Design around the copy, not under it
Most generated banners fail the same way: a beautiful image with nowhere to put words. Prompt the copy space explicitly — 'generous clean space on the left third', 'calm low-detail area across the top' — and state its purpose: 'space for a large headline'. The model composes around the reservation, which beats hunting for a quiet corner afterward.
Think in contrast zones. White type needs a consistently dark region; dark type needs a consistently light one. Prompting 'dark gradient on the right half' or 'pale muted background behind the copy area' guarantees legibility before you ever open your editor to set the text.
One campaign, every placement
Placements disagree about shape: wide heroes, tall story covers, squarish feed ads, shallow email headers. Cropping one master image degrades all of them — instead, regenerate per placement with the orientation and composition stated in the prompt: 'wide horizontal banner, subject right, copy space left' becomes 'vertical composition, subject lower half, copy space top' for stories.
Because the source is text, the set stays coherent. Same palette, same style wording, same subject — only the geometry clause changes. Five placements come back looking like one art director sized them by hand.
Consistency, seasons, and the right model
Campaigns are series, so prompt them as one. Keep a fixed style block — palette, mood, shape language — and swap only the seasonal or promotional element: the same gradient system with autumn leaves in October and snow in December reads as a brand, not a reroll. Recraft v4.1 is the pick for flat graphic banners, FLUX Schnell for fast cheap background plates, and Seedream v4.5 when the banner needs photoreal lifestyle imagery.
For placements that support motion, short generated video loops make strong animated banners — a few seconds of subtle movement from Kling or Seedance, looped, outperforms a static frame in most feeds. Finish stills with the upscaler if a placement demands unusually large output.