Dear readers, today I want to tackle a fundamental theme for anyone who uses Midjourney: how long it must be a prompt To get a good result?
This is one of the questions that are most often asked to me, and I understand the reason. When we start working with the generative, We tend to believe that the more details we add, the more accurate the result. But Is this really the case? Or on the contrary, too many words can make our prompt less effective?
In this article, we will analyze together:
- How much the length of the prompt on the quality of the image affects.
- How the order of words can change the final result.
At the end of the article, you will have a clearer understanding of how Build your prompt strategically And how to get the maximum from Midjourney.
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Short or long? The right balance
Writing an effective prompt does not necessarily mean writing a lot. A short prompt can be as powerful as long, and in some cases, even more effective.
Gold rule: Each word that we add to the prompt has a weight. We insert too many, Midjourney may not be able to manage all the connections and some information risk being neglected in the final output. Let’s see the two approaches.
1) Short prompt: more freedom to the AI
- Ideal for explore new concepts and let yourself be surprised From the results.
- Midjourney combines the terms autonomously, experimenting unexpected solutions.
- Excellent for the Visual research phase and brainstorming.
Example of prompt 1: Minimalist House, Foggy Forest.
As you can see in the image generated above, a very long prompt is not necessary to obtain visually interesting results. The used prompt is simply “Minimalist House, Foggy Forest”yet Midjourney produced Four different interpretationsdemonstrating how the Ai elabers the concepts openly when we leave room for its interpretation. What do we notice from this image?
- Although starting from asimple educationthe AI has explored different compositionsmaterials and atmospheres.
- Each image reflects an idea of the minimalist house Immersed in the fog, but with different stylistic approaches.
- The absence of specific details allowed Midjourney experiencewithout rigid constraints.
This is a perfect example of how a short prompt can serve as a phase of exploration, leaving creative freedom to the machine. If, on the other hand, we wanted to refine the result and obtain a more targeted vision, we could gradually add details to better guide the AI.
2) Long prompts: greater precision, but be careful
- Useful when we want a detailed and specific result.
- Require attention in the organization of information In order not to overload the AI.
- Too many words can lose essential details of the algorithm.
Example of prompt 2: Minimalist House, Raw Concrete and Glass, Large Floor-to-Cailing Windows, Nestled in A Misty Forest, Soft Morning Light Filtering Through the Trees, Cinematic Atmosphere, Highly Detaled Architecture.

As the greatest precision of the prompt influences the uniformity of the result
In this second image we begin to see a significant change compared to the previous series: The four images are much more consistent with each other.
This time the prompt has been refined with more details, specifying not only i materialsbut also theatmospherethelighting and the architectural yield. The result? Midjourney followed a more defined aesthetic line, reducing stylistic variations and restoring images with greater formal consistency. What can we see?
- All images share The same architectural typologywith clear geometric volumes, large windows and materials such as concrete and glass.
- The atmosphere remains consistent: a house immersed in a snowy forest, with a strong contrast between the heat of the interiors and the cold landscape and wrapped in the fog.
- Lights and composition They follow a common thread, with a game between natural dawn light and artificial lighting of the interior.
This shows that The more details we insert in the prompt, the more we reduce the interpretative freedom of the AI. If in the first Midjourney test he experienced different solutions, here we see that Each image is a variation on the same theme.
Advise: Always start with a short prompt and then add details progressively to guide Midjourney towards the desired result.
How the order of words influences the result
Each word in a prompt has a weight and its order changes the final output. When we write a prompt, The first terms have a greater weight in reading and interpretation by the instrument. Midjourney plays the text in sequence, giving priority to the first conceptswhich become the backbone of the generated image.
For this reason, It is essential to put at the beginning what is more important for us. If we want an illustration, we will start with “sketch” or “Drawing”; If we aim for a photojournalist image, we will use terms like “Hyperrealistic” or “Cinematic”. In this way, We immediately add our request in the desired direction. This leads to a more consistent output with our ideareducing the freedom of interpretation of AI and obtaining four images already aligned with our goal.
Example of prompt 3: Architectural sketch of a minimalist house, Foggy Forest.

In this image we see how A simple change to the order of the prompt can radically transform the result. Compared to the first example, where the prompt “Minimalist House, Foggy Forest“ He left ample space for interpretation, here we were before “Architectural sketch”and the output has changed drastically. What do we observe?
- The image is no longer a photojournalist view, but one technical and conceptual representation.
- Midjourney understood that the key element was the architectural designand has generated sketches with clean lines and light textures, typical of the design representation.
- Although the setting is the same (A minimalist house in a misty forest), the visual language is completely different.
This clearly demonstrates how important the order of words is in the prompt. By putting the most relevant term for our goal, we immediately direct Midjourney towards a specific type of output, leaving Less space for automatic interpretation.
I hope these indications have been helpful to better understand The importance of the length and order of words in the Midjourney prompts. As we have seen, small changes can make a big difference in the final result, and learning to correctly structure a prompt means have more control on the output and make the most of the potential of AI.
The weekly section “Architectural Prompting” is curated by the experts Luciana Mastrolia, Giovanna Panucci and Andrea Tinazzo
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