Infographic Stills. Empty the Numbers. Overlay Last.

An infographic still is a layout you can trust: sections, bars, icons, and empty cells where the numbers will sit. It is not a sourced report, not Amazon MAIN, and not proof a statistic is true. Google’s Nano Banana 2.1 model card, updated 6 October 2026, lists better text rendering and infographic layout among the updates to gemini-nano-banana-2.1. That is a layout claim, not a license to invent a conversion rate. OpenAI’s Image API still splits generations from edits: edits start from an image you already trust. ChatGPT Images 2.5, launched 8 September 2026, is stronger at keeping a subject from a reference while you change one element. FreeGPTImg is a GPT Image 2 workspace: 20 daily free credits, no credit card required. Overlay signed numbers last.

Draft the layout in FreeGPTImg. Run the structured pass in the AI infographic maker, stay on GPT Image 2 when that is the label on the screen, invent the first empty frame in AI text-to-image, change only crop or section count from a locked hero in image to image, recrop a feed frame in AI social media ads, keep any product silhouette honest in AI product photography, and open Nano Banana Pro only when that is the name on the tab. Do not paste a competitor’s chart and ask the model to “make it ours.”

What the job actually is

The file you already have is the claim. The infographic is a frame. If the chart grows a fourth bar, a “#1 2026” badge, a Prime smile, or a 47% that nobody signed, you did not make an infographic still. You rolled a cousin report, or you mixed two jobs.

OpenAI’s current image guide lets you generate from a prompt or edit an existing file. The edit path is the useful one here: start from a locked empty layout, name what stays, change one noun — crop, section count, or icon set — then inspect. The same guide currently points API users at gpt-image-2.5-flare for everyday generation and gpt-image-2.5-sunburst when editing precision matters, with xhigh and max quality tiers above high. Background can be transparent, opaque, or auto. FreeGPTImg currently exposes GPT Image 2 on this loop. Write the name on the screen into the filename. Do not stamp Flare, Sunburst, or “Nano Banana 2.1” on a GPT Image 2 PNG.

Google describes Nano Banana 2.1 as the high-efficiency update to Nano Banana 2, with 1K, 2K, and 4K output and stronger infographic layout. Nano Banana Pro remains Gemini 3 Pro Image, the denser sibling. Those IDs live on Google’s API and Gemini surfaces. They are not a caption you add after the fact. If the tab says GPT Image 2, the file is GPT Image 2.

Amazon’s product image help still treats MAIN as a realistic photo of the item you sell, on a pure white field (RGB 255, 255, 255), without extra graphics or type. A comparison chart, a timeline, or a “how it works” strip can sit in A+ modules, a blog, a slide, or a social crop that allows graphics. It does not replace MAIN. Read the live help article for the category you sell. AI output is a draft until a person checks every number against the source they will cite.

Meta’s image-ad guide for Facebook Feed currently recommends JPG or PNG, a 4:5 frame, and 1440×1800 as a working resolution, with a 600 px minimum width. That is a crop target, not permission to bake “+38% QoQ” into pixels. Recheck the live ads guide for the placement you buy.

The cheap failure this month is not “the bars were ugly.” It is “I asked the model to write last quarter’s numbers because the layout looked like a report, and now the PNG disagrees with the spreadsheet.”

Name the still before you generate

Weak infographic sets fail because they ask one prompt to be MAIN, a LinkedIn carousel, a 9:16 story, an A+ comparison module, and a signed statistic. Pick one job.

Job	What you export	Keep	Change one thing	Wrong move
Empty comparison chart	Two or three columns, blank value cells	Brand colors, column count, icon style	Crop only	Invented “47% vs 12%”
Empty bar or column chart	Axis lines, empty bars, no ticks with figures	Palette, bar count	Height of empty bars as shapes, not values	Axis labels that read as money
Empty timeline	Markers on a line, blank date chips	Marker count, left-to-right flow	One extra year only if it is real	“Q4 2026, 2.4x growth” in the generator
Empty process strip	Three to five steps, blank captions	Step count, icon family	Recrop to 4:5 or 1.91:1	A sixth step the SOP does not have
Product callout still	One locked SKU plus empty annotation bands	Silhouette, label, pack size	Callout count and empty bands	New colorway “for the chart”
Social crop of the same layout	Same empty chart, new ratio	The locked layout	Crop only	Stretching 1:1 into 9:16
A+ / slide module	Same empty chart on a quiet field	The layout	Margin only	Using it as MAIN
Number overlay	Don’t generate it	Empty cells	Editor, last	“#1”, “50% OFF”, fake sources

A text-to-image pass invents. An image-to-image pass should borrow. If you already have a brand slide with the right columns, that file is truth. A “make it more data-driven” prompt does not get to grow a fourth competitor.

Checklist before you overlay the numbers

Use this sequence on GPT Image 2. Do not paste a homepage slogan into a creator prompt and expect the model to keep the chart honest.

1. Find the locked claim. One spreadsheet cell, one SOP step, or one SKU you actually sell. If you do not have a source, stop. Do not invent a market-share bar because the template looked empty.
2. Write keep / change / do-not in five lines. Keep palette, section count, icon family, and any product silhouette. Change only one noun: crop, step count, or empty cell size. Do not add logos you do not own, QR codes, or a percent.
3. Name the engine on the screen. If the tab says GPT Image 2, write gpt-image-2 into the filename. If it says Nano Banana Pro, write that. Do not relabel the file nano-banana-2.1 or sunburst.
4. Name the placement. 1:1 blog embed, 4:5 feed, 9:16 story, 16:9 slide, or an A+ module are different files. Recrop after the layout is honest. Do not stretch one square into a story.
5. Ask for empty type. Percents, currency, dates, “#1”, “according to,” footnotes, and legal lines never belong in the generator if they must be exact. Overlay them in an editor after a person signs the source.
6. Leave production room. Chart in the middle third. Quiet field. Empty cells large enough for later type. Do not fill every edge with icons that will fight the overlay.
7. Keep MAIN honest. If this file might also be uploaded as MAIN, it is the wrong file. MAIN stays a photo of the unit on white. Infographics live in modules, slides, blogs, and ads that allow graphics.
8. Generate one still. One pass. File names like kettle-compare-3col-empty-gpt-image-2.png.
9. Inspect the layout before the overlay. A fourth bar, a Prime smile, a ribbon that says “BEST,” or a tick that reads “2.4x” are stop conditions. Hold the still next to the spreadsheet. If a stranger would think this brand published a 2026 report, discard it.
10. Only then overlay. In an editor, set the real numbers, the real dates, and only the claims a person will cite. Recrop to the live placement size after the pixels match. Do not ask the model to spell the statistic.

Prompt formula for the infographic still

GPT Image 2 infographic still for later overlay, not a MAIN image and not a sourced report.
Start from the uploaded layout or describe one empty frame.
Keep: [palette, section count, icon family, product silhouette if any].
Change only: [crop / step count / empty cell size].
Empty type. No percents, currency, dates, “#1”, footnotes, watermarks, or fake sources.
Do not add: extra bars, extra SKUs, Prime smiles, QR codes, celebrity faces, children.

Prompt examples

Three-column comparison, empty cells. “Text-to-image: square infographic, three equal columns, simple kettle icons at the top, large empty rectangles where numbers will sit. Quiet off-white field, navy and sand palette. No percents, no ‘#1’, no fourth column.”

4:5 feed, empty lower band. “Image-to-image: keep this exact three-column layout and icon set. 4:5 crop, chart in the upper two thirds, empty lower band for later overlay. No axis figures, no ‘QoQ’, no extra bar.”

Empty process strip. “Five-step horizontal process, numbered circles 1–5 with blank caption bands under each. Same icon weight. No step titles, no ‘AI-approved’, no sixth step.”

Product callout, SKU locked. “Image-to-image: keep this exact matte-black kettle, spout curve, and handle. Add three empty annotation bands pointing at spout, lid, and base. Studio gray. No watts, no prices, no second kettle.”

Timeline, blank chips. “Landscape timeline with four markers, blank rounded chips, left to right, muted teal. No years, no ‘2026 launch’, no growth arrows with numbers.”

Do not generate this. “Infographic that says ‘Black Friday 2026, 50% OFF, Amazon approved, 2.4x ROI, #1 in 14 countries,’ with a fake source line and a cousin kettle in a new color.”

Review the pixels before you overlay them

Zoom to 400%. A phone grid hides a rewritten axis. An overlay will not hide it either.

• Layout honesty. Same section count, icon family, and column widths. If a stranger would think this brand published a new report, discard the still.
• Edit honesty. Only the noun you named should move. If a fourth bar, a new icon, or a product silhouette also moved, the pass failed.
• Placement honesty. 4:5 is not 9:16. Recrop; do not stretch. Confirm the live Meta, slide, or module size before you export.
• Model honesty. Write the model you used into the file name. A GPT Image 2 still is GPT Image 2. Do not stamp 2.1 or “2.5” on the PNG.
• Empty type. Percents, currency, dates, rankings, and footnotes stay empty of anything you need people to read.
• People and file. No recognizable generated faces you cannot clear. No children. PNG or JPEG, RGB, quiet field, no watermark, no QR. Preview at feed size and at slide size.
• Provenance. A nicer layout is not a citation, not a marketplace approval, and not a signed metric. If a platform requires AI disclosure, follow that policy. Recheck Amazon’s product image help and Meta’s ads guide before you tell a teammate the file is ready.

Limitations you should not skip

A generated still is not a sourced statistic, not a commercial-rights grant, and not MAIN. FreeGPTImg does not run ChatGPT Images 2.5 Flare or Sunburst, and it does not overlay live numbers from your sheet. The default loop here is GPT Image 2 stills. Nano Banana 2.1’s infographic-layout note lives on Google’s model page. Do not caption a GPT Image 2 file as 2.1. Do not generate medical seals, “#1 2026,” or sale badges unless those claims are already on the real label and a person signed them.

OpenAI’s image guide is explicit about the two jobs: generate from a prompt, or edit an existing image. Edits can be partial or entire. Treat that as a keep-layout loop, not as a promise the model will honor an unsigned 38%. Quality tiers, background modes, and model IDs move. Recheck the live docs.

Models invent letters and digits when you mention a quarter, a dollar figure, or a ranking as scene dressing. Shorten the brief. One layout. One crop. Empty type. A new paragraph is not a backup of the PNG you already had. If the locked raster is honest, recrop that. If it is not honest, rebuild the empty frame. Do not ask an infographic prompt to remember a spreadsheet you never locked.

Google’s 2.1 page is a routing note for Gemini surfaces. Availability still varies by app, country, and plan. Gemini-generated images may carry a SynthID watermark. That does not make the numbers true.

FAQ

Should I let the model write the percentages?

No. Leave value cells, axis ticks, dates, rankings, and footnotes empty in the generator. Overlay only the numbers a person will cite, in an editor, after the layout is honest. Unsigned digits in pixels are how a still disagrees with the sheet.

Can this file be my Amazon MAIN image?

No. MAIN is a realistic photo of the item you sell, usually on pure white, without extra graphics or type. An infographic belongs in A+ modules, a blog, a slide, or ads that allow graphics. Read Amazon’s live product image help for your category.

Does FreeGPTImg run Nano Banana 2.1 or GPT Image 2.5?

No. FreeGPTImg is a GPT Image 2 workspace: 20 daily free credits, no credit card required. It also has Nano Banana 2 and Nano Banana Pro generator pages. Use the label on the screen. Write that name into the filename. Do not stamp 2.1, Flare, or Sunburst on a file the tab did not name.

Why did the model add a fourth bar or “#1”?

The prompt mentioned growth, a quarter, a ranking, or “make it look like a report.” Shorten it. Upload the locked empty layout. Name one crop. Empty type. Generate again.

Is Nano Banana 2.1 better at infographics?

Google’s 6 October 2026 update lists stronger text rendering and infographic layout for gemini-nano-banana-2.1. That is a layout claim on Gemini surfaces, not a promise the digits will match your sheet, and not a caption for a GPT Image 2 PNG. Overlay real numbers last either way.

When should I overlay the real numbers?

After the still matches the layout you locked, and after a person signs the figures, dates, and source line. Do not overlay a guess on 27 October and hope the spreadsheet catches up in November.

Sources

• Google AI for Developers: Gemini Nano Banana 2.1
• Google AI for Developers: Image generation
• Google DeepMind: Nano Banana 2.1 model card
• OpenAI: Introducing ChatGPT Images 2.5
• OpenAI: Image generation
• Amazon: Product image requirements
• Meta: Image ads guide

Lock the empty layout on FreeGPTImg first

Pick the PNG that already matches the columns you need, or generate one empty frame. Write five lines: keep, one crop or section change, empty type, overlay later. Open FreeGPTImg, run the pass in the AI infographic maker, stay on GPT Image 2 when that is the label on the screen, invent the first empty frame in AI text-to-image, change only crop from a locked hero in image to image, recrop a feed frame in AI social media ads, keep any product silhouette honest in AI product photography, open Nano Banana Pro only when that is the tab, and only then overlay the signed numbers.