midjourney itself advises against using it.
91. 6:43Personally, when I need visual ideas early in a project,
92. 6:47I use it now and then.
93. 6:48The default value is 0.
94. 6:51In the text, you add --w followed by the value.
95. 6:56Variety affects how much the initial image grid
96. 6:58varies from one image to the next.
97. 7:00The higher the value, the more unusual
98. 7:02and unexpected the results become.
99. 7:04Conversely, lower values give you stable,
100. 7:07repeatable results.
101. 7:09Simply put, think of it as 'makes odd images'.
102. 7:14The default value is 0.
103. 7:17When you want to see a range of looks, adjust this value as you go.
104. 7:21In the text, you add --c followed by the value.
105. 7:26These three parameters are what Midjourney calls Aesthetics.
106. 7:31Stylization, or stylize,
107. 7:33controls how strongly Midjourney's default aesthetic is applied.
108. 7:37Weirdness, or weird, sets how unusual an image is versus typical Midjourney output.
109. 7:45Variety, or chaos, controls how much the initial grid images differ from each other.
110. 7:51Many people type parameters in the prompt, but I prefer the intuitive options panel
111. 7:59for adjusting parameters. That covers the basics you'll encounter in Midjourney:
112. 8:06the overall flow of the interface and the initial settings.
113. 8:10Once you're comfortable with this screen, you're ready to actually make images.
114. 8:17Now, what matters is how you type your input.
115. 8:20Results in Midjourney wobble not because of the UI, but because of prompt structure.
116. 8:26Remember why the same words give you a different image every time?
117. 8:31Toss in words with no structure, and the AI interprets them however it likes.
118. 8:36So now we move to the really important step: making images by design, not by luck.
119. 8:46Okay, pay close attention from here on. This is the really important part.
120. 8:50These 5 layers aren't an official Midjourney formula.
121. 8:53It's a structure directors and creators worldwide settled on for repeatable results.
122. 9:01It splits the information into units the AI understands best.
123. 9:05When you write a prompt, instead of throwing words in at random,
124. 9:08you build it up by stacking these five layers.
125. 9:13First is Subject: what is the hero of the image?
126. 9:17For example: lipstick, serum, perfume, white sneakers, coffee cup.
127. 9:21Nail this down clearly and the AI won't wander.
128. 9:25Second is Style.
129. 9:26How will it be expressed?
130. 9:29Should it look like a photograph,
131. 9:31like an ad reference, or like artwork? This is where you decide that.
132. 9:37Product photography, studio shot, editorial beauty, macro shot, cinematic lighting
133. 9:45Beginners should keep it simple.
134. 9:48In the example we'll build, 'product photography'
135. 9:51just that one line makes the image far more stable.
136. 9:54Third is Technical.
137. 9:56Technical details: camera, lens, materials, and so on.
138. 10:00This is the hardest part for beginners, so I'll start with an easy version.
139. 10:0585mm macro lens, f/2.8, high detail, matte surface, frosted texture, glossy finish
140. 10:14Change just this and cosmetics, fashion, and packaging images improve instantly.
141. 10:20Fourth is Environment: background, space, lighting, the world the image lives in.
142. 10:27White marble, botanical setup, pastel studio, softbox light, rim light, backlit glow
143. 10:34Get the background and lighting combo right, and the quality is nearly there.
144. 10:40The fifth and last is Mood.
145. 10:42This is the finishing step that locks in the brand's emotional tone.
146. 10:45Luxury minimalism, clean beauty, scientific tone, vegan natural, cinematic soft, elegant modern
147. 10:53This one line completely changes the image.
148. 11:05Here's an example using the 5-layer structure.
149. 11:07As you can see, only the subject changes,
150. 11:09and the rest of the structure is exactly the same, right?
151. 11:12Product photography, 85mm lens,
152. 11:15white marble, soft lighting,
153. 11:18luxury minimalism,
154. 11:19--seed 123456,
155. 11:21--style raw.
156. 11:22Keep all of that fixed,
157. 11:24and whether it's a lipstick, a serum,
158. 11:25a perfume, sneakers,
159. 11:27or a coffee cup,
160. 11:28it comes out like one brand campaign,
161. 11:30with a completely unified tone.
162. 11:32That's the biggest advantage of the 5-layer structure.
163. 11:35Swap only the subject and you can batch out images for a brand's entire lineup.
164. 11:41And with a fixed seed, the light, composition, and tone all stay locked together.
165. 11:46So in real work, once you build this one structure well,
166. 11:49you can expand brand artwork really fast.
167. 11:56Okay, now let's move on to parameters.
168. 11:59Midjourney has a huge number of options,
169. 12:01but as a beginner you don't need to know them all.
170. 12:04Just remember these four.
171. 12:06First, Version.
172. 12:08Simply put, it's the engine version.
173. 12:11Versions range from Niji 4 up to Niji 7,
174. 12:14and from Version 1 to Version 7.
175. 12:17Right now, 7 is the most stable and has the strongest quality.
176. 12:21So I prefer Version 7.
177. 12:24Second is Style Raw.
178. 12:26It's the option that suppresses that machine-made AI look as much as possible.
179. 12:30For product images or brand work especially, consider it almost essential.
180. 12:35You get a more natural tone, like a real photo shoot.
181. 12:39Third is Aspect Ratio.
182. 12:41That's the width-to-height ratio.
183. 12:43You can keep this really simple.
184. 12:451:1 for brand images and thumbnails,
185. 12:4816:9 for regular video,
186. 12:519:16 for Shorts or vertical video.
187. 12:53Just these three are more than enough.
188. 12:56Last is Seed.
189. 12:58This is the most important one for series work.
190. 13:00Using the same seed keeps the light, tone, and composition consistent,
191. 13:04so a brand's full lineup all feels like it was made in the same world.
192. 13:10Use this one well and your work quality goes up a level.
193. 13:14So that's the basic design of a prompt.
194. 13:18Now I'll show you right away how this actually plays out in the images.
195. 13:28Today we'll use a fictional brand called Aura and create three emotional tones.
196. 13:34Here's the text prompt example we'll use.
197. 13:37Lipstick, product photography, 85mm lens, seed, and style raw stay fixed.
198. 13:44At the end of the prompt, we'll swap between luxury minimalism, vegan natural tone,
199. 13:48and scientific clean tone, and test each one.
200. 13:54First, I'll enter the prompt that stays fixed.
201. 13:57The seed and style raw parameters will stay fixed.
202. 14:01Let's add 'luxury minimalism' at the end of the prompt.
203. 14:18Okay, here's the result.
204. 14:20Using this result as the baseline, let's switch to 'vegan natural tone' and compare.
205. 14:26On the right of the result, you can see the prompt that was used.
206. 14:30Below the prompt, the parameters you used appear as buttons.
207. 14:36Click these buttons to reuse the previous parameters and prompt.
208. 14:41I'll replace 'luxury minimalism' in the prompt with 'vegan natural tone'.
209. 14:57We get a result with similar lighting and layout, now with natural elements added.
210. 15:02You can see the quality of the output stays about the same.
211. 15:07Next, let's apply 'scientific clean tone' the same way.
212. 15:13Delete 'vegan natural tone' and type 'scientific clean tone' in its place.
213. 15:36Done. Since we're using the same seed value, the layout comes out similar too.
214. 15:42The disappointing part: this last result doesn't feel scientific at all.
215. 15:48Why? Midjourney weighs the physical elements up front more heavily than mood words.
216. 15:54'Lipstick, product photography, 85mm lens' already acts like a locked shoot setup,
217. 16:02so the 'scientific clean tone' at the end can't override it; it just sits on top.
218. 16:07In other words, changing one word alone doesn't change the tone.
219. 16:12If you really want a scientific tone, you have to shift the environment itself.
220. 16:18For example: laboratory background, stainless steel, chrome texture, cold lighting.
221. 16:24Those elements need to go in first; then the mood words follow naturally.
222. 16:29That's exactly why the key is recombining the five layers to fit your direction.
223. 16:36Subject, style, technical, environment, mood: don't just stack them in that order.
224. 16:44Lead with whichever layer drives your tone most, and it lands far more accurately.
225. 16:53Once you get this, the classic beginner question, 'I added the word, why no change?'
226. 16:59is one you can solve right away.
227. 17:02If you've followed along through Section 5 today,
228. 17:04you're no longer making images in Midjourney by luck,
229. 17:06you've reached the stage of making them by design.
230. 17:09Starting with Section 6,
231. 17:10we'll use images directly
232. 17:12to control mood with more precision,
233. 17:14moving on to the intermediate level.
234. 17:16Great work today.
235. 17:18See you in the next section.