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DALL-E Image Generation for Business

A hands-on course for marketers and small-business owners who want to produce on-brand social graphics, product mockups, ad creative, and blog headers with DALL-E inside ChatGPT. You leave with a reusable prompt formula, a brand visual style sheet, and an editing workflow using in-painting and the conversational editor.

For marketers, founders, and small-business owners who need on-brand visuals fast and want DALL-E to replace stock photos and basic design tasks.

Course content

What DALL-E 3 Is and Where to Use It45m
Your First Business Image and the Controls That Matter45m
Reading the Output and Knowing the Limits45m
The Six-Part Prompt Formula50m
Style, Lighting, and Camera Vocabulary50m
Negative Space, Composition, and Iteration45m
In-Painting: Editing a Specific Region50m
Outpainting, Backgrounds, and Reframing50m
Product Mockups from a Real Photo50m

Workbook & downloads

Put the course into practice — a printable workbook plus editable templates you can fill in and reuse.

Download workbook (PDF)15 KBDownload (XLSX)8 KBDownload (DOCX)8 KBDownload (CSV)1 KB
Preview the workbook
This workbook turns the course into a working production system for your brand. You will build a reusable six-part prompt, lock a brand visual style sheet, practice in-painting and product mockups, and run a full campaign from brief to publish. Keep the included templates open as you work — they are designed to become your permanent prompt library, style spec, and asset tracker.

Getting Started with DALL-E in ChatGPT

Generate your first publish-quality image and learn to judge output against intent instead of accepting the first result.
Exercise: Vague vs. Specific: Run the A/B Test
In ChatGPT, generate an image from a deliberately vague prompt, then from a specific one for the same subject. Compare them side by side and note exactly what specificity changed.
  1. Vague run: type only coffee shop and generate one image. Save it.
  2. Specific run: A warm overhead photo of a single flat white on a light oak café table, soft morning window light, scattered coffee beans, shallow depth of field, square 1:1 format. Generate and save.
  3. Write three differences you see between the two images (composition, lighting, usability).
  4. Decide which one you could actually post, and write one sentence explaining why.
Worksheet: First-Image Decision Log
Before generating, fill in each control so you make every decision instead of leaving it to DALL-E. Then record the result.
  • Subject (exact object, count, material)
  • Style (photo / 3D render / flat vector / watercolor)
  • Composition (angle and framing)
  • Lighting and mood
  • Aspect ratio (1:1 / 2:3 / 3:2) and where it will be posted
  • Result rating 1-5
  • What I would change next time
Checklist: Two-Minute Quality Check
  • Zoomed in on hands, eyes, and any text for defects
  • Checked color and mood against the brand (no drift)
  • Confirmed clean negative space for a headline or logo if needed
  • Verified the aspect ratio matches the destination platform
  • Confirmed the subject is safe to publish (no real people, no trademarks)

Prompt Craft for Reliable, On-Brand Images

Make the six-part formula and style vocabulary automatic so you hit the target in one or two tries.
Worksheet: Six-Part Prompt Builder
Assemble a prompt one part at a time, then stitch the parts into a single natural sentence and generate. Use this for any business image.
  • 1. Subject (material, count, key detail)
  • 2. Style (photorealistic / flat vector / 3D render / isometric)
  • 3. Composition (angle, framing, where the negative space sits)
  • 4. Lighting (e.g., soft diffused studio light from the left)
  • 5. Color and mood (named palette + 2-3 adjectives)
  • 6. Format (aspect ratio + intended use)
  • Full stitched prompt (one sentence)
Exercise: Build Your Personal Vocabulary Cheat Sheet
Test visual terms against one fixed subject so you learn which words steer DALL-E the way you want. Keep the winners for reuse.
  1. Pick one subject (e.g., your product or a coffee cup) and keep it constant.
  2. Generate it four times changing only the lighting term: soft diffused light, golden hour, dramatic side lighting, bright and airy.
  3. Generate it three more times changing only the style: photorealistic, flat vector illustration, isometric illustration.
  4. Circle the two lighting words and one style that best fit your brand and add them to your cheat sheet.
Exercise: One-Variable Iteration Drill
Practice refining inside the chat by changing exactly one thing per follow-up, so you can see what each tweak does.
  1. Generate a base image from your six-part prompt.
  2. Reply: Keep everything the same but make the background soft cream instead of white.
  3. Reply: Same composition, but move the subject slightly left and add more empty space on the right.
  4. Note which single change improved usability most for adding a headline.
Checklist: Composed-for-Copy Check
  • Stated which side holds the negative space (top / left / centered margins)
  • Subject placed so a headline or CTA will fit without overlap
  • Background is plain enough to carry text
  • Confirmed all six prompt parts were filled before generating
  • Limited any in-image text to 1-3 short words (or none)

Editing, In-Painting, and Fixing Images

Repair flaws and adapt one strong image into many without regenerating from scratch.
Exercise: In-Painting Rescue
Take a near-perfect image with one flaw and fix only that region using the edit/select tool, keeping the rest intact.
  1. Generate an image likely to have a small flaw (a person holding an object, or a busy table).
  2. Mask the flaw slightly larger than the defect itself.
  3. Prompt the masked region only, e.g.: a relaxed natural hand resting on the table, or empty table surface matching the wood.
  4. Re-run the two-minute quality check on the edited area and confirm there is no visible seam.
Exercise: One Hero, Many Formats
Adapt a single hero image into every placement using outpainting and background swaps instead of prompting each one cold.
  1. Create a square 1:1 hero image with the subject kept away from the edges.
  2. Extend left and right to a 3:2 website banner, matching the background.
  3. Extend top and bottom to a 2:3 vertical Story.
  4. Swap the background for one seasonal variant (e.g., warm autumn tones).
Worksheet: Product Mockup Plan
Plan a mockup around a real product photo before generating, and decide where exact branding must be composited rather than generated.
  • Product photo to upload (description / filename)
  • Scene setting and surface
  • Lighting and mood
  • Aspect ratio and placement
  • Will the label be generated or composited from the real photo?
  • Number of scene variants to produce
  • Realism check: do shadows fall one consistent direction and is scale believable?
Checklist: Edit-and-Adapt Check
  • Masks drawn slightly larger than the flaw for clean blending
  • Subject kept off the edges before any canvas extension
  • Exact label/logo composited from the real file where precision matters
  • Shadow direction and product scale verified after edits
  • Stopped editing and restarted after 3-4 edits if the image began to drift

Brand Consistency, Licensing, and Workflow

Turn one-off images into a repeatable, publish-safe production system for the whole brand.
Worksheet: Brand Visual Style Sheet Draft
Define a reusable style block you will paste at the end of every prompt. Keep colors as plain names, not hex codes, since DALL-E reads names better.
  • Palette (3-5 named colors)
  • Rendering style (one choice only)
  • Lighting signature
  • Mood words (exactly three)
  • Composition defaults (negative space, framing, backgrounds)
  • Avoid list (colors, patterns, text)
  • Final appendable style block (one sentence)
Exercise: Consistency Stress Test
Prove your style sheet holds across different subjects before you rely on it for a campaign.
  1. Generate four images of four different subjects, appending the same style block to each.
  2. Lay all four side by side and ask: do these read as one brand?
  3. Reword the weakest part of the style sheet and regenerate that image.
  4. Lock the version that holds together and save it to your prompt library.
Checklist: Publish-Safe Licensing Gate
  • No real, identifiable people generated for commercial use
  • No copyrighted characters or third-party logos in the published image
  • Own logo added separately from a real file, not generated
  • In-image text proofread and limited (or replaced in a design tool)
  • Platform AI-disclosure rules checked for each channel (Meta, TikTok, ads)
  • Extra scrutiny applied for health, finance, or political content
Checklist: End-to-End Campaign Run
  • Brief written: goal, one key message, required placements
  • Hero prompt built with the six-part formula + style block
  • Refined with one-variable follow-ups and in-painting
  • Adapted into every aspect ratio via outpainting and background swaps
  • Real logo, headline, and CTA added in Canva or Photoshop
  • Quality check and licensing gate both passed
  • Winning prompt saved to the library with notes

Your Action Plan

  1. Day 1: Set up ChatGPT image generation and run the vague-vs-specific A/B test to feel how specificity changes output.
  2. Day 2: Complete the Six-Part Prompt Builder and generate three business images entirely from the formula.
  3. Day 3: Build your vocabulary cheat sheet by testing four lighting terms and three styles on one fixed subject.
  4. Day 4: Draft and stress-test your Brand Visual Style Sheet across four different subjects until they read as one brand.
  5. Day 5: Practice in-painting by rescuing one flawed image, then adapt one hero into 1:1, 2:3, and 3:2 formats.
  6. Day 6: Produce a product mockup around a real product photo and decide where to composite the exact label.
  7. Day 7: Run one real campaign end to end — brief, hero, refine, adapt, brand, and pass the publish-safe gate.
  8. Day 8: Log every winning prompt into the Prompt Library template with notes on what you changed and why.
  9. Ongoing: Reuse and tweak saved prompts instead of starting cold, and share the style sheet with anyone making brand images.
  10. Monthly: Review the library, retire weak prompts, and refresh seasonal variants so the visual system keeps improving.

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