- Google’s new Mixboard offers AI-driven visualization and image rendering
- Users can create and edit idea boards using text prompts
- Mixboard is available as an experimental beta in the US
Google tests a new AI experiment for “Visual Concepting Boards” called Mixboard. The new tool is embedding AI in classic moodboards to “explore, expand and refine” ideas officially. But really, it allows you to see options produced by AI based on requests ranging from “Cozy Minimalist Home Office” or “Retro Rum-Thema Board Games” for Halloween costumes for dogs like those seen above.
The AI canvas then generated visuals, color palettes, trial text and more. It is some AI-assisted sketchpad and part collage a la Pinterest or canva. But the mixboard leans heavily in AI-CO creation in a way these tools are not quite yet. Mixboard starts like an almost empty canvas with a quick bar. Throw some descriptive words and Mixboard uses Google’s popular new Nano Banana AI image generator to do almost everything you might suggest.
Nano Banana, who first drew the attention of his 3D figure creations, performs much more subtle work inside the mixboard. It allows you to finish visuals with natural language, pushing compositions for different moods. You can import your own images, edit them with AI, or build brand new boards using a combination of PROMPS and existing templates. If it’s close but not quite there, you can regenerate the board or ask for “more like this” to spin new variants.
AI Image Imagination
Google is pitching mixboard as a starting point for ideas and brainstorming. It is not for complex presentations and detailed editing, just rough descriptions and play with AI response. It does not mean that it is friction -free. As with all AI tools, the tool is highly dependent on the quality of prompt. But it is doing pretty well, even with odd requests like birds with Googly eyes.
Mixboard occupies a different corner of the imagination than Google’s other generative tools in some ways. Gemini and AI listings are designed for direct answers, while notebooklm is more suitable for helping with structured thinking and education. Mixboard is looser and more intuitive in format.
Google so far Mixboard is holding an experiment in the US, as the company says it still measures how people are using it and where there can still be problems. Mixboard slots are still neat in Google’s efforts to make its AI useful for the creative process.
It also stands as a rival to others, more consumer-friendly AI-image production tools. For example, Meta has experimented with AI-powered editing inside Instagram and threads, and Pinterest tests smart inspirational tools that remix boards using AI. But most of these tools treat AI as an assistant at the end of a process. Mixboard integrates AI into the process from the start.
