Re-imagine product design with AI-driven prototyping. By integrating generative design tools and intelligent iteration into your existing workflows, you can reduce development time and costs – and enhance your creative experience. Visualize your product, refine details and develop pitch-ready mockups with ease, and move from concept to prototype with more agility, precision, and creative freedom.
We’ve created this quick guide to walk you through how this process might look, what tools and features you’d need, and how to best use them.
This guide covers
- Creating your product prototype
- Adding packaging to your product
- Adding text to your design for ad mockups
- Showing your product in diverse ad placements
- Visualizing your product with human interaction
- Elevating your product pitch with video
- Links to how-to guides for all tools used in this workflow
1) Creating Your Product Prototype
Navigate to the AI Creation page in Leonardo.Ai and select Image. In the left-hand toolbar, choose your preferred Model / Preset.* For the example above, we used Lucid Realism, which is great for photorealistic imagery. Once you have your final image, use the Ultra Upscaler to increase the resolution.
Tools Used
- Image Generation
- Lucid Realism
- Ultra Upscaler
Prompt Used
Analog product shot of an gleaming, retro-futuristic concept sneaker, the concept piece features a mix of analog and modern elements including 3d printed fluidly shaped soles and shell. The shoe has a transparent frosted colored shell encasing an opaque white inner core, highlighted by vibrant accents. Purple and orange color accents fabric detailing. Intricate blend of materials and colors. Dark blue to light white gradient background. Purple laces.
Technical Notes
- Lucid Realism can add filmic grain to results—especially when “analog” is prompted. This may affect the outcome of any variations based on the result image. Depending on your desired aesthetic, consider experimenting with other Models / Presets until you achieve the preferred result.
2) Add Packaging To Your Product
Click on your generated image to open the Inline Editor. Use text and/or reference images to edit your image to your desired outcome. When using the Inline Editor, you can choose between two Omni Models—FLUX.1 Kontext or GPT Image-1. Use Kontext for text edits, and GPT when incorporating reference images for greater control.
To create a product packaging video, navigate to Video on the AI Creation page and select Veo 3 as your model. Add your generated image as a Start Frame by clicking the image icon in the prompt bar.
Please note, Veo 3 Start Frames are in alpha testing and access has been somewhat restricted. Expect this feature to be widely available to the public very soon. If you haven’t already, create a free Leonardo.Ai account and subscribe to our email database to be the first to hear when it launches.
Tools Used
- Inline Editor (Model: FLUX.1 Kontext)
- Ultra Upscaler
- Veo 3
Prompt Used
Image Prompt: High quality filmic analog editorial style closeup product shoot for sneaker product ad. The sneaker is in a large clear plastic ziplock bag with the letters “SO1” printed in large retro-futuristic serif text. Shiny. The bag is on a brushed steel pedestal, set against a minimalist light gradient backdrop.
Video Prompt: Documentary analog style shot centered on a matte black pedestal sits a vacuum-sealed ziplock bag containing a boldly designed sneaker in purple, red, and translucent gray, pressed perfectly within the clear plastic. The backdrop is a gradient of cool gray to violet, subtly illuminated for depth. The camera holds a steady overhead shot as an pair of hands enter frame. They gently open the bag’s top seal and unzip it with a crisp, cinematic shhhrrp sound and the shoe is pulled out of the bag with care, its contours catching the light. Rubber, mesh, and transparent sole gleaming in high detail. The hands rotate it toward the lens, presenting its profile and heel, then hold it suspended mid-frame. Audio: soft plastic sounds, minimal ambient synth bed, and subtle thumps as material contacts the surface. The tone is luxurious, deliberate, and clean—turning functional packaging into a premium, cinematic reveal.
Technical Notes
- When editing with FLUX.1 Kontext, be explicit in your prompt—for example: “Place the shoe inside a large clear plastic ziplock bag.”
- Checkout our Veo 3 prompting guide when generating your video to ensure you achieve your preferred result. Use your edited image as a Start Frame for optimal output.
3) Add Text To Your Design For Ad Mockups
Open the Inline Editor and select FLUX.1 Kontext. Enter your prompt—be as specific as possible about font size, color, and style for best results.
Tools Used
- Inline Editor (Model: FLUX.1 Kontext)
- Ultra Upscaler
Prompt Used
Make the shoe slightly smaller. Add text in large thin narrow serif font “For Streets, Not Sidelines.” in the center top. Small white sans-serif text on the bottom: “The all new SO1 from Leo”. Maintain visual details of the shoe.
Technical Notes
- “Make the shoe slightly smaller” is a quick hack to create space for text but doesn’t always work if the scale is context-dependent. If that’s the case, refine the base image before adding text.
- Specify typeface style, size, and placement clearly.
- Increase the similarity strength when using Ultra Upscaler to preserve text. Note that Leonardo.Ai’s Upscalers were not originally designed for text, especially smaller text.
4) Show Your Product In Diverse Ad Placements
Use the Inline Editor and FLUX.1 Kontext. Use your ad image with text as a reference, then describe where it should be placed.
Tools Used
- Inline Editor (Model: FLUX.1 Kontext + Reference Image)
Prompt Used
Put the image on a bus stop advertisement on a Manhattan street. Daylight. Blue sky. Analog filmic style. Maintain visual details and proportions of the shoe and text content.
Prompt Used
Place the original sneaker advertisement image on a large elevated billboard set against a twilight sky. The billboard is mounted on a steel frame structure and lit by several strong spotlights from above and below. The lights cast bright highlights on the surface and create defined shadows on the metal supports. The scene is viewed from a low angle, looking up at the billboard to emphasize its scale. The sneaker and text must remain sharp, undistorted, and proportionally accurate. The billboard surface should be flat, clean, and clearly display the original image. The background sky is deep blue fading to purple. Include details such as silhouetted power lines, rooftop edges, and distant ambient lighting from surrounding structures. Apply an analog filmic style with visible grain, soft bloom around lights, and muted colors with natural contrast. The final image should feel bold, cinematic, and anchored in an urban environment.
Easily modify your image’s aspect ratio when editing with FLUX.1 Kontext – just set your preferred aspect ratio manually in the sidebar before entering your prompt.
Tools Used
- Inline Editor (Model: FLUX.1 Kontext + Reference Image)
- Image Dimensions
Prompt Used
Make the image taller, maintain proportions and visual details of shoe, text content and arrangement. Top text: “For the Streets, Not Sidelines.”
Technical Notes
- Changing your image dimensions may not work as seamlessly for more complex images with lots of visual detail descriptions. To achieve best results, re-specify what the text should say in the prompt.
- Inserting the image into the Website & Instagram phone UI was done using standard design mockup tools.
5) Visualize Your Product With Human Interaction
Add a human element to your product pitch quickly using simple text prompts and your original product image as reference. Use your new image as a Start Frame when animating with Veo 3.
Tools Used
- Inline Editor (Model: FLUX.1 Kontext + Reference Image)
- Veo 3
Prompt Used
Image Prompt: High quality filmic analog editorial style fashion shoot for sneaker product ad. A man wearing retro-futuristic wearing retro-futuristic sneakers with a transparent outer shell and sole with orange, white and purple accents. Minimalist light gradient soft studio background. His fashion is one of retro-futuristic puffer jacket made of silvery reflective material and orange t-shirt underneath and silver reflective pants. He is stylishly posed, sitting on the ground.
Video Prompt: A crisp, high-contrast studio setup frames a wide shot of a man seated on the floor, legs apart, wearing a silver puffer jacket, metallic pants, and bold retro-futuristic sneakers. The environment is a smooth gradient space of cool gray-blue, evenly lit to highlight the reflectivity of the clothing and the sculptural texture of the footwear. As the man shifts forward, the camera begins a slow, deliberate zoom toward the sneakers—detailed with translucent soles, exaggerated tread, and neon orange and purple flame accents. The lighting flares subtly across the material, catching high-gloss contours and textural stitching. The man stands up. The camera zooms into a low-angle tracking shot of his stride as he confidently walks off screen. Each step lands with weight, emphasizing the design’s form and bounce. Audio: the squeak of rubber on studio floor and footsteps.
Technical Notes
- If your product or setting is complex, be hyper-specific: e.g., “Put the shoe on the feet of a man.” Include rich visual detail, but don’t overcomplicate prompts.
6) Elevate Your Product Pitch With Video
Using the Inline Editor and your original image as reference, create your scene. Then go to Video, select Veo 3, and use your image as the Start Frame.
Tools Used
- Inline Editor (Model: FLUX.1 Kontext + Reference Image)
- Veo 3
Prompt Used
Image Prompt: High quality filmic analog editorial style night shoot, featuring two retro-futuristic sneakers with an transparent outer shell and sole with orange, white and purple accents, legs, on wet asphalt of an asian style city, with the city blurred out in depth of field bokeh. Maintain visual details and proportions of the sneaker. Reflections of night lights.
Video Prompt: A cinematic filmic style montage, continuous tracking shot featuring a pair of retro-futuristic sneakers with transparent soles walking through multiple environments, each framed from the same low-angle, medium-close side view—camera positioned at ankle height, tracking smoothly alongside the sneakers with steady lateral motion. The shoes lead the frame, laces bouncing slightly with each step. First, they stride across a rain-slicked neon street—reflections of city lights ripple beneath translucent soles as water flicks up with each impact. Cut to the sneakers moving across an gallery floor, high-gloss concrete catching clean textural stone reflections, the lighting sharp and clinical. Cut to the shoes passing over a damp forest trail, soft moss compressing underfoot, earthy steam curling around the heels. Mist rolls in the background, the shoe’s materials catching diffused golden light. Next, the pair walks across a sunlit footbridge in Tokyo — long shadows glide across the walkway as the cityscape blurs behind them.
Technical Notes
- You can simulate a montage by specifying multiple scenes in one prompt, though fidelity will be lower than stitching multiple Start Frame videos. Depending on the the video quality yiou need, you may want to generate separate images and videos per scene.
7) Link to how-to guides for all tools used in this workflow
How To Generate An Image Using Model/Preset