AI Images for Instagram That Don't Look AI-Made

Rules for the picture itself

1. 1

   Keep every word out of the picture

   Image models draw letters as shapes, so text comes out misspelled or half formed. Ask for no text, words, letters, numbers, logos or watermarks anywhere in the image, then type any words on top in a design tool, where you control the spelling.

2. 2

   Don't ask for your brand colour on clothing or signs

   Asked to put a colour on a shirt or a shopfront, the model tends to invent an emblem or a sign to carry it, and that emblem turns into garbled lettering. Ask for the colour on props and surfaces in the scene instead.

3. 3

   Name your colours in words

   A hex code in a prompt is text, and the model may paint it into the picture. Write "deep teal background with warm orange accents", not #1F6F78 and #F28C38. Keep the exact codes for the parts you add by hand.

4. 4

   Choose photograph or illustration once

   Pick one style for the brand, a candid photograph or a flat illustration, and keep it for every post. A feed that switches between the two looks like several people made it.

5. 5

   Use your real product photo

   Don't ask a model to draw your product from a description. It changes the shape, the label or the colour, and customers notice. Post the real photo as the image. When a post has no photo, show the materials, tools or setting behind your work, never an invented product.

6. 6

   Leave room for words before you generate

   If you plan to add a headline, ask for the main subject in the upper two thirds of the frame, with the same scene continuing underneath. Asking for a "plain area" tends to produce a flat block of colour that looks pasted on.

7. 7

   Keep other companies' logos out

   Ask for no other company's logo, signage or branded product anywhere in the scene.

A prompt template you can copy

Fill the brackets with words, not codes. It is a simplified version of how XreplyAI builds its image prompts, enough to keep the common tells out of your own.

[One concrete scene that shows the post's main idea.]
For [your business in one line: what you sell, and to whom].
Style: [candid editorial photograph, natural light | clean flat illustration, generous negative space],
in a [background colour] and [accent colour] palette with [third colour] details.
Place the subject in the upper two thirds of the frame; the lower part continues the same scene.
No other company's logo, signage or branded product.
Absolutely no text, words, letters, numbers, logos or watermarks anywhere in the image.

The pull-quote formula

A pull quote is one line from the caption, typed large over the image. It works when someone can read it on its own in the second it takes to scroll past.

• One sentence that carries the post's main idea and makes sense without the caption.
• 20 words or fewer, 120 characters at most, in short everyday words.
• No hashtags, emoji, quotation marks or trailing ellipsis.
• Type it on yourself, over the space you left in the image. Never ask the image model to write it.
• Check the claim first. The quote repeats what the post says in the largest type on the page, so a claim you would not defend in the caption does not belong on the image.

When to leave the image plain: if no sentence passes the stand-alone test, or the words would cover the subject, post the picture without a quote. A plain image beats a quote that needs the caption to make sense.

When to put your logo on a post

The checklist before you post

• ✓No words, letters or numbers drawn into the image itself.
• ✓No emblem or lettering on clothing, signs or packaging that isn't yours.
• ✓The product in the picture is your real product.
• ✓The same style, photograph or illustration, as the rest of the feed.
• ✓Colours from your own palette.
• ✓Any quote is one sentence that stands on its own, with a claim you'd defend.
• ✓The logo on no more than one image in three, on a company profile, in clear space.
• ✓Nothing covers the subject.