With apologies for the tangent: this is a phenomenon (or more accurately, a spectrum) known as aphantasia, and I suspect it’s somewhat more common than people realize. In fact, I didn’t realize that this was not the normal state of affairs until I first encountered the word for it; I’d always assumed that “picturing” something in your mind was simply a metaphorical fancy.
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that there’s some genetic component to where one falls on the spectrum… though both my parents claim to have vivid visual memories, while I have, at best, the concept of an apple.
Ironically, this made my own brief dabblings with AI images rather magical: it was the first time I’d seen concepts that had only ever existed as words in my head.
And, to keep this vaguely on-topic, I share your preference for simple, “clean” images — particularly when they may be displayed only very briefly.