Make on-brand images with AI

AI image tools can make backgrounds, illustrations, and graphics in seconds, but without a plan every image looks different and none of them look like you. This guide helps you write down your look once, turn it into a reusable “style line” for every request, and know when a real photo is the better choice.

Before you start

• Your logo and brand colours. If you don’t know the exact colour codes, a screenshot of your website or logo is fine.
• Two or three images you like the look of: your own photos, or examples from other brands.
• An AI tool that makes images. Many chat tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini can, and design tools such as Canva and Adobe Express have image features built in.
• A design tool for adding text on top, such as Canva or Adobe Express.
• About 45 minutes.

Want to do it yourself?

Difficulty

4 out of 10

Estimated completion time

45–90 minutes for an initial image set

Skills you’ll need: Describe a consistent visual style, refine generated images, and use a design tool for text and final checks.

I’ll do it myselfI’d rather get help

How this helps your brand

A reusable visual direction helps customers recognise your business across posts and website pages. Choosing real photos where accuracy matters protects trust while illustrations and backgrounds support the presentation.

1. 1

   Step 1: Decide what AI images are for, and what they’re not

   AI images are great for backgrounds, illustrations, patterns, seasonal graphics, and showing an idea. They’re the wrong choice whenever a customer needs to trust what they’ll actually get.

   • Use AI for: backgrounds behind text, illustrations for tips, simple graphics, mood images.
   • Use real photos for: your team, your premises, your products, and your finished work.
   • Never use AI to make fake customers, fake reviews, or “photos” of work you didn’t do. If customers find out, it costs you their trust.
2. 2

   Step 2: Write down your look

   Write a few lines that describe how your images should feel. This becomes the base of every image request, so all your images look like they belong together.

   • Your colours: names or codes, and which one is the main colour.
   • The feel: for example, bright and friendly, calm and natural, or bold and playful.
   • The style: photo-like, flat illustration, watercolour, simple shapes.
   • What to avoid: for example, no people, no clutter, no neon.

   Tip: If you’re not sure how to describe your look, show the AI tool the two or three images you like and ask it to describe what they have in common.

3. 3

   Step 3: Turn it into a style line you reuse

   Paste your notes into an AI chat with the prompt at the end of this guide. It writes a short “style line”: one or two sentences describing your look that you add to the end of every image request.

   Save it somewhere you can copy it from quickly. Using the same style line every time is what makes your images consistent.

   Illustrated exampleOne style line, three uses

   Saved café style line

   “Calm, simple flat illustrations with navy as the main colour, blue details and small orange accents. Use soft shapes, plenty of empty space, no people, no clutter and no lettering.”

   ↓ Add this same line to every request

   Website bannerWide · cup on the right

   Feed postSquare · cup in the centre

   Story backgroundVertical · room above the cup

   The subject and shape can change. Keep the palette and illustration style.

4. 4

   Step 4: Describe the whole image, not just the subject

   “A coffee cup” gives you a random coffee cup. A good image request describes everything you’d see:

   • The subject: what’s in the image.
   • The setting and background.
   • The lighting and time of day.
   • The shape: square for most feed posts, tall and narrow (vertical) for Stories, Reels, and TikTok, wide for website banners.
   • Your style line at the end.

   Tip: Ask for a few versions, then ask the tool to change the best one (“make the background lighter”, “move the cup to the left”) rather than starting over.

5. 5

   Step 5: Add text in a design tool, not in the image

   AI image tools often misspell words or make letters look odd. Ask for the image with no text and leave space where the words will go. Then add your headline, prices, or logo in a design tool, where you can check every letter.

   Illustrated exampleLeave space for words you can edit

   1Request an image with no text

   Leave this
   area clear

   “Wide café illustration, cup on the right, soft morning light, clear navy space on the left. No text. [Saved style line]”

   2Add words in a design tool

   A little
   coffee break.Take a moment for yourself.

   The headline is a separate text layer. Check every word and keep it easy to read.

   AI illustration: background + cupDesign tool: editable words

6. 6

   Step 6: Check before you post

   Look at each image closely before you use it. AI images can have odd details: extra fingers, warped objects, or signs with nonsense writing. Zoom in and fix or redo anything that looks off.

   Also check the image tool’s terms say you can use its images for business. Most major tools allow it on their standard plans, but the rules differ and change, so read the current terms on the tool’s own website.

   Tip: Some platforms ask you to label realistic AI-generated images, or label them automatically. Check the platform’s help pages for “AI-generated content” if you’re unsure.

I run [what your business does] for [who your customers are]. I want to make images with AI that match my brand, mainly for [platform].

My brand colours: [list them, with codes if you have them]
The feel I want: [for example: bright and friendly, calm and natural, bold and playful]
Styles I like: [describe, or attach two or three example images]
Things to avoid: [for example: people, clutter, neon colours]

Please:
1. Write me a “style line”: one or two sentences describing my look that I can add to the end of every image request.
2. Write detailed image requests for these images I need: [list them, for example: a background for a tips post, an autumn graphic, a website banner]. For each one, describe the subject, setting, lighting, colours, and the right shape for where I’ll use it, and end with my style line.
3. Ask for no text in the images, and leave clear space where I can add a headline later.

Don’t include real people, real brands or logos, or anything that looks like a photo of my actual work or customers.