DecoNova

Inspiration

Design begins with emotion—a memory, a vision, or even just a feeling. But translating that into something visual can feel overwhelming. Between countless browser tabs and mismatched mood boards, the creative flow often gets lost. We wanted to change that. DecoNova was born out of the need to simplify and elevate the design process. It’s for designers, decorators, creators—anyone who’s ever had a vivid idea but struggled to express it visually. With just one prompt, DecoNova captures imagination and renders it real.

What it does

DecoNova is an Adobe Express add-on that turns natural language prompts into curated, aesthetic-driven visual inspiration. Whether you're designing a “cozy minimalist living room” or a “Japandi-style kitchen,” DecoNova intelligently sources high-quality images from Unsplash and organizes them into instantly usable, stylized collections. Key features include: Real-time visual rendering based on descriptive prompts Design Style filtering (e.g., Industrial, Boho, Art Deco) Image favoriting and project integration One-click insertion into Adobe Express—no download or resizing needed

How we built it

We built DecoNova using: Adobe Express Add-on SDK: for seamless integration within the Adobe ecosystem Unsplash API: to tap into a vast library of high-quality images Natural language processing: to interpret prompts and identify relevant visual themes JavaScript + Node.js backend: for efficient API handling and image querying Custom UI/UX components: to ensure a sleek, responsive, and intuitive experience Our main focus was to make sure everything felt frictionless—from prompt to placement.

Challenges we ran into

Prompt ambiguity: Interpreting vague or poetic prompts (e.g., “a space that breathes”) was initially tricky. We fine-tuned our prompt parser and keyword extraction logic to better understand emotional and spatial language. Image relevance: The Unsplash API is vast—curating results that matched both aesthetics and functionality required careful filtering, especially when dealing with styles like "biophilic" or "Japandi." Adobe Express UX constraints: We had to work around some limitations of the SDK, especially with custom dropdowns and image placement behaviors.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a fully functional and elegant Adobe Express add-on within a short timeframe Developed a robust NLP-to-visual engine that brings mood and design language to life Created a UX experience that makes creativity intuitive, not technical Received early user feedback confirming that DecoNova reduces design overwhelm and speeds up inspiration gathering

What we learned

Users often describe design feelings before features—language matters deeply in this space Aesthetic context is everything: "modern" means something different when paired with “cozy” vs. “industrial” Speed and simplicity drive adoption. The less users need to click, search, or switch tabs, the more they stay in flow Adobe Express is a powerful platform for creative tools, but customizing deeply still requires creative problem-solving

What's next for DecoNova

AI-enhanced curation: Incorporate generative AI to suggest entire mood boards or room layouts based on prompts Personalized learning: Let DecoNova learn user preferences over time for smarter recommendations Community gallery: Allow users to share prompts + results for collaborative inspiration More platform integrations: Beyond Adobe Express—bring DecoNova into Figma, Canva, or even Shopify Prompt history & remixing: Let users revisit, tweak, and remix past prompts for iterative creativity

Built With

• adobeexpress
• css
• fullyresponsiveui
• html
• javascript
• unsplashapi