Issue #59: Your New AI Design Team (with Prompts)

Good morning.

OpenAI rolled out a new image generator inside GPT‑4o and it’s not chasing trends or trying to paint surreal dreamscapes.

And if you’re a marketer, agency, or freelancer who creates on a deadline, then this update matters because most campaigns stall waiting on a visual.

And this fixes that.

This new image model gives you full-scene control: layout, tone, camera angle, color, cropping.

—Sam

IN TODAY’S ISSUE 👨‍🚀 

• The Bottleneck Is Visuals. GPT‑4o Fixes That.

• What GPT‑4o Actually Does (And Why It’s Different)

• Design Prompt Frameworks for Marketers

• Real Use Cases (And Prompts You Can Use)

• Where It Fits in Your Stack (And What It Replaces)

• Pro User Checklist: What to Watch For

• The Bottleneck Is Gone. What Happens Now?

• The One Visual You Should Prompt Today

Let’s get into it.

Speak It, See It: How GPT-4o Is Redefining Design Workflows

(This is a shorter version of the full issue, available to free subscribers and on the web. If you’re a Cortex subscriber, you get the full issue below—if you’re reading on the web, make sure you’re logged in).

Creative work often stalls not because of strategy but because you're waiting on visuals. 

You know what you need - a pricing table, hero section, or YouTube thumbnail - but you're stuck without design resources. 

GPT-4o solves this bottleneck by providing full-scene control with natural language, delivering photorealistic, usable, on-brand visuals within the same chat thread you're already using.

What Makes GPT-4o Different

Unlike other AI image tools that are either fast but messy or beautiful but impractical, GPT-4o is built for marketers, founders, copywriters, and content teams who need to move quickly while maintaining a polished look. 

Key advantages include:

• Full-scene control over layout, camera angle, lighting, typography, and composition

• Chat-based iteration - make edits without starting over

• Context awareness - understands prompts in context for seamless refinement

• Accurate text rendering in headers, buttons, and UI elements

Design Prompt Frameworks

You don't need to become a prompt engineer to get great results - just use the right structure. 

Here are three proven prompt formulas:

Hero Image for a Funnel or SaaS Page

Formula: [Page type] + [UI style] + [Product mockup] + [Headline] + [Brand tone]

Example: 

Design a SaaS homepage hero section in dark mode with a centered laptop mockup and the headline: 'Start a Credit Repair Business with Software That Does the Heavy Lifting' Use #121212 as the background and a teal CTA button. The headline should be center aligned. Do not include any other copy from other projects we have worked on.

YouTube Thumbnail

Formula: [Emotion] + [Action] + [Overlay Text] + [Contrast Style]

Example:

Generate a thumbnail with a man pointing at a graph, shocked expression. Overlay text: 'How I Grew 300% in 90 Days.' Use bold white font on a red background.

Facebook/Instagram Ad Visual

Formula: [Audience] + [Product or Benefit] + [Vibe] + [Callout Text] + [Layout]

Example:

Create a visual for a productivity app ad. Show a person smiling at their laptop with floating checklists. Headline: 'Finish Your Day by 2PM.' Use warm tones and bold font. Make it 1080x1350.

Where It Fits in Your Stack

GPT-4o doesn't eliminate your favorite tools - it just reduces how often you need them. 

Traditional visual workflows involve writing copy in Google docs, jumping to Canva or Figma, spending time tweaking layouts, or waiting days for a designer. 

With GPT-4o, you can write copy, prompt for visuals, refine in the same conversation, and ship immediately. 

It's not a replacement for polished design systems, but for fast-moving teams, solopreneurs, and content marketers, it replaces about 80% of the design work.

Pro User Checklist: What to Watch For

When using GPT-4o, be aware of these potential issues:

• Visual Tone Mismatch: The generated image might look stunning but feel off for your product. Ask yourself: "Does this feel like the product I'm actually selling?"

• Tiny Print & Crushed Layouts: When squeezing too much into one frame, text can blur or disappear. Solutions include zooming in for clarity, splitting visuals across multiple frames, and using overlays for final polish.

• Hallucination: GPT-4o might add incorrect elements or generate testimonials from non-existent people. Double-check any quotes, numbers, brand names, or offer details.

The key change is control over creative work. 

You still need a clear message, strong offer, and smart strategy, but the design bottleneck is gone. 

This means founders can ship assets same-day, marketers can test multiple angles quickly, and creators can build polished campaigns without hiring help. 

The difference is speed - and speed stacks.

To get started, ask yourself: 

"What's the one visual asset you've been procrastinating because you didn't have time, tools, or design support?" 

Whether it's a carousel post, funnel hero, or course cover, it doesn't have to be perfect - it just has to exist. 

Once you see that first image, you'll realize you're just one good instruction away from done.

(If you’re a Cortex subscriber, you get the full issue with tips, details, prompts, and more below).

Even before this latest image model update from OpenAI, you could generate a fake of just about anything (with other models).

If it wasn’t obvious by now:

You can’t trust anything online anymore. 

AI can deepfake anything. 

So, what’s the solution to this?

Art forgery and the surprising wisdom of Pickup Artists can help us develop a better way to discern what’s real.

Our current understanding of discernment can’t handle this because it’s dangerously flawed. 

It favors logic, epistemology, rationality, and discredits our human senses of sight, smell, touch, taste, and hearing.

True, and useful, discernment in the Age of AI requires us to rely on Impressionism, funny enough.

Paradoxically, you don’t need to “sharpen your attention” and look extra hard for the extra finger or missing teeth.

You need something else.

I recently wrote an essay on this over at Bionic Writer:

The New Discernment: Sensing Reality When AI Can Fake Everything

Give it a read, let me know what you think.

Talk soon,
Sam Woods
The Editor