How to make a poster with ChatGPT

You can make a poster with ChatGPT's image creation in a few minutes. The picture comes out better, and the words come out more reliably, if you decide a few things first. This guide goes through them and links to copy and paste prompts.

Updated November 2026

1. Write the words first

Decide the headline, one supporting line and the small details (date, place, price). Keep them short. Image models draw letters as pictures, so long text goes wrong more often than short text. Read your own words twice. A typo in your prompt is copied into the poster.

2. Pick a style

"A poster for a gig" gives you the same generic picture as everyone else. A named style gives you a point of view: a risograph print, a halftone duotone, a papercut, Y2K chrome. The prompt gallery has 32 styles, each with a sample, so you can see what you will get before you ask.

3. Paste a prompt and change three things

Open a style page, copy the prompt, and paste it into ChatGPT with image creation on. Change the subject, the words in quotes and, if you like, the colours. The prompts name the format, such as A3 portrait or a 4:5 post, so the layout fits.

4. Fix one thing at a time

If the result is close, ask for one change: "make the dots coarser", "move the headline lower", "use a warmer red". Several changes at once make the model redo everything.

5. Check the words and finish

Read every letter. If a word is wrong, you can ask again, or you can use the picture as the background and set the words yourself. In OpenTempl, the Generate tab with your own OpenAI key can leave empty room for the words, so you add them as live text and fix a typo in a second.

Before you print

Check the size and the resolution. A picture from an image model may be smaller than your print size. Leave room for the margin, and ask the printer about bleed. OpenTempl's print PDF adds bleed and crop marks; see the poster maker.

Limits to know

• Results vary, and the same prompt gives a different picture each time.
• Free ChatGPT accounts have limits on image creation that change, so check your own account.
• Exact placement is hard to control. Treat the image as artwork and place the text yourself when it matters.
• Read OpenAI's current terms before you use an image commercially.