An AI Creative Pipeline That Actually Ships

AI-generated content is everywhere. But most of it looks like AI-generated content: generic, inconsistent, off-brand. We've built a creative pipeline that actually ships. Here's how. The Problem When you ask AI to generate images or copy, you get: - Inconsistent style (every generation looks different) - Wrong aspect ratios (images don't fit where they need to) - Off-brand colors (doesn't match your palette) - Generic content (looks like everyone else's) The solution isn't better prompts. It's a system. Prompt Systems: Beyond Single Prompts We don't write prompts. We build prompt systems. A prompt system is a template with variables: "[Style] [Subject] in [Setting], [Mood], [Color palette], [Aspect ratio], [Technical specs]" Example: "Minimalist product photography of [product] on white background, professional lighting, brand colors (primary: #FF6B6B, secondary: #4ECDC4), 16:9 aspect ratio, high resolution, sharp focus" We maintain a library of prompt systems for different use cases: - Product photography - Blog headers - Social media posts - Email headers - Landing page hero images Each system has variables we swap in per project. The structure stays consistent, the content changes. Aspect Ratios: Get It Right the First Time Nothing kills productivity like generating an image, then realizing it's the wrong aspect ratio. We define aspect ratios upfront: - Blog headers: 16:9 (1920x1080) - Social posts: 1:1 (1080x1080) or 4:5 (1080x1350) - Email headers: 16:9 (600x338) - Landing heroes: 21:9 (1920x823) Then we generate images in the right ratio from the start. No cropping, no resizing, no quality loss. We also maintain a cheat sheet: which ratios for which use cases, what dimensions to request, what to avoid. Brand Consistency: The Hard Part Keeping AI-generated content on-brand is the real challenge. Here's our approach: 1. Brand guidelines document: Colors, fonts, style, tone 2. Reference images: Examples of on-brand creative 3. Negative prompts: What to avoid ("no generic stock photo style") 4. Style anchors: Consistent elements across all generations Example: If our brand uses warm colors and natural lighting, every prompt includes "warm color palette, natural lighting, authentic feel." If our brand is minimalist, every prompt includes "minimalist, clean, simple composition." We also use image-to-image generation when we have reference images. Start with something on-brand, then generate variations. Review Gates: Quality Control Not every AI generation is good. Some are great, some are usable, some need regeneration. We use a simple review process: 1. First pass: Does it match the brief? (Yes/No/Revise) 2. Second pass: Is it on-brand? (Yes/No/Revise) 3. Third pass: Is it production-ready? (Yes/No/Revise) If it fails any gate, we regenerate with adjusted prompts. We don't try to fix bad generations—we generate better ones. We also maintain a library of approved generations. If we need something similar, we start from an approved image rather than from scratch. The Pipeline Here's our full pipeline: 1. Brief: What do we need? (Format, style, content, dimensions) 2. Prompt: Generate prompt from system template 3. Generation: Create image/copy with AI tool 4. Review: Check against gates 5. Approval: Mark as approved or regenerate 6. Storage: Save to organized library 7. Usage: Deploy to project We track everything in a simple spreadsheet: what we generated, when, for what project, approval status, where it's used. This creates a knowledge base. Over time, we learn what works and what doesn't, making future generations better. Tools: What We Use We use: - Midjourney (for images, best quality) - DALL-E 3 (for images, fastest) - Claude (for copy, best reasoning) - ChatGPT (for copy, good enough) We pick the tool based on the task. High-quality hero images? Midjourney. Quick social posts? DALL-E 3. Long-form copy? Claude. Short copy? ChatGPT. The key is using the right tool for the job, not one tool for everything. The Bottom Line An AI creative pipeline that actually ships requires: - Prompt systems (not just prompts) - Aspect ratio management (get it right from the start) - Brand consistency (enforced through guidelines and style anchors) - Review gates (quality control before production) When done right, AI becomes a force multiplier: faster iteration, consistent quality, scalable production. When done wrong, it's just expensive noise. The difference is the system.