The visual layer of a deck, itemized
Decks need four kinds of image. A title-slide hero that sets the tone. Section-break images that give the audience a visual breath between chapters. Quiet backgrounds that sit behind bullet slides without fighting the text. And subject illustrations — the product, the concept, the location — where stock photography would be generic.
Generate all four with copy space in mind: 'generous empty space for headline', 'low contrast, subtle gradient', 'subject in right third, clean left half'. Text belongs in the slide tool, so the image's job is to leave room for it.
Keeping thirty slides visually consistent
Consistency comes from a prompt skeleton. Fix the style words once — palette, mood, lighting, medium — and vary only the subject per slide: 'minimal isometric illustration, deep navy and coral palette, soft studio light, [subject]'. Run every image through the same skeleton and the deck reads as one designed system.
Presets enforce this mechanically: pick one aesthetic preset and keep it on for every generation. GPT Image 1.5 is a reliable, inexpensive engine for clean slide backgrounds; Recraft v4.1 handles the vector-style motifs and iconographic frames that read well at presentation distance.
Backgrounds that respect the text
The most common deck-visual mistake is a background that competes with the content. Behind text and charts, prompt for restraint: 'soft diagonal gradient, low contrast, subtle texture at the edges, generous empty center'. The image should register as atmosphere, not as a subject.
Save contrast for the slides that have no text to protect — the title, the section breaks, the closer. That rhythm of quiet and loud is most of what audiences experience as 'polished'.
Finishing and format
Generate at 16:9 to match the slide frame, and run the title-slide hero through Upscale if it's headed for a conference screen or projector — big rooms are unforgiving of soft images.
If you want a background with cutout headroom — say, your product floating over the gradient — generate the product shot separately, run Remove BG, and composite it in the slide tool so you can reposition it per layout.