AI Guides › Playbooks
By Nigel Guy · 7 min read
Most people ask an image generator for the whole flyer in one go: picture, headline, date, venue, phone number. When it comes back with a misspelt word or a date that has quietly changed, they rewrite the prompt and try again. That feels like iteration. It is really a slot machine, because every retry redraws the picture as well as the words, so you lose the parts you liked.
The rule: let AI make the picture, and type every word yourself in an editor.
Image models have got much better at lettering. OpenAI's own launch page for GPT-4o image generation says it "excels at accurately rendering text". But "better" is not "checked". A flyer is a document with facts on it (a date, a time, a postcode), and one wrong character is a printed mistake. The same page lists a limitation that matters for flyers specifically: the model can occasionally crop longer images, such as posters, too tightly, especially near the bottom. Text you type in an editor does not drift, crop or get reinterpreted.
A flyer is two layers, and they should come from two different places.
| Layer | What goes on it | Where it comes from | Who checks it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Layer 1: Art | Background, illustration or photo-style image, with a calm empty area left for words | AI image generator | Your eyes: does it look right, is there room for text |
| Layer 2: Words | Headline, date, time, venue, price, contact, call to action | Typed by you in a design editor (Canva is used below) | You, reading it aloud against your source details |
Fill in the card before you open any tool:
Use any image generator you already have. Paste this into it and fill in the brackets.
You are an art director briefing an illustrator.
Create a background image for a [EVENT_TYPE] flyer in [PORTRAIT_OR_LANDSCAPE_OR_SQUARE] format.
Mood and style: [MOOD_AND_STYLE, e.g. warm, hand-drawn, autumn colours].
Main subject: [MAIN_SUBJECT].
Colour palette: [2-3 COLOURS or "your choice, keep it limited"].
Layout requirements:
- Keep the [TOP_OR_BOTTOM_OR_LEFT_THIRD] of the image as a calm, low-detail area with good contrast, because text will be added there later.
- Put the main subject in the opposite part of the frame, and keep it well away from the edges.
- Include no text, letters, numbers, logos, signs or watermarks anywhere in the image.
Before you finish, check that there is no lettering of any kind and that the empty area is genuinely empty. If any detail above is missing or unclear, ask me before generating.
Ask for three or four variations and pick one. If you liked an image but want a change, edit that image rather than regenerating from scratch, so the parts you liked survive.
In Canva, create a design at the size you need, then add your image as the background. For anything going to a printer, turn on bleed first: from the top menu choose File, then Settings, then Show print bleed. Canva's help centre says bleed is fixed (it cannot be adjusted) and that you should extend backgrounds into it, not text. If white gaps show at the edges, stretch the background image to cover them.
Add your headline, date, venue and contact line as ordinary text boxes, copied from your Facts line. Then switch on margins (File, Settings, Show margins) and keep text and logos inside them. Canva's guidance is that the safe zone is inside your margins, and the red "danger zone" marks anything close enough to the trim line to be cut. The Show danger zone detection option under File then Settings shows this as you work. Canva's proofing advice also suggests not going below font size 7 for print, and printing a test copy at 100% scale on a home printer.
If you want help with the wording and hierarchy, this prompt keeps the model from inventing details:
You are a copywriter and layout planner for small-event flyers.
Here are the only facts you may use, exactly as written:
[PASTE_FACTS_LINE_HERE]
Audience: [WHO_WILL_SEE_THIS]. Where it will be seen: [PRINT_SIZE_OR_SOCIAL_PLATFORM].
Produce:
1. A headline of no more than [WORD_LIMIT] words.
2. One supporting line.
3. The details block, listing date, time, venue, price and contact in that order, copied character for character from my facts.
4. A suggested reading order, from largest text to smallest.
Rules: do not add, change or guess any date, time, price, name or contact detail. If a fact is missing, write "MISSING: [what is needed]" and ask me. Before answering, compare your details block with my facts and confirm they match.
Paste its output into Canva yourself and still read it against your original.
For screens, download as PNG, JPG or PDF; Canva's pricing page lists these exports as included on the free plan. For a print shop, use Share, then Download, set File type to PDF Print, tick Crop marks and bleed, then download. Canva's help says to check with your print provider if you are printing outside Canva Print, because they may want different bleed. On Canva's pricing page, exporting print-ready designs "as CMYK" is listed as a Pro feature and unavailable on Free, so ask your printer whether RGB files are acceptable before you pay for anything.
Say you are advertising a charity quiz night at a village hall. Your Facts line reads: "Quiz Night, Friday 14 November, doors 7pm, Hartley Village Hall, £5 per person, bookings: [BOOKING_CONTACT]".
You ask for a text-free, autumn-themed illustration of a cosy hall with string lights, portrait format, with the bottom third kept calm. You choose the second of four options. In Canva you drop it in at A5, turn on bleed, type the headline across the empty bottom third, then add the details block copied from the Facts line. The danger-zone overlay shows the phone number sitting too close to the bottom, so you nudge it up. You print one copy at 100% scale and read it aloud against the Facts line before ordering fifty. If the date were wrong, you would fix one text box, not regenerate the picture.
Start with something low-stakes and repeatable: a social post for a recurring event, a shop-window notice, or a school fundraiser. You will reuse the picture brief and the Facts line every time, and only change the facts.
Canva's pricing page lists Free at US$0 and Pro at US$144 a year for one person (about £110 a year at time of writing; check the £ price at checkout, and note that prices exclude tax). Free includes the editor, a large template library and a limited monthly allowance of AI uses, which is enough to follow this card. Your image generator may have its own cost or limits; check its current plan page.