From Prompt to Picture: A New Way to Think About Visuals

SOLO is your weekly design and visibility lab — part of the Solo Business School, and dedicated to helping solopreneurs stand out with smart systems, sharp visuals, and AI that unlocks your edge.

Each week, you get fresh ideas to help you stay small and play big.

From prompt to picture: A new way to think about visuals

Everyone’s talking about AI-generated art, and its impressive ability to create images in any style. But I’m not quite sold.

Most solopreneurs don’t need a photorealistic lion in a business suit. We need a way to get visual ideas out of our heads and into the world — fast.

What if AI’s real superpower isn’t creating images — but helping you think visually, as a visual brainstorming partner?

It doesn’t need to draw. It just needs to spark the creative process.

Whether you’re sketching a new framework, naming a visual metaphor, or mapping out a layout, a good AI prompt can nudge your brain in the right direction — and save you hours of wheel-spinning.

Prompts that spark visual thinking

Most of the time, we don’t want (or need) AI to generate a final visual. What we need is a spark — a fresh metaphor, a clever shape, a new way to map our message.

Try prompts like these to get your visual brain firing:

“Give me five metaphors I could turn into icons about [insert topic].”
“What’s a visual analogy for [my process] that fits into a triangle (or circle, or path)?”
“Suggest a few layout ideas for a 3-part framework that puts [main idea] at the center.”
“What common objects or symbols could represent [abstract concept]?”
“List a few visual formats I could use to explain this idea simply, like a Venn diagram, timeline, or before/after.”

These won’t always give you a perfect answer — and that’s the point.

They kick off your own creative process. No more staring at a blank page (or whiteboard) hoping for lightning to strike.

This week’s build: Spark your visual

Ready to turn AI into your visual thinking partner? Here's where to start:

1️⃣ Pick one idea you’ve been struggling to explain visually.
Maybe it’s a process, a framework, or a feeling you want to capture.

2️⃣ Use one of the prompts above to generate visual metaphors or layout ideas.
You’re not looking for a perfect answer — just a thread to pull.

3️⃣ Rough it out.
Sketch it, whiteboard it, build it with sticky notes. See how fast things come together once your brain gets a little push.

Your next steps

AI can generate images all day long. But it can't capture your visual voice — the unique way you see and explain the world.

That's what makes your sketches and frameworks so powerful. They're unmistakably yours.

This week’s SOLO Insight:

AI’s the catalyst.

You’re the creator.

Don’t let AI replace your creativity. Let it ignite it.

You bring the insight. AI brings the spark.

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Fresh Finds for Creative Minds

Here are three gems this week from around the Web for visual thinkers and solopreneurs:

🔤 When Kerning Goes Wrong (Even for Popes)
Fast Company reveals how Pope Francis’ new tomb features some seriously questionable letter spacing. They chose Times New Roman and used auto-spacing instead of properly kerned ancient letterforms. It’s a humble choice for a humble pope, perhaps — but a reminder that even small design details can create lasting impressions... for centuries.

🤖 Still the Best “How AI Works” Explainer

This “gentle primer” by Timothy Lee and Sean Trott remains one of the clearest explanations of how AI and Large Language Models (LLMs) actually work. (Essentially, it guesses what the next word is, really fast.) This 2023 deep-dive uses minimal math and jargon to explain key concepts. Even with all the AI advances since publication, it’s still a go-to source for visual thinkers who want to understand what’s happening under the hood.

🅰 A Love Letter to the World’s Humblest Font
Marcin Wichary reveals the fascinating history of Gorton, a utilitarian font that’s been quietly doing the heavy lifting for over 135 years. From nuclear submarines to Manhattan intercoms, this deep dive shows how an “ugly” industrial font became an unsung hero of 20th-century typography. Once you see it, you’ll realize how often it shows up in your life.

⭐️ Have an item I should share in this section?
Don’t keep it a secret. Email me with your find!