Create Promotional Graphics with Correct Prices, Discounts and Hierarchy

Dreamina can help create the visual setting and campaign artwork. Keep prices, discount claims, dates and codes as editable text during finishing so that a corrected offer does not depend on another image-generation attempt. The job is complete when the numbers agree, the hierarchy communicates the actual offer, and the exported graphic contains no leftover draft information.

A correctly spelled “25% OFF” is still wrong if the price reduction is 20%, or if viewers cannot tell which product qualifies. This workflow addresses those relationships as well as the appearance of the poster.

Write the offer as facts before writing the headline

Collect the approved commercial details in one copy sheet. Do not infer a reference price from a competitor, ask an image model to invent an attractive discount, or use a convenient sample price as final copy.

For a hypothetical promotion, the sheet could contain the following. These values are teaching assumptions, not a real merchant offer or pricing recommendation.

Resolve uncertainty in the sheet before the graphic makes a promise. If the offer applies to selected colors, do not change that to “all bowls.” If a code is required, the code and its application must be part of the approved instructions.

Separate what is already known from what is still awaiting confirmation. You can explore artwork while a period is being finalized, but keep that draft clearly separated from the release file. A beautifully typeset sample date remains a sample date.

Calculate the offer in both directions

For a simple percentage reduction, use:

Saving = reference price × discount rate

Sale price = reference price − saving

Discount rate = saving ÷ reference price × 100

In the hypothetical bowl example:

$$96.00 × 0.25 = *$$24.00 saved**.

$$96.00 −$$24.00 = $72.00 sale price.

$$24.00 ÷$$96.00 × 100 = 25% off.

Now check the relationship without relying on the headline: $$72.00 ÷$$96.00 = 0.75, so the customer pays 75% of the reference product price. The remaining 25% is the reduction.

The denominator is the reference price, not the sale price. Dividing the $$24 saving by$$72 gives 33.33%, which is not the percentage reduction from $96. This is a common way to create a plausible but incorrect badge.

If you start with two approved prices, calculate the discount from those prices rather than choosing the percentage first. An $$80 item reduced to$$60 has a $20 saving and a 25% reduction. The dollar amount alone is not the percentage.

Keep sequential discounts separate from simple discounts

Suppose, for calculation only, a 25% reduction is followed by a further 20% reduction on the already reduced price:

$$96.00 × 0.75 =$$72.00

$$72.00 × 0.80 =$$57.60

The total saving is $$96.00 −$$57.60 = $$38.40. Relative to$$96.00, that is 40%, not 45%. The second percentage operates on a smaller amount.

If this were the approved offer, the artwork would also need to explain how the second reduction is obtained. “Extra 20% with code” describes a different action from an automatically displayed $57.60 price. Do not collapse those conditions into a single unconditional price without confirmation.

For amounts that produce fractions of a cent, use the merchant’s approved rounding and displayed-price convention, then recompute the saving from the actual displayed prices. Do not let the poster show a total that differs from the purchase destination because two files rounded differently.

Choose the message people should understand first

Decide whether the main task is to communicate a payable product price, a percentage reduction or a bundle. Each suggests a different hierarchy.

A price-led graphic could emphasize **“Now $$72”**, followed by the product name, reference price and saving. A discount-led graphic could emphasize **“25% off selected bowls”**, with the actual prices in the supporting block. A bundle should keep the quantity next to its price, such as “Two bowls for$$30,” if that is the approved offer.

Do not give every number the same prominence. If “25%,” “$$72,” $$96” and “SAVE $24” all compete at headline size, viewers must work out the relationship themselves. Choose one entry point and make the supporting numbers explain it.

Adobe’s layout principles describe grouping related information and using size, weight, color and contrast to communicate hierarchy. Apply those controls to the meaning of the offer: the reference price should not look like the payable price, and a condition should remain visibly attached to the claim it qualifies.

An essential qualifier does not become optional because it is smaller. If “selected” disappears when the graphic is viewed on a phone, the main message has changed. Give those words enough room and contrast to remain useful.

Fit the actual offer before generating artwork

Create a rough canvas at the intended output size. Place the full approved copy in temporary text boxes before you decide on the final image. Use the longest product name and condition that the graphic will actually carry.

Reserve a main offer area, a supporting information area, a product or illustration area, and a clear action. These are roles, not fixed percentages of the canvas. A wide hero may place the product on one side; a vertical graphic may stack it below the offer.

Original instructional layout using the hypothetical $$96-to$$72 offer. It is not a software test, a live promotion or evidence of campaign performance.

Check how much space the real copy takes. A short placeholder like “Sale” does not establish capacity for “25% off selected ceramic serving bowls.” If the longer wording does not fit, change the arrangement or simplify approved copy with the responsible person; do not silently delete the scope.

For product-led artwork, the hero composition guide explains how to reserve useful copy space before selecting the picture. That spatial step supports the offer hierarchy; it does not decide which price or condition should lead.

Use Dreamina for the original visual setting

Once the copy block has a credible footprint, build the artwork around it. In Dreamina’s documented AI Image workflow, enter a prompt, choose an available model and aspect ratio/resolution settings, generate, review and download the candidate. Keep the final price fields outside the generated art when they need direct corrections.

Here is a new, untested prompt for the hypothetical bowl promotion:

Create a warm, minimal promotional artwork with a ceramic serving bowl on the right side of a wide composition. Use a cream background and soft natural light. Keep the left side calm and low detail for a large offer, product name, comparison price and short date line to be added separately. Keep the bowl completely visible. Do not generate lettering, numbers, discount badges, price tags or logos.

Inspect the result with the actual text block over it. Reject a candidate whose reflection crosses the price, whose props occupy the conditions area or whose strongest contrast pulls attention away from the message. “No text” is an instruction to verify, not proof that the image contains none.

If the graphic represents a real product, compare it with the authorized product asset. A newly imagined bowl may suit an illustration brief, but it should not silently replace the item being sold. Preserve the authentic product through the appropriate final composition route when identity matters.

Use the selected image as an artwork input, then compose the real offer in the editor. This is a recommended workflow, not a newly executed Dreamina-to-editor demonstration.

Assemble the offer as independent text fields

In Canva, create the required design and place the artwork. Add the main offer, product scope, comparison price, period and action as separate editable text boxes. Enter the approved wording directly instead of retyping from a generated image.

Apply the visual hierarchy deliberately. Select the main offer and choose its font, weight, size and color. Use a quieter style for the comparison price and a readable supporting style for conditions. Canva’s formatting documentation covers font selection, weights, size, color, alignment and spacing. Its text-editing guide describes editing the content of an existing text box.

Keep a comparison price identifiable. A strike-through can help show an old reference, but it should not obscure the digits or carry the entire meaning by itself. Add a clear approved label where needed. A currency symbol separated too far from its number can also make the amount ambiguous; inspect it as one price unit.

Group related information spatially. Put the scope with the main offer, the reference price with the saving, and the condition with the action it changes. Keep enough separation between groups that the viewer can scan them without reading every line at once.

If the brand has approved fonts, follow its actual specifications rather than asking the image model to imitate them. The brand typography guide develops the font, weight and reusable-style system behind that consistency.

Keep corrections connected to the whole offer

A changed price can require more than one text edit. If the hypothetical reference remains $$96 but the sale price becomes$$76.80, the saving is $19.20 and the discount is 20%. Leaving “25% off” beside the new price would create a contradiction.

Make a small dependency list for the master: sale price, saving, percentage, code requirement, period and any matching copy elsewhere. When one fact changes, inspect every dependent field and every format that uses it. Do not assume separate projects update automatically.

A saved browser demonstration illustrates why direct editable fields are useful. The analysis uses the original files and edit/reopen records. In a manual Canva Free poster made from a blank canvas, the date and ticket price were separate text objects. The date was changed, the project reopened, and the ticket price changed from $12 to $15; after another reopening the price remained editable.

That was an event-price correction, not a discount calculation test. It used no Dreamina background and did not establish automatic synchronization. Its relevant lesson is narrower: keeping the actual price in a text object supported later correction in that project. The exact-text workflow comparison examines the generated and editable routes in detail.

Run a real placeholder pass before export

A template can look complete while still containing draft values. Search the editable text and inspect the artwork separately. A generated price hidden in the background may not appear in the editor’s text search.

Check these categories against the copy sheet:

Do not approve a QR code by how convincingly it resembles one. If the design includes a real code, scan the exported version and confirm the destination. For a printed graphic, also test it at the intended physical size. If there is no working destination, omit that element rather than treating it as harmless decoration.

For an image edit, inspect words you did not intend to change. For a direct text edit, inspect wrapping and overlap. A longer date can push the action out of the canvas even when the characters are correct.

Inspect the delivered size, not only the editing canvas

Use the editor’s download controls to export the intended page and file type. Canva documents Share → Download, file-type selection and page selection in its download guidance. Choose settings available in the workspace that fit the destination rather than assuming every account offers the same options.

Open the actual downloaded file. Read the main offer first, then verify product scope, comparison price, saving, period, code and action against the same copy sheet. Confirm that each numerical relationship still holds in the file being delivered.

At normal viewing size, ask someone to identify what the offer is, what it applies to and what action to take. This is a communication check, not a conversion experiment. If the viewer notices “25%” but misses “selected colors,” revise the hierarchy rather than declaring the offer clear because all the words technically exist.

Inspect each format independently. A square crop may retain the product and price while cutting off the period. A wide version may separate the discount from the scope. Recompose those files instead of stretching the finished graphic or hiding conditions in tiny text.

For print, use the print-preparation guide to handle physical dimensions, pixel density, color, bleed and proofing. A correct digital price does not establish print readability or production readiness.

Approve the offer and the artwork together

The final check has three parts. The arithmetic must agree with the approved commercial facts. The hierarchy must communicate those facts without separating the main claim from its scope. The export must contain the intended copy, crop and functioning destination, with no old or sample fields left behind.

Keep the editable master and the approved copy sheet with the delivered versions. If the promotion later changes, update the dependent fields, inspect every affected format and issue a newly checked export. Original artwork makes the promotion distinctive; exact, maintainable information makes it usable.