Featured images & visuals

Structura can generate a featured image for every post, in a consistent visual style you define. This page covers how to turn image generation on, how to shape the style, and what formats are available.

Enable image generation

Two things need to be in place:

An image-capable AI provider is connected on Structura → AI Engine and marked Default Image. Common options: OpenAI DALL·E, Google Imagen. See Connect your AI provider.
The campaign has Generate featured image turned on in its Advanced Settings (default is on if you have an image provider).

With both in place, every generated post gets a featured image.

Shape the visual style — Visuals page

Open Structura → Visuals. This page is where global image style lives.

Global Image Style

Brand Resources. A list of URLs pointing to logos, brand guidelines, or design-system references. Add them with the Add Resource button. Structura uses these to learn what “on-brand” looks like for your site.
Suggest Image Style. If you don’t know where to start, paste your brand resources, click Suggest Image Style, and Structura drafts a Global Art Direction for you. Edit freely.
Generate Image Style. Runs the same research but prioritises the Global Art Direction textarea’s current contents if it’s not empty.
Global Art Direction — the textarea at the bottom. This directive is applied to every image Structura generates, so your site’s featured images feel cohesive.

A good Global Art Direction is specific: named colours, named moods, specific references. Example:

Warm, confident illustrations in a flat-vector style with subtle gradient shading. Palette: deep navy, muted gold, off-white background. Never photorealistic. No human faces. Favour symbolic compositions over literal depictions.

Output Dimensions

Pick the aspect ratio used for all featured images:

1:1 Square Format — good for social-first sites.
4:3 Classic Professional — the traditional blog thumbnail ratio.
3:4 Standard Portrait — taller; good if your theme uses vertical cards.
16:9 Cinematic Landscape — wide banner format.
9:16 Vertical Portrait — mobile/Stories shape.

Pick once, it applies site-wide.

Format Encoding (Pro)

WebP — smallest file size, best for page speed. Our recommendation.
JPEG — universally compatible, slightly larger files.
PNG — lossless, much larger files. Use only if your theme needs transparency.

Available on Pro and above. Free tier defaults to WebP.

SEO Automation (Pro)

Active Synthesis Meta — generates accessible alt-text and human-friendly filenames for every image during post creation. On by default on Pro and above.

Per-campaign overrides

The Visuals page is the site-wide default. Per-campaign, you can override:

Whether images generate at all (Generate featured image toggle).
Whether in-body images generate (Body image generation, Pro only).

Per-post, you can always swap the generated image in the WordPress editor for one you prefer — Structura doesn’t re-touch the image once the post is generated.

Swapping an image manually

After review (if using drafts), or after publish:

Open the post in the WordPress block editor.
Click the featured image; click Replace.
Upload or pick from the Media Library.
Save.

Common issues

Generated images feel off-brand. Your Global Art Direction is too vague or contradicts your Brand Resources. Add more specific directives, run one or two test generations, tighten as needed.

Alt-text is generic or missing. Make sure you’re on Pro or above and Active Synthesis Meta is on. On Free, alt-text is minimal — Structura won’t generate rich accessibility metadata.

Image generation keeps failing. Check System Logs for the failure. Most common: an image provider whose API key hit a usage cap. Top up the provider account or switch to a different provider.

The images look the same across unrelated posts. Your Global Art Direction may be too restrictive. Loosen it a touch — directives like “always show a single object on a flat background” produce repetitive imagery. Let the system vary.