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Creative automation: one master, every size.
Creative automation is the production of every size, language and variant of an advert from one approved master, by a system that recomposes the layout for each output instead of cropping it. ElarisLabs runs it on a node canvas with the brand kit locked, so the five-hundredth asset needs no second approval.
This page covers what separates automation from templating and DCO, the mechanism that makes recomposition possible, the five steps to set it up, and what it produced on a live retail catalogue.
Last updated 11 September 2026
◉ The mechanism
Recomposition, not cropping.
A crop takes one composition and cuts it to a new frame, so whatever sat near the edge leaves. Recomposition takes the elements and lays them out again inside the new frame, under the same brand rules. The difference shows up first on the logo and the headline, which are the two things a cropped resize always damages.
That is only possible if the master is addressable. A flattened export has no layers to reposition, so every tool that starts from a flat image is cropping regardless of what the marketing page calls it.
◉ The boundary
Three things it gets confused with.
The term gets applied to anything that produces more than one file. These are the three neighbours worth separating it from, because they solve different problems and most teams eventually need all four.
Not templating
A template is a fixed frame you pour content into. It holds only while the content behaves: a longer headline, a taller product shot or a second language and the frame breaks. Creative automation recomposes the layout around the new content instead of asking the content to fit.
Not dynamic creative optimisation
DCO swaps elements at serve time based on audience signals. It optimises which version a person sees. Creative automation is upstream of that: it produces the versions in the first place, in every size and language the media plan needs.
Not batch export
Exporting one artboard at eleven dimensions is cropping with extra steps. The logo drifts into a corner, the headline loses a line, the safe zone is wrong. Automation means each size is composed for its own frame from the same locked elements.
◉ Setup
How to set up creative automation.
Five steps. The order is the point: teams that generate first and lock the brand afterwards end up approving every asset individually, which is the cost automation was supposed to remove.
Lock the brand kit first
Logo lockups, palette, type hierarchy, clear space and the Arabic typeface go in before any generation. Everything produced downstream inherits them, which is what makes the output approvable rather than merely fast.
Approve one master
Get sign-off on a single composition, in the primary market and primary ratio. This is the artefact the whole campaign derives from, so the review cost is paid once.
Layerise the master
Split the approved file into addressable layers: background, product, headline, subhead, CTA, logo, legal. Each layer carries rules about how it behaves when the frame changes.
Define the output matrix
List the placements, ratios, languages and SKUs the campaign needs. Eleven standard ad sizes group into five ratio families, so the matrix is smaller than the raw size count suggests.
Recompose, then review the exceptions
The system composes each cell of the matrix and flags the ones where a rule could not be satisfied, such as a headline that will not fit a narrow frame at minimum type size. A human reviews the exceptions, not the whole set.
◉ The matrix
Eleven sizes, five ratio families.
Grouping sizes by ratio family cuts the number of distinct compositions the system has to solve. Within a family the frame changes but the layout logic holds, so the work is a scale rather than a rebuild.
| Ratio family | Sizes | Where it runs |
|---|---|---|
| Square | 1:1 | Feed, carousel, display |
| Portrait | 4:5, 6:5 | Feed, programmatic display |
| Vertical | 9:16 | Stories, Reels, TikTok, Shorts |
| Landscape | 16:9 | YouTube, in-stream, DOOH |
| Banner | Leaderboard, MPU, skyscraper | Programmatic display |
Add a second language and the matrix doubles, which is where right-to-left markets usually break a production plan. RTL localisation is the part of the pass that mirrors the composition rather than translating it in place.
◉ Worked example
530 finished ads from one concept.
HomesRus, a MENA retail brand, had the bottleneck most catalogue advertisers have. The concept was signed off quickly. Reformatting it for every product, every placement and every size was what took the quarter.
Running the approved master through ElarisLabs produced more than 530 finished ads across 9:16 social and 6:5 programmatic in under four weeks, with the product swapped per SKU and everything else held fixed. Read the case study.
◉ FAQ
Creative automation, answered.
What is creative automation?
Creative automation is the production of every size, language and variant of an advert from one approved master, by a system that recomposes the layout for each output rather than cropping or scaling a single artboard. The brand kit is locked at the top, so the hundredth asset carries the same logo lockup, palette and type hierarchy as the one the brand team signed off. ElarisLabs runs this on a node canvas, including mirrored Arabic and other right-to-left versions.
How is creative automation different from dynamic creative optimisation?
Creative automation produces the assets; DCO decides which of them to serve. Automation runs before the campaign goes live and its output is a finished set of files in every placement and language. DCO runs at serve time and assembles or selects variations against audience and performance signals. Most teams need both, and automation is the prerequisite, because DCO cannot optimise across variants that were never produced.
How do I generate hundreds of ad variants from one master?
Lock the brand kit, approve a single master composition, split it into addressable layers, then define the matrix of placements, ratios, languages and products the campaign needs. The system composes each cell from the same locked layers and flags only the cells where a rule cannot be met. For a MENA retail catalogue, ElarisLabs produced more than 530 finished ads across 9:16 social and 6:5 programmatic from one approved concept in under four weeks.
Which AI tool resizes ads without cropping the logo?
Any tool that treats resizing as recomposition rather than as a crop. The test is what happens to the logo lockup and the headline block when the frame narrows: a cropping tool pushes them out of frame or shrinks them below legibility, while a recomposing tool re-lays the elements inside the new frame under the brand kit rules, holding clear space and minimum type size. ElarisLabs Brand Pack recomposes across eleven standard sizes from one master.
Does creative automation work for Arabic and other right-to-left languages?
Only if the system mirrors layouts rather than translating text in place. Right-to-left output needs the composition flipped, an Arabic typeface applied from the brand kit, the copy retypeset at a higher line height, numerals localised and safe zones recalculated. ElarisLabs handles right-to-left as part of the same pass that produces the other sizes, so the Arabic set comes off the same approved master.
Does automation replace the designer?
It replaces the reformatting, not the design. The judgement work is the master: the concept, the composition and the brand rules. Once those are approved, deriving the other 500 assets is mechanical, and that mechanical portion is where most in-house teams and agencies lose their weeks.
Bring one approved master.
Get the full placement matrix back, brand-locked, in English and Arabic.
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