STEAM Generative AI Lab: Canva AI & Midjourney Digital Visual Design Workshop 

Workshop Overview

The STEAM Generative AI Lab successfully conducted an eight-lesson workshop for 14 Secondary Form 1 to Form 5 students, focusing on digital visual design using Canva AI and Midjourney:

Lesson 1: Introduced generative AI concepts and Canva AI’s design tools.

Lesson 2: Explored Canva AI for generating graphics and editing images.

Lesson 3: Focused on designing layouts with Canva AI.

Lesson 4: Introduced Midjourney, emphasizing crafting text prompts for AI-generated artwork.

Lesson 5: Advanced Midjourney techniques, including style and aspect ratio customization.

Lesson 6: Combined Canva AI and Midjourney outputs for cohesive projects like posters.

Lesson 7: Developed complex project designs, integrating multiple AI tools.

Lesson 8: Finalized student portfolios, with presentations and reflections.

Students produced professional-quality digital artworks, blending AI visuals with personal creativity, bridging technology and art.

Key Document Insights

A. Midjourney Prompts :

1. Examples include cultural scenes (e.g., "Asian mom cooking breakfast, cozy morning light --ar 3:2 --niji 6") and historical figures (e.g., "Shiba Inu in Ming dynasty armor, Great Wall --ar 2:3").
2. Prompts emphasize detailed settings, styles (e.g., Studio Ghibli, semi-realistic), and aspect ratios (--ar 2:3, 16:9).
3. Themes include Mother’s Day, historical warriors, and dream aspirations (e.g., student studying to become a doctor).

B. Canva AI Tasks:

1. Tasks involved creating thematic visuals, such as Mother’s Day montages and dream fulfillment scenes, using Studio Ghibli-inspired styles.
2. Students refined AI-generated outputs into polished designs, e.g., posters with text overlays like "Happy Easter Festival."

C. Video Generation:

References to Kling AI (35 credits, Professional plan) suggest exploration of text-to-video and image-to-video tools, though not detailed in the workshop summary.

Student Reflection

As a student in this workshop, I found the experience absolutely exhilarating. Crafting Midjourney prompts felt like unlocking a new level of creativity—turning simple text like "Asian mom cooking breakfast, cozy morning light" into stunning Studio Ghibli-style artwork was mind-blowing. Using Canva AI to refine these images into polished Easter festival card designs made me feel like a professional designer. The process sparked my passion for digital art and pushed me to experiment with AI in ways I never imagined.

Future Directions

Plans include expanding STEAM workshops to focus on AI chatbot design, teaching students to create hyper-personalized, multimodal, and emotionally intelligent chatbots. Future sessions will explore advanced NLP for context-aware conversations, autonomous AI assistants, and integration with generative AI tools like Canva AI for automated content creation, empowering students to design innovative conversational AI systems.

STEAM Education