Stop 4 of 9 · Daily
The imagery pipeline
Four sources of imagery and the rule that picks between them, reference sheets that keep generated frames on brand, a rights log row per file, and the list of what never gets generated.
Four sources, decided before anyone opens a tool
Every image in a campaign comes from one of four places, and the pipeline picks which before the deadline picks for you.
| Source | Use it for | The row it needs |
|---|---|---|
| Shot | Product, people, our stores, anything documentary | Shoot date, release forms, usage window |
| Licensed | Stock that fills a gap the shoot missed | Licence id, usage terms, expiry |
| Generated | Environments, textures, backgrounds, abstract hero art | Tool, model, prompt file, date |
| Drawn | Icons, patterns, illustration in Illustrator | Author, source file, version |
Farah's rule is short. If a person or the product is the subject, it is shot or licensed. If it is the world around them, it can be generated.
The reference sheet
Generated frames drift off brand because every prompt starts from nothing. A reference sheet fixes that: four of the brand's own shoot frames plus one treatment sentence, kept in the Project, so every generated image in the campaign inherits the same light.
[attach four frames from our last shoot] Describe what is actually doing the work across these four: the light direction and hardness, the colour temperature, the depth of field, the surface materials, and how much empty space the compositions carry. Write it as one treatment sentence I can paste at the top of every prompt this campaign, plus a short list of what would break the match. Do not name a photographer, a brand or a campaign.
Using the treatment sentence above, write the prompts for the six environment images the asset matrix needs: [paste rows 1 to 6]. One prompt per line. Each one names the space, the surfaces, the light, the camera height and where the empty space sits for the headline in both scripts. No people, no product, no logos, no text in the image. Add a short negative list to each.
The empty space clause matters twice as much here as it would in a single-language layout. A composition that leaves room for an English headline on the left leaves nothing for an Arabic headline on the right.
Adobe on both ends
The pipeline is not the tool, it is the loop. Reference sheet, prompt, generate, Photoshop for cleanup and the composite, Illustrator when the shape has to become vector, rights log row, then place in InDesign. The rights row is written when the file lands in the campaign folder, not when someone asks.
Here is what I know about this image: [paste the tool, model, prompt, date and where it will run]. Write the rights log row in our columns. Then check it against our rules and tell me whether this file may be placed, may be placed with a change, or may not be used at all, and say which rule decides it.
Compare the file list in the campaign folder with the rights log. List every file with no row, every row with no file, and every row whose usage window ends before the campaign does. Rank by what would actually run in public.
What never gets generated
Real people, whether they are ours, a customer's or invented to look like someone who exists. The product itself, because its shape is the trademark. A competitor's packaging or marks. Anything that would be read as documentation of a real event, a real store opening or a real crowd. And any product form that has not launched, because a leaked render is a leak whether or not the render is accurate.