Compile a theme intoaprompt that can be used directly for image generation. The medium is locked, while objects and color scheme can be swapped: on a flat solid-color ground, paste a set of coarse halftone two-color overprint real-object silhouettes, each with a white die-cut outline, and one visible connector strings them into a single sentence.
Core principle:Halftone dots grow only on the pasted cutouts. The flat color field must be absolutely clean—this is the only reason this style keeps its print texture without becoming dirty, and it is also the most common failure. The model's default behavior is to unify the entire image into one texture; if not explicitly excluded, it will definitely grow all over.
Second principle:The relationship must be drawn. Juxtaposition is not relationship; viewers will not infer it on their own. Every image must have one visible connector—rope, thread, paper tape, lever, falling object, break point in color. An image without a connector is a still life of materials, not a thesis.
Aspect ratio
| Deliverable | Ratio | size | quality |
|---|---|---|---|
| Article cover banner | 5:2 | 3200×1280 |
high |
| Chapter illustration | 16:9 | 2560×1440 |
high |
quality is always high. Halftone density, overprint misregistration, and small text on objects all consume resolution; below medium, halftone dots blur into gray blocks, and scales and command lines fall apart.
Square images are unusable—this style relies on horizontal object staging and layered narrative; compressing it into a square will squeeze it to death.
Style DNA (eight items, unchanged no matter the theme)
- Two-color overprint halftone: each real object is a photo converted into coarse halftone dots, black plate + one spot-color plate, with the spot color offset 1–2px relative to the black plate; at full size the misalignment is clearly visible. This is the defining feature of this style.
- White die-cut outline: around each pasted cutout, a 3px white sticker outline + a very light hard shadow. The outline follows only the pasted cutout,not the flat color blocks, not anything other than the background paper pieces。
- Sharp edges are not eroded by texture, andsharp points must be named one by one—tips, corners, and hard turns go into Key details; if not named, they will be flattened by the overall texture.
- The scope of halftone dots is only the pasted cutouts and paper pieces. The flat color field has no halftone dots. Paper fiber covers the entire image; this is the only full-frame texture.
- Five-role color palette, one color one job: ground (flat base), paper neutrals (pulp off-white / kraft), a single spot color (only for the connector and the second color plate), object metal colors (brass ochre or steel grey), black (geometric decoration + text blocks).
- Print production decorative vocabulary: crop corner marks, registration crosshairs, six-cell color bar, tape, staples.Take only 2–3 per image; using all of them turns it into a material wall.
- Label block specs are fixed: solid black rectangle + a spot-color vertical bar along the left edge + cut corner at the top right + white heavy-weight Chinese text, 2–4 characters.
- Objects are limited to the workshop / measurement / inspection family: printing implements, measuring tools, instruments, receipts, paper goods, old-style machinery. Step outside this family (retro home appliances, robots, globes, potted plants) and the style immediately collapses into generic retro assets.
Article 4 is the easiest to lose, Article 8 next.
Four texture dimensions (one answer per dimension, no blanks)
| Dimension | Value in this style |
|---|---|
| Form simplification | No simplification. Keep the photographic silhouette, reduce information density with halftone dots. Not geometric, not low-poly |
| Edge treatment | Die-cut sharp edges + 3px white outline + light hard shadow. Edges are never eroded by texture |
| Texture nature | Coarse halftone two-color overprint (halftone dots visible to the naked eye + misregistration between plates) + paper fiber |
| Texture scope | Halftone dots only on cutouts and paper scraps; paper fiber across the whole image; flat color fields have no halftone dots |
The four dimensions interlock.To fix texture you must rewrite the whole passage, not patch it word by word.
Read
- Compile prompt: read
references/compile-contract.md(iron rules + full locked base + finished-piece skeleton + iteration discipline). - Color register / objects / connectors / decoration: read
references/module-library.md。 - For finished-piece references, or to see how a grouped output is arranged: read
references/examples.md(two complete examples, including first-image measured records).
Input
Infer from user input, no form-filling required:
- Theme: determines the objects, connectors, and text.
- The judgment for this section: state in one sentence what claim this image must establish—determines how the connectors are chosen. If the user didn't provide one, raise it from context.
- Label text: 2–4 Chinese characters, copy the user's original text verbatim, no polishing.
- Color register: if the user hasn't specified, choose by theme temperament; for grouped output, change it image by image, no repeats.
Workflow
- First write the judgment for this section(one sentence). Skipping this step yields a pile of good-looking retro objects that say nothing.
- Choose connectors—rope / thread / paper tape / lever / falling things / color breakpoints / physical anomalies. Connectors determine the composition skeleton.
- Choose objects: one main object with internal structure + one to two supporting objects. The main object must be nameable.
- Choose color register + spot color. When grouping, first list the whole group's extraction results as a table, confirm that background colors and spot colors do not repeat, then compile.
- Name the sharp points: which spots in this image must stay sharp, write each one into Key details.
- Measure proportions: the subject's horizontal width share, what percentage of image height its top and bottom edges fall at, rotation angle, write into Composition. Don't estimate by impression.
- Compile: output per the seven-segment skeleton of
compile-contract.md, carry the base verbatim in full, no placeholders, no menus, zero Chinese in the body (except rendered text). - Pass Quality Gates。
When grouping output: the two base segments Key details / Constraints must be written verbatim intoevery singleprompt—the model only sees one at a time, shared rules are not inherited automatically. Only Scene's color variables, Subject's objects and plot, Composition's proportions, and Text change.
Quality Gates
Check item by item after rendering:
- Background has no halftone dots. Any dot, grain, or texture appearing on a flat solid color field means failure; this is the first failure point.
- Misregistration is visible. At full size, misalignment between the black plate and the spot-color plate is visible; if not visible, this dimension did not take effect.
- Stroke attribution. The white die-cut edge is only on the outline of the cutout objects; it has not crept onto flat solid color blocks or the background.
- Sharp points remain. The explicitly named tips, corners, and tick marks have not been blurred out by halftone dots.
- Connecting elements hold up. At a glance you can tell who is connected to whom and in which direction. If you cannot, this image is not communicating.
- Spot color in place. Spot color is only on the connecting elements and the second color plate; it has not crept onto the background or the metal of the objects.
- Label block specs: black rectangle + spot-color left vertical bar + top-right cut corner + white text, all four present.
- Text checked character by character. Command lines, URLs, numbers, and tick marks must be checked character by character; one error means re-render.
- Objects have not slid back: no generic retro staples such as retro home appliances, robots, globes, or watering cans have appeared.
- This skill only produces prompts; it does not fabricate already-generated image results.
Status and known risks
The first image has been tested in practice(2026-08-01, 5:2 cover "looks fake at a glance", rendered image see assets/preview.png）。
First-image validation holds: the flat solid base is clean with no halftone dots throughout, the two-color misregistration is clear, the white die-cut stroke follows only the cutout objects, the coarse halftone dots under the magnifying glass form a two-tier density difference with the halftone dots of the whole image, the four corner crop marks and the bottom color bar are in place, and the Chinese title and subtitle are all rendered correctly character by character.
The first image exposed one point, already written back:Local density differences like "halftone dots are coarser under the magnifying glass" must be explicitly written as "several times coarser than the whole image", writing only magnified will produce an ordinary magnification effect, with no mechanical feel visible.
| Risk | Status / how to fix |
|---|---|
| Background covered in halftone dots | High risk. The Constraints base already blocks it. If it still occurs, move flat colour field carries no dots to the start of the Key details section |
| Misregistration blurs the whole image | Two-color is a newly added dimension,if the rendered image is blurry, first delete only this dimensionand look again; do not rewrite the entire texture section |
| Multiple copies of the same shape degrade into texture | Stacked subjects (a pile of movable type, a stack of receipts) must explicitly name and preserve the outline of each piece. If still blurry, reduce the quantity; do not add embellishment |
| Objects slide back to generic retro staples | The Constraints base blocks them by name. When working in groups, also add the objects used in the previous version to the blocklist |
| Chinese label block glyphs | First image has validated that the 5:2 cover title and labels are normal. The small-text label blocks of 16:9 chapter imageshave not been separately validated |
| Long commands / URLs printed wrong | Must be checked character by character. If it fails repeatedly, shorten to the shortest recognizable fragment; do not break down glyph descriptions |
| Group looks too similar | Re-draw each of the three tables—background color, spot color, connecting elements—fresh, with no repeats |
Guardrails
- Describe the style using visual characteristics; do not name artists.
- Objects are generic items, not reproductions of real brand marks; when a real logo is genuinely needed, go through
gpt-image-prompt-specThe full restoration path (naming the brand and version explicitly, without splitting glyphs or leaving blank areas for later compositing). - When the output deviates, first suspect that the Subject slot is not named explicitly enough; do not touch the DNA fixed block;change only one place per round, except for the texture dimension (change the entire passage together).
- When the effect is wrong, first remove modifiers, then add modifiers. Too many modifiers will compete with each other.
- Do not change prompts that have been verified as effective just for compliance. Reverting to the most recent known-good version is a legitimate and often optimal action.