Hand-Drawn Chapter Slides

Create sophisticated chapter divider slides with minimalist serif typography and hand-drawn doodle-style illustrations. Each slide features a full-bleed muted color background, a chapter label + large serif title in the lower-left, a page number in the bottom-right, and a symbolic hand-drawn illustration in the center-right area.

Design System

Canvas Size

Standard widescreen: 13.333" x 7.5" (12192000 x 6858000 EMU). When using pptxgenjs, set a custom layout:

pres.defineLayout({ name: "CUSTOM_16x9", width: 13.333, height: 7.5 });

Color Palette

Use sophisticated, muted, desaturated colors. Never use bright or saturated tones. Each slide gets a unique background color. Generate a cohesive palette before starting.

Example palette (15 colors): #D97756 Terracotta, #788B5D Sage Green, #C46685 Mauve Rose, #9B8AC6 Lavender, #6A9BCC Sky Blue, #BBD1C9 Mint, #E2DACC Warm Beige, #D4A0A0 Dusty Rose, #7B9EB2 Steel Blue, #C9A96E Warm Ochre, #5D9B8F Muted Teal, #A88DB5 Soft Plum, #8E9EAB Slate Gray, #B8C4A0 Warm Sage, #DEB89C Soft Peach

Additional palette: #8B7D6B Warm Brown-Grey, #7A9E7E Forest Sage, #9B8EC4 Soft Purple, #C4866E Clay, #6B8FA3 Steel Blue, #7EA388 Forest Green, #B07BAC Muted Purple, #C4956A Warm Clay, #9B9E78 Muted Olive

Typography — EXACT specifications

Element	Font	Size	Color	Position (inches)	Size (inches)
Chapter label	Calibri	14pt	#141413	x=1.0, y=5.0	w=4.0, h=0.3
Chapter title	Georgia	40pt	#141413	x=1.0, y=5.3	w=9.0, h=1.0
Page number	Calibri	14pt	#141413	x=12.3, y=7.0	w=0.5, h=0.25

Important: Chapter label uses Calibri (sans-serif), NOT Georgia. Title uses Georgia (serif), regular weight (NOT bold).

Illustration Style

All illustrations follow this exact aesthetic:

• Stroke: Thick black outlines, ~5-7px in SVG (stroke color #141413)
• Fill: Flat off-white #FAF8F2 — NO gradients, NO shadows, NO textures
• Curves: Slightly irregular, organic (hand-drawn feel)
• Content: Symbolic, simplified, iconic — not realistic
• Aesthetic: Casual pen-and-ink doodle — like whiteboard sketches
• Placement: Center-right area of the slide (x≈5.0", y≈0.4", w≈8.0", h≈5.5")

NEVER use: pure black #000000, pure white #FFFFFF, shadows, gradients, 3D effects, realistic illustrations, emoji, or Unicode symbols.

Workflow

Step 1: Gather Requirements

Ask the user for:

• Number of slides needed
• Chapter titles/topics for each slide
• Whether cover slides are needed (no chapter number, larger title)
• Starting page/chapter number (default: 1)

Step 2: Generate Color Palette

Pick N muted colors from the palettes above or generate new ones. Ensure:

• No two adjacent slides have similar colors
• Mix warm and cool tones
• All colors are desaturated/muted

Step 3: Choose Illustrations

For each chapter topic, pick a symbolic illustration. Read the illustration library in scripts/illustrations.md for a catalog of ready-to-use SVG illustrations.

Common topic → illustration mappings:

• Fundamentals / Basics → Open book
• Planning / Design → Ruler
• Testing / Iteration → Ascending stairs
• Search / Discovery → Magnifying glass
• Communication / Feedback → Speech bubbles
• Cost / Finance → Coin stack
• Launch / Deployment → Rocket
• Collaboration / Team → Two people figures
• Security / Safety → Lock or shield
• Ideas / Creativity → Lightbulb
• Data / Analytics → Bar chart
• Connections / Network → Connected nodes
• Problem-solving → Puzzle piece
• Innovation → Gears
• Time / Context → Hourglass
• Navigation → Compass

Step 4: Generate Slides with pptxgenjs

Install dependencies:

npm install pptxgenjs sharp  # in current working directory

Use this pattern for each slide:

const pptxgen = require("pptxgenjs");
const sharp = require("sharp");

async function svgToBase64Png(svgString, width, height) {
  const pngBuffer = await sharp(Buffer.from(svgString))
    .resize(width, height, { fit: 'contain', background: { r: 0, g: 0, b: 0, alpha: 0 } })
    .png()
    .toBuffer();
  return "image/png;base64," + pngBuffer.toString("base64");
}

const pres = new pptxgen();
pres.defineLayout({ name: "CUSTOM_16x9", width: 13.333, height: 7.5 });
pres.layout = "CUSTOM_16x9";

// For each slide:
const slide = pres.addSlide();
slide.background = { color: "HEX_WITHOUT_HASH" };

// Illustration (SVG → PNG → base64)
const svgStr = buildSvg(topic); // see illustrations.md
const imgData = await svgToBase64Png(svgStr, 900, 750);
slide.addImage({ data: imgData, x: 5.0, y: 0.4, w: 8.0, h: 5.5 });

// Chapter label
slide.addText("Chapter N", {
  x: 1.0, y: 5.0, w: 4.0, h: 0.3,
  fontSize: 14, fontFace: "Calibri", color: "141413",
  bold: false, margin: 0, valign: "bottom"
});

// Title
slide.addText("Title text", {
  x: 1.0, y: 5.3, w: 9.0, h: 1.0,
  fontSize: 40, fontFace: "Georgia", color: "141413",
  bold: false, margin: 0, valign: "top"
});

// Page number
slide.addText("1", {
  x: 12.3, y: 7.0, w: 0.5, h: 0.25,
  fontSize: 14, fontFace: "Calibri", color: "141413",
  align: "right", margin: 0, valign: "bottom"
});

Step 5: Cover Slide Variation (optional)

The first slide (cover) uses a different layout:

• Larger title (54pt+ Georgia) in the upper-left area
• No "Chapter N" label
• No full illustration — just a small decorative sparkle mark

Step 6: QA

Convert to images and visually inspect:

python <pptx-skill-path>/scripts/office/soffice.py --headless --convert-to pdf output.pptx
pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 output.pdf slide

Check: text not cut off, illustration properly positioned, colors match, no overlaps.

SVG Illustration Template

All illustrations share this structure — a 600x500 viewBox, off-white fill, thick black strokes, organic curves:

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="600" height="500" viewBox="0 0 600 500">
  <!-- Main shape with thick outline -->
  <path d="..." fill="#FAF8F2" stroke="#141413" stroke-width="6" stroke-linejoin="round"/>
  <!-- Interior detail lines -->
  <path d="..." fill="none" stroke="#141413" stroke-width="3" stroke-linecap="round"/>
</svg>

When creating new illustrations, follow these rules:

1. Use Q (quadratic) or C (cubic) Bezier curves for organic, hand-drawn feel
2. Avoid perfectly straight lines or geometric perfection
3. Keep it simple: 2-5 main shapes per illustration
4. Fill color is always #FAF8F2, stroke is always #141413
5. Main outlines: stroke-width 5-7; detail lines: stroke-width 2.5-3.5

See scripts/illustrations.md for the full illustration library with copy-paste SVGs.

Quality Checklist

Before finishing, verify each slide:

• Background is full-bleed solid muted color
• Text color is #141413 (not pure black)
• Illustration fill is #FAF8F2 (not pure white)
• Chapter label is Calibri 14pt (NOT Georgia)
• Title is Georgia 40pt regular (NOT bold)
• Page number is Calibri 14pt right-aligned
• Canvas is 13.333" x 7.5"
• No overlap between text and illustration
• Page/chapter numbers are sequential and correct