How to Get Perfect Text in GPT Image 2: Prompting Tips That Actually Work
July 4, 2025
Text rendering is GPT Image 2’s killer feature. It’s the first AI image model that can reliably spell words correctly, place text where you want it, and make it look like it belongs in the scene. But “reliably” doesn’t mean “automatically.” You still need to prompt it correctly.
The Golden Rule: Quotes and Specificity
Always put the exact text you want in quotation marks within your prompt. Don’t say “a sign with the store name.” Say “a sign that reads ‘MURPHY’S BOOKS’ in gold serif letters on a dark green background.”
The more specific you are about the text’s appearance — font style, color, size relative to the image, placement — the better the results.
What Works Well
“A vintage movie poster for a film called ‘THE LAST LIGHTHOUSE’ with the title in bold art deco typography at the top, a lighthouse silhouette in the center, and ‘Coming Summer 2025’ in smaller text at the bottom.”
Poster and sign prompts are GPT Image 2’s sweet spot.
“A cozy café storefront with a chalkboard sign that reads ‘Today’s Special: Lavender Honey Latte — $5.50’ in handwritten chalk lettering.”
Specifying “chalkboard” and “chalk lettering” gives the AI a clear visual context for the text style.
“A minimalist book cover with the title ‘QUIET HOURS’ in thin sans-serif type centered on a pale blue background, with the author name ‘Elena Park’ in smaller text below.”
Clean, minimal designs with clear hierarchy work best.
Common Mistakes
Long text strings (more than 5-6 words) start to get unreliable. If you need a paragraph of text, break it into multiple generation steps or use GPT Image 2’s editing mode to add text in stages.
Cursive and script fonts are still hit-or-miss. Stick to serif, sans-serif, or display fonts for the most reliable results. If you need script, specify “elegant but readable script” and keep the text to 2-3 words.
Don’t put text in the background of complex scenes. Text works best when it has a clear, relatively simple surface to sit on — a sign, a poster, a book cover, a wall.
Pro tip: if the text comes out slightly wrong, use ChatGPT’s image editing to fix just the text area rather than regenerating the whole image.
See our tested poster and typography prompts with example images.
Poster & Graphic PromptsText rendering is one of the reasons we think GPT Image 2 is the most practical AI image model for real work — not just art experiments. Designers, marketers, and content creators can actually use these outputs without having to fix the text in Photoshop afterward.
New to GPT Image 2? Start with our complete beginner’s guide.
How to Use GPT Image 2