The client likes the badge, but wants a different colour and a new line of copy. That ordinary request is where “AI-generated” meets “can we actually use it?” Ideogram’s new Vector model tackles part of the problem by producing artwork made of shapes you can change. The words can still require more work.
Based on 4 reviewed sources · See sources
Artwork you can take apart
Ideogram introduced Vector on 22 October and says it is live in its app and API. It can generate an SVG from a text prompt or convert an existing image. SVG is a format that describes shapes, rather than fixing the whole picture into a grid of pixels, so artwork can scale cleanly.
The useful promise is control after generation: recolour a shape, adjust a curve or carry the illustration into a design tool such as Figma or Illustrator. Ideogram’s announcement demonstrates that workflow. Its API documentation also supports reference images for prompt-based generation.
Ideogram’s original demonstration shows generated and converted vector artwork. It is a vendor demonstration, not a test of a complete client revision.
View the original post on X ↗This extends the question raised by Canva’s Craft launch: what does the tool hand you when the first attractive image is finished? For a designer, that handover can matter as much as the initial look.
Editable shapes do not always mean editable copy
Voyager published a twelve-prompt test on 23 October, with one attempt per prompt at medium quality. Its co-founder and CEO, Anvisha Pai, reports that the outputs contained vector shapes, while the lettering was outlined rather than live text. In other words, a letter could be moved as a shape, but not simply retyped like a word in a text box.
There were useful results and visible misses. Voyager’s logo example spells its requested name correctly. Its chart preview, which we inspected alongside the published prompt, contains seven bars for six month labels and no numerical scale. Vector output does not make a generated chart faithful to its data.
Voyager sells access to creative models, so this is a commercial platform’s firsthand test, not a neutral comparative benchmark. We inspected its public previews and stated conditions, but did not download its retained SVG originals or run our own generations.
Three checks before the handover
Practical checks prompted by the published test; these are not additional test results.
| What needs changing? | What to check |
|---|---|
| A brand colour or curve | Select and change the intended shape in your design tool. |
| A headline or translated label | Check for a real text object. Outlined lettering needs a different editing step. |
| A chart or diagram | Reconcile every value, label and count with the source data. |
The file is the beginning of the job
Ideogram lists API generation prices of $0.13 at low quality, $0.16 at medium and $0.20 at high without references; high quality with references costs $0.32. Converting an existing image is listed at $0.10. Those are per-output API prices, not an app subscription or the cost of a finished campaign.
For a small team, the sensible trial is a real revision: change a palette, replace a line of copy and open the result in the tool used for final approval. Record the fixes, not just the generation charge. A scalable first draft is valuable when it leaves the next person with less rebuilding to do.
Ask for the working file, then change something important. That tells you more about “editable” than a polished preview does.
Sources
- Ideogram Vector model and pricing
Ideogram · Documentation
- Original Vector announcement
Ideogram · Announcement ·
- Generate SVG API documentation
Ideogram · Documentation
- Ideogram Vector: twelve fixed test prompts
Voyager · Research ·
Written with AI assistance from the sources above. Analysis and practical implications are our interpretation. Our editorial approach.
