I needed a visual for one screen in my app, I had 15 minutes before resubmitting it, and I did the whole thing on free plans. Here’s every step, with the screenshots.
The screen that bothered me
Brim reminds you to drink more water. The streak screen was a bit too basic – sitting there on its own, on an empty header.
I wanted something on top with a number below. Nothing extra, it just had to be done before the next submission.
It worked. I just didn’t like looking at it.
Fifteen minutes, step by step
0/ Find a reference.
Before I typed a single word to Claude, I spent two minutes skimming X and Pinterest and grabbed one screenshot of a header I liked.
Found this reference that looked fine
1/ Brainstorm inside the project
Claude Code was already open in Brim’s repo. It knew the colours, the design decisions, the whole style we’ already use. Project context is the main trick.
I asked for various ideas of the visuals to show the streaks.
2/ Narrow the direction.
It’s a streak counter, so the obvious answer is a flame. But a flame means orange, and Brim is a water app. I wanted a special twist on a classic.
3/ Ask for the prompt, not the picture.
Claude can’t generate images. So I asked it for the next best thing: one prompt describing all four styles, written to be pasted straight into an image model.
the beginning of the long detailed prompt
4/ Run the same prompt in two models.
ChatGPT (Image 2) and Gemini 3 with nano banana.
Same prompt, four styles each, side by side.
ChatGPT Image 2
Nano Banana 2
For me Gemini/Nano Banana won the battle.
5/ Use one model to fix the other’s weakness.
The one I liked was a flame shaped like a water droplet. Fire, but made of water. A strange and quite fitting way to say “streak” in a hydration app.
One problem: Gemini doesn’t do transparent backgrounds, and cutting it out cleanly with all the artefacts is exactly the fiddly job I had no time for.
I screenshotted the option I liked, handed it to GPT, and asked for that exact image on transparency.
ChatGPT cleaning out the background of Gemini’s image
6/ See the results.
The header pops now, and the whole thing came out liquid and glassy - which is exactly the iOS-ish look the rest of the app was already going for.
Fifteen minutes. Free plans. Quick 80/20 solution.
New header with a generated asset
An Idea For This Week
If you’ve never generated an image - generate one this week. Anything.
A friend of mine made a personal, tailored invitation for a BBQ party. A handful of guests, five minutes of work, and it landed as something properly official.
Presentation title, document header, birthday card – the list goes on…
You don’t need to be a designer to stop looking at a screen you don’t like.
Shipyard updates
I’m learning more about AppStore: in a new market, one download and one review can move the app 20 to 100 positions up in organic search. One.
The base with hundreds 0-review apps is that thin.
So if you have a minute, a download and a review would genuinely change how other people discover the app. We’d really appreciate it.
Reply on this e-mail, I read everything.