Allow Card Background Images at the Theme Level
Rachel Cahill
Summary
Gamma currently allows background images at the Page level via Themes, but not at the Card level. This makes it impossible to use Gamma’s generation capabilities for social carousels while maintaining consistent brand backgrounds across cards. I’m requesting the ability to define a Card background image at the Theme level, similar to how Page backgrounds work today.
Use Case
I use Gamma to create social media carousels (4:5 format). Gamma excels at taking text and generating visually strong, varied card layouts, detailed or minimal depending on the content. That generation capability is the core value.
However, for social content, each slide (card) needs to share a consistent branded background, typically a PNG.
I'm trying to create a deck that looks like this:
Today:
Theme customization only allows background images at the Page level.
Cards generated by Gamma do not inherit or respect a custom background image.
Any card-level background image is treated as disposable and is overwritten during generation, remixing, or “Add card” actions.
As a result, I’m forced to manually upload the same background image on every card after Gamma generates the carousel, which defeats the speed and automation benefits of the product.
What I’ve Tried
Theme customization: only applies the image to the Page, not Cards.
Templates: creating a template with card backgrounds, then using Remix. Remix overwrites the template and removes the card background.
Card duplication: works, but prevents Gamma from freely generating layouts.
Locked images as backgrounds: works technically, but blocks generation and is not scalable.
None of these allow “Gamma magic” plus consistent branding.
Core Limitation
Gamma treats:
Themes as constraints (respected during generation)
Card backgrounds as implementation details (overwritten during generation)
This means there is currently no way to say:
“Generate layouts however you want, but always use this background on every card.”
Proposed Solution
Extend Theme customization to include a Card Background Image option, parallel to the existing Page Background Image.
Conceptually:
Theme settings:
Page background (existing)
Card background (new)
The Card background image is treated as a constraint, not a suggestion.
During generation, Gamma can adjust layout, spacing, typography, and density, but the card background image persists across all generated cards.
Optional enhancements:
Toggle: “Apply to all cards by default”
Per-theme support for different card backgrounds by layout type (future enhancement)
Why This Matters
This would unlock Gamma as a first-class tool for branded social content:
Social carousels
Sales decks with branded slides
Marketing presentations where layout variety is desired but branding must be fixed
Right now, Gamma is excellent at presentation design, but difficult to use for brand-strict social workflows. This change would close that gap without breaking existing behavior.
Expected Outcome
I want to be able to:
Set my brand colors and typography in the Theme
Upload a branded PNG as the Card background in the Theme
Paste in text
Let Gamma generate a full carousel with varied layouts
Have every card consistently branded without manual background work
Gamma already does 80 percent of this extremely well. This would solve the remaining 20 percent.
Nik Payne (Gamma design)
Thanks so much for the detailed writeup Rachel. FWIW I worked on both social and remix, so it made it to the right place. I shared your feedback with the team.
1) Can't promise we'll add image backgrounds soon, but it's something I think totally makes sense
2) For remix/templates, did you try adding instructions to not edit the slide backgrounds? Ideally you should be able to achieve what you're trying to do with remix, but mayb there's a bug