Summary: These are the best images published in Jakob Nielsen’s articles during 2024. Three different AI image-generating tools were used to make the images, with Midjourney accounting for the largest share of these top illustrations.
I used to be considered the absolute anti-graphics fanatic of web usability during the dot-com bubble. I recommended using few images, and small ones to boot. (I did recommend allowing users to expand images to a very large size by clicking on them — something I still recommend because people sometimes want to inspect details that are not easily discernable at a small image size.)
My vendetta against big images during the 1990s wasn’t caused by a hate of pictures. Rather, it was caused by the slow download speeds that dominated in that era. If it takes 20 seconds for an image to download, the user is likely to leave the website rather than having to wait — especially if that web page contained multiple slow images.
However, today most users have broadband connections. You have probably noticed that my articles now contain many detailed images. I don’t flinch at adding an image load of 2-3 MB to an article.
Today I’ll celebrate the 10 best images I published in 2024. The selection is purely my own and was based on a combination of aesthetics and how well the image communicates an important point I was writing about.
Here we go:
Number 10
If your company resists UX work, it’s time to migrate to a new environment (AKA, change jobs).
Image tool: Midjourney
This image was published in the article Improving UX-Business Fit.
Number 9
The metaphor of AI as a naïve intern is now outdated.
Image tool: Midjourney
This image was published in the article 4 Metaphors for Working with AI: Intern, Coworker, Teacher, Coach.
Number 8
AI retrieval brings life to repositories of old UX research reports.
Image tool: Midjourney
This image was published in the UX Roundup news item: 8 Main Uses of AI in the UX Design Process.
Number 7
Two stages in AI prompting for UX: First explore, then refine the details.
Image tool: Midjourney
This image was published in the article Diamond Prompting in UX Work.
Number 6
AI is better at diagnosis than human doctors: out the hospital window with them.
Image tool: Ideogram
This image was published in the article Future-Proofing Education.
Many studies were published in 2024 with that same basic result: AI is better than human physicians at medical diagnosis. For a different approach to illustrating such findings, see the illustration below, which includes the statistics from a study of diagnosing particularly hard cases.
Image tool: Leonardo.
This image was published in the UX Roundup news item AI Beats Human Doctors in Diagnosing Difficult Cases.
I prefer the more dramatic image of the human doctor being defenestrated from the hospital, which is why I included it in my top-10 list. (To be honest, for the next 20 years, I expect hospitals to retain human staff to interact with patients and collaborate with the AI. But we definitely need to involve AI in medical decisions pronto to improve patient outcomes. Even if the defenestration is not my literal prediction, editorial images often benefit from some degree of exaggeration.)
Number 5
The Gestalt principle of “enclosure”.
Image tool: Leonardo
This image was published in the article Gestalt Principles for Visual UI Design.
This article contained two more runner-up images:
The Gestalt principle of “continuity” (Midjourney).
The Gestalt principle of “figure-ground” (Midjourney).
Number 4
For too long, we’ve had a monoculture UI where everybody used the same design.
Image tool: Midjourney
This image was published in the article End of Monoculture UI.
Number 3
Information Foraging: users look for info the same way animals hunt food.
Image tool: Midjourney
This image was published in the article 10 Foundational Insights for UX.
This article also contained the following runner-up image:
Graphical user interfaces — GUI (Midjourney).
Number 2
Cookie Cops should not harass websites over minor issues like cookies but instead aggressively pursue real cyber-bandits.
Image tool: Midjourney
This image was published in the UX Roundup news item Cookie Banners Waste 575 M Hours of European Users’ Time Annually.
This article also contained the following runner-up image:
If you cry wolf too often, people will ignore you. But one night, a pack of wolves may emerge from the snow. Similarly, too many useless cookie popups make users overlook the true privacy violations.
Image tool: Midjourney
Number 1
Training AI on UX principles.
Image tool: Ideogram
This image was published in the article Service as a Software: The New SaaS.
Runner-Up Images
Here are a few more images I really liked, even if they didn’t place in the top-10.
In 2023, AI sometimes seemed to have drunk a bottle of whiskey before answering your questions. By 2025, straitlaced business AI has gone on the wagon and insists on avoiding hallucinogenic substances.
Image tool: Leonardo
This image was published in the UX Roundup news item that AI used to be too risky for enterprise applications, but now makes fewer errors.
Microsoft adds many UX positions to its AI projects, defying its nerdy heritage.
Image tool: Leonardo
This image was published in the UX Roundup news item about Microsoft AI UX Jobs.
The 3 icon classes: resemblance, reference, and arbitrary.
Image tool: Leonardo
This image was published in the UX Roundup news item about The “Sparkles” Emoji (✨) Representing AI.
Top Image Tools
My top 10 images of 2024 were made with the following AI image-generating tools:
Midjourney: 7 images
Ideogram: 2 images
Leonardo: 1 image
4 of the images were made in the first half of 2024 and 6 were made in the second half of the year. It’s pretty clear that AI image tools improved during the year, though not as fast as video generators improved. I probably also got more skilled at using the tools during the year.
Other Top-10 Lists