Halftone Meets Photograph
A travel-poster collage where a dotted field above and a real photograph below meet along one seam — and the dots cross into the picture rather than stopping at its edge. Six fields.
Two runs of the same template. A studio bench at night in indigo and ochre beside a market alley at dusk in rust and teal — same seam, same four counted colours, and in both the dots run down into the photograph rather than stopping at it.
Generated from this template with the fields shown above — the dot field carries across the join and dissolves into the upper third of the photograph, the grid keeps one angle above and below, and the title is cut by the seam with its upper halves on dots and lower halves on the picture. Four printed colours, three fact modules, no fourth. Run-to-run quirks: how far the dots travel into the photograph varies, and the arc of small caps along the seam sometimes sets straight instead of curved. This run was regenerated once, and not for anything the picture did wrong: its three facts led with a pattern total, which the library's copy rules forbid because a count is stale the week after it ships and nobody can defend it in a room. The fault was in the example fields, not the template. It was caught by an audit looking for something else entirely.
Generated for this library
Input
Place Vibary - the library district
Title BUILT HERE
Script made by describing
Photo a long studio bench at night, screens down both sides
Facts every pattern still running · a live build every Saturday ·
everything free to copy
Colour ink #17171A · indigo · bone · ochre accent · wedge
Returned 1 poster · 2:3 · dots above, photograph below
top a dense field of bone dots on deep ink, the dots large
and open at the top edge, tightening as they descend
seam the dots do not stop at the photograph - they carry
across its upper third, shrinking and thinning until
they disappear into the lit screens, so the join reads
as one printed sheet
title BUILT HERE in a sharp serif, indigo, set across the
seam - the upper halves of the letters sit on dots, the
lower halves on the photograph
script made by describing under it in a light hand, bone
emblem the wedge in one filled ochre shape between the words
arc a curved line of small caps along the seam naming the
district, on a thin bone band
base three modules, each with an ochre disc, black on bone,
evenly spreadYou fill in 6 fields — the braced lines at the top. Everything below them is fixed.
- 1The place
- 2The title
- 3The script line
- 4The photograph
- 5The three facts
- 6The four colours, and the emblem
Halftone Meets Photograph
Produce ONE image: a retro-print collage poster for a place. Follow every line below. Replace only the FIELDS block; everything after it is fixed.
First — do you have the fields?
If any field below still has braces around it, stop and ask. Put all the questions in one short message, and show the example under each one so they can see the shape of a useful answer. Wait for the replies, then draw. Never fill a brace yourself: a value you invented is a value nobody asked for, and it will look exactly as considered as the ones they did give you.
Ask in whatever language they are writing to you in. Translate the questions and the examples; do not make someone read English to tell you what they want.
The examples are only examples. If someone answers a question, use their answer; never fall back to the example because you prefer it.
If the fields are already filled in, ignore this and carry on.
Fields — replace these six lines only
- The place: {what and where} e.g. Vibary — the library district, where things get built out loud
- The title: {one or two words} e.g. BUILT HERE
- The script line: {a short handwritten line} e.g. made by describing
- The photograph: {what it shows, with depth} e.g. a long studio bench at night seen down its length, screens lit along both sides, people working at the far end
- The three facts: {three, dot-separated} e.g. every pattern still running · a live build every Saturday · everything free to copy
- The four colours, and the emblem: {deep · two brights · accent · one shape} e.g. deep #17171A ink · brights #5B5BD6 indigo and #F2EFE6 bone · accent #E8C468 ochre · the emblem is a play wedge in one filled shape
The seam law
Every template in this style asks for the two halves to "blend naturally" and then says nothing about how. The result is two rectangles stacked with a soft edge between them, which is exactly what the style is trying not to be.
The seam works when it behaves like one sheet that was printed once:
- The dots cross the join. The halftone field does not stop at the photograph's edge. It carries into the upper third of the picture, shrinking and thinning as it goes, until it disappears into the image's own darks and lights. A photograph with a clean upper edge is the failure this rule exists to stop.
- The dot grid stays continuous. Same angle, same spacing progression, above the join and below it. It is one screen, not two.
- The title is cut by the seam. Set it so the upper part of the letterforms lies on dots and the lower part on the photograph. That single decision is what makes the join look intended.
Test it by covering the top half of the finished poster. If the photograph shows no dots along its upper edge, the halves were stacked.
The two halves
Above — the dot field. The upper two-fifths. A deep ground with a field of bright dots at a consistent angle, large and open at the top edge and tightening as they descend toward the seam. No image, no gradient, no texture other than the dots themselves.
Below — the photograph. The lower three-fifths, a real photograph with visible depth — something receding, not a flat subject. Its own colour and light survive; only the dot field and a faint print grain sit over it.
The type
Four texts, and no more:
- The title, largest, in a sharp high-contrast serif, in one of the brights, cut by the seam as described above.
- The script line, smaller, a light flowing hand, in the second bright, sitting under the title and balancing its weight.
- The arc — the place, set as a curved line of small caps following the seam, naming the place, dark type on a thin bright band.
- The three fact modules along the base: each a short line in heavy sans, dark on bright, preceded by a small filled disc in the accent. Evenly spread, equal weight, no fourth.
The emblem — one filled shape, no outline, no detail — sits with the title, between the words or after them.
The colour law
Four, counted:
- one deep for the dot field's ground and all dark type
- two brights, one for the title, one for the bands and script
- one accent, used only on the discs and the emblem
A fifth colour is what turns this style muddy, and the photograph already contributes its own range — that is why the printed palette must stay this short.
Never
- ✕ a photograph with a clean upper edge, or a soft blur used as the join
- ✕ two dot grids at different angles or spacings
- ✕ a title sitting entirely above or entirely below the seam
- ✕ a fourth fact module, a QR code, a logo row
- ✕ a fifth printed colour
- ✕ heavy grain over the whole poster, drop shadows, glow, bevels
The result
A poster that looks printed rather than assembled: one screen of dots running from the top edge down into a photograph, a title cut by the join, and three facts along the base — retro because of how it was made, not because a filter was laid over it.
The whole template, in one piece. The steps below are the entire workflow.
How to use it
- Copy the whole template with the button above.
- Replace the six FIELDS lines. Pick the photograph for its depth before anything else — the seam is only convincing where the picture recedes.
- Paste it into any image-capable agent or model, in one message. One run returns the poster.
- Check the seam by covering the top half: the photograph should still carry dots along its upper edge. If it is clean there, the two halves were stacked rather than printed.
What you swap
- The place
- Vibary — the library district, where things get built out loud
- The title
- BUILT HERE
- The script line
- made by describing
- The photograph
- a long studio bench at night seen down its length, screens lit along both sides, people working at the far end
- The three facts
- every pattern still running · a live build every Saturday · everything free to copy
- The four colours, and the emblem
- deep #17171A ink · brights #5B5BD6 indigo and #F2EFE6 bone · accent #E8C468 ochre · the emblem is a play wedge in one filled shape
Before it runs
- A photograph with depth — a street, a corridor, a bench seen down its length. A flat product shot gives the seam nothing to dissolve into.
- A title short enough to be cut in half by the seam and still read. Two words is comfortable.
- Three facts, not five. The base band is the first thing to bloat, and a fourth module turns the poster into a listing.
When to reach for it
For a place: a neighbourhood guide, a food street, a district campaign, a market. The style promises retro print and usually delivers two rectangles stacked, because every template in it describes the seam as 'blending naturally' and stops there.
What changes
- One poster split high and low — a dense halftone field above, a real photograph below — joined by a seam that behaves like ink on paper.
- The dot field carries across the join and dissolves into the photograph, so the two halves read as one printed sheet instead of two images butted together.
- The title is cut by that seam, half on dots and half on photograph, which is the move that makes the join deliberate rather than accidental.
- Three fact modules along the base, each with its own marker, so the poster carries real information without becoming a leaflet.
- One deep colour, two brights and one accent — stated as a count, because this style collapses the moment a fifth colour arrives.
Pairs with
- Five Layers, One PosterA loud cut-and-paste event poster where the materials are stacked in a fixed order — ground, shapes, photograph, ornament, type — so the noise has a structure under it. Seven fields.
- Four Textures, One FrameA loud Memphis-style event poster bordered by repeating type, where each geometric texture belongs to exactly one kind of element — dots to figures, stripes to props, grid to the floor. Seven fields.
- One Number, Three BandsA black-and-gold countdown poster where one huge numeral holds the middle in clear air, and every other fact is said exactly once, in one of three bands. Six fields.