canvas-design

When to use

Use when:

• User asks for a poster, marketing visual, brand asset, social-media graphic, cover art
• Output is a static .pdf or .png design piece (not a UI mockup, not a wireframe)
• The deliverable is the visual artifact itself

Do NOT use when:

• Designing a UI component or app screen → fe-design, ui-component-architect, react-shadcn-ui, blade-ui, flux
• Tailwind / shadcn / Flux component styling → tailwind-engineer
• Brand voice / tone definition → voice-and-tone-design
• Release announcement copy → release-comms

Goal

Produce one finished visual artifact (.pdf or .png) backed by an original design philosophy. Both files ship together.

The work emphasizes: visual expression over text · original direction (no artist mimicry) · composition that looks deliberated, not generated.

Preconditions

• Brief from user (theme, intent, occasion, target medium, size constraint)
• Output directory: agents/design-assets/{slug}/ — create if missing
• Image-generation tooling available (Python with Pillow / matplotlib / cairo, SVG → PNG conversion, or whatever the environment ships)

Procedure

0. Read the brand before choosing anything

Before the first colour, typeface or voice decision run ./agent-config brand:status --json — never a file test of your own, never a remembered value. Take values only from the sources[] it reports valid: tokens.json for colour, type and spacing, the brand-voice slot for any text the asset carries. A source it marks invalid or shadowed is not the brand. On a bare reading, or none valid for the axis in hand, derive from the brief and label those values corpus-sourced — a gap-fill is never the brand.

1. Brief intake

One numbered-options block surfaces: theme / occasion · target medium + dimensions (web 1200×630? print A3? square 1080×1080?) · color & mood direction · hard constraints (logo required? color to avoid?) · single page or series.

If the brief says "in the style of [living artist]", flag the copyright risk and propose an original direction.

2. Design philosophy

Author agents/design-assets/{slug}/philosophy.md — 4–6 paragraphs naming:

• Movement name — 1–2 words ("Chromatic Silence", "Brutalist Joy", "Analog Meditation")
• Visual language — how the philosophy manifests through space, form, color, scale, composition, rhythm
• Text role — sparse, accent only; never paragraphs
• Craftsmanship anchor — visible deliberation, not template polish

Stay aesthetically specific but leave interpretive room for the canvas execution.

3. Subtle conceptual thread

Identify a single niche reference embedded in the work — not announced, woven into form / color / composition. A jazz musician quoting another song: those who know catch it, others enjoy the music.

Document it in philosophy.md under ## Subtle reference.

4. Canvas execution

Produce agents/design-assets/{slug}/{slug}.{pdf|png}:

1. Pick the execution tool (Pillow, matplotlib, SVG, or framework-native). When it is SVG, author it under svg-authoring — the canvas is still an asset and gets the same static check and witness
2. Font selection — pick a font that earns the philosophy. Place the file in a working dir (agents/design-assets/{slug}/fonts/) before render, with its name, source and license (unknown stays unknown; fetch none whose license is unshown). System defaults (Arial, Helvetica, DejaVu, the matplotlib default sans) are the AI-template tell; reach for them only as deliberate fallback, never as the unexamined default
3. Limited palette — 2–5 colors, intentional and cohesive
4. Geometric or organic forms per philosophy
5. Text — sparse, design-forward, integrated as visual element; never overlapping, never falling off canvas
6. Margins — every element contained, breathing room
7. Repeating patterns, layered elements, systematic markers as the philosophy permits

5. Refinement pass

After the first render, do not add more graphics. Refine what exists:

• Tighten composition cohesion
• Adjust spacing, alignment, color balance
• Replace fonts if they fight the philosophy
• Remove any element that doesn't earn its place

Render the refined version. Overwrite the artifact.

6. Multi-page (optional)

If the user requests a series, treat each page as a story beat — distinct but philosophically continuous. Bundle as a multi-page PDF or numbered PNGs ({slug}-01.png, {slug}-02.png, …).

7. Validation

• philosophy.md exists with movement name + 4–6 paragraphs + subtle-reference section
• Artifact file exists at the expected path
• Open and verify: nothing falls off canvas, no overlapping text, palette ≤ 5 distinct colors, every element has margin
• Original work — no traceable artist-style copy

Output format

1. agents/design-assets/{slug}/philosophy.md
2. agents/design-assets/{slug}/{slug}.{pdf|png} (or numbered series for multi-page)
3. One concluding line stating both file paths

Gotcha

• No artist mimicry — copying a living artist's signature style is copyright risk and breaks the original-work mandate. Propose an original direction.
• Text discipline — most pieces fail because text creeps in as paragraphs. Words are visual accents, not explanation.
• One canvas — single page unless multi-page is explicitly requested.
• Font availability — the environment may not ship your target font. Step 4.2 governs selection and license; pick a fallback before render.
• Output location — always agents/design-assets/{slug}/. Never write binary artifacts to the repo root or to source-of-truth dirs.
• Refinement loop is real — first render is the draft, not the deliverable.

Craftsmanship standard

The deliverable is judged against human-crafted work, not against AI-generated comparables. Visible deliberation, intentional asymmetry, and palette restraint are the markers; default templates, generic gradients, and centered safe layouts are the failure mode. If the artifact would pass for "auto-generated stock visual", it has not earned its place — refine until intent is legible.

Frugality Standards

Apply the Frugality Charter.

• Per the default-terse rule, philosophy.md opens with the movement name — no "In this document I will describe …" frame.
• Per the cheap-question check, numbered-options blocks only at brief intake (where consequences differ).
• Per the post-action summary suppression, ship the files; skip an "## Artist statement" wrapper.

Pre-save self-check:

1. Does philosophy.md carry filler superlatives ("absolute pinnacle", "transcendent")?
2. Does the canvas include explanatory text instead of visual-accent text?
3. Are more than 5 distinct colors present without justification in the philosophy?
4. Is the subtle reference announced explicitly in the visual, breaking the "those who know" principle?

Do NOT

• Copy a living artist's signature visual style
• Generate cartoony / amateur / template-store output
• Add paragraphs of text — visuals communicate, words accent
• Skip the philosophy file — the artifact without it is just an image
• Skip the refinement pass
• Write binary artifacts to the repo root or to source-of-truth dirs

See also

• html-deck — multi-slide HTML presentations (fixed-canvas deck with navigation); this skill owns single-frame static art, not decks.