Do you use Google Notebook LM to create infographics? Have you noticed a change in the colors and style used When I first started using Google Notebook LM to create genealogy-related infographics, the process was wonderfully simple. I uploaded a PDF copy of a narrative report about an ancestor, clicked the Infographic button, and let Notebook LM do its thing.
One of those early efforts was an infographic about my grandmother, Pauline Mentzer Briles, whose life spanned much of the twentieth century.
For a twentieth-century subject, the modern infographic styling worked reasonably well.
Recently, however, I noticed that Notebook LM seemed to favor a much more contemporary design aesthetic—even when the ancestor lived in the nineteenth century.
When I created an infographic for Angelina Jane Burke Currey (1836–1901), the result looked sleek, modern, and more appropriate for a corporate presentation than a frontier-era ancestor.
A second attempt produced something a little softer, with more muted blues and reds, but it still didn’t feel historically appropriate.
Since Angelina lived during the frontier and late Victorian era, I wanted something that better reflected her time period.
After discussing the issue with ChatGPT, I realized that I had been relying entirely on Notebook LM’s default design assumptions. Instead of simply clicking the Infographic button, I tried giving Notebook LM a more specific prompt:
Create a historical infographic about Angelina Jane Burke Currey in a frontier Kansas / late Victorian aesthetic, using aged paper textures, muted earth tones, antique typography, and period-inspired decorative borders. Avoid modern neon or corporate infographic colors.
That made a remarkable difference.
Using that prompt, Google Notebook LM generated two much more historically appropriate infographics.
Both versions felt far more in keeping with Angelina’s lifetime.
Because I planned to use the infographic as part of a video project—pairing it with an audio file created for the “C” portion of my ABC Biography workflow—I preferred the horizontal version, since it fits video formatting much better.
The experience reminded me that AI tools often make assumptions based on default modern design conventions unless we provide clearer direction.
The lesson?
If you’re creating infographics for historical ancestors, especially those from earlier centuries, don’t just accept the default output. Tell the AI what historical mood, style, and color palette you want.
A little prompt engineering can make a big difference.
Have you experimented with Notebook LM infographics for genealogy? If so, have you noticed similar styling shifts?