Design

Turn a content outline into a complete slide design — deciding how many slides each section becomes, which layouts to use, and what the visual direction should be. Outputs a saved slide design document that the present phase executes.

Prerequisites

• A content outline exists (from /deckwright:craft), OR
• User provides a clear structured outline, OR
• A PptxGenJS generation script exists from a previous import or creation (edit mode)

If no outline or generation script exists: "Would you like to use /deckwright:craft first to structure your content?"

Process

Edit Mode Check

Before starting, determine mode using either signal:

1. Session context: If a prior skill this session stated this is an "edit session", treat this as edit mode — do not re-check the filesystem.
2. Filesystem check: If no session context exists, check whether a deck folder in decks/ contains a PptxGenJS generation script (a .js file containing require("pptxgenjs")).

• If no generation script and no edit-mode context: Follow the standard process below.
• If edit mode (either signal): This is an edit. Read the generation script to understand the current deck, then:
  1. Extract the current visual direction — collect all hex colors used (with frequency), fonts, size scales, and layout patterns across slides
  2. Summarize the current design back to the user:

     "Here's the current visual direction I see:

     • Colors: [extracted palette]
     • Typography: [fonts and sizes in use]
     • Layouts: [summary of patterns]

     What would you like to change?"

  3. Based on user input, produce or update a slide design document — explicitly note which slides are "keep as-is" vs. "modify" vs. "rebuild"
  4. Continue to step 5 (Document the Slide Design) to save the updated design

1. Load the Content Outline

Read the content outline document. Extract:

• Total section count and estimated duration
• Each section's key message, content, emphasis level, and speaker notes
• Source references
• Design notes (brand requirements, constraints)

2. Research Visual Design Excellence

MANDATORY before any design decisions. This step prevents generic, template-looking output.

1. Read ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/visual-design-principles.md — concrete benchmarks, anti-patterns, whitespace quantification, and a visual checklist drawn from Apple keynotes, TED talks, Airbnb's pitch deck, and peer-reviewed research. This is the primary guard against generic, template-looking output.
2. Read ${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT}/references/slide-patterns.md — the full layout catalog with per-layout usage guidance, a content-type selection table, and common layout mistakes to avoid.
3. Search the web for visual inspiration relevant to the specific presentation topic and audience. Look for:
   • Best-in-class decks in the user's industry or presentation type
   • Current design trends (typography, color, layout) for the target context
   • Specific examples of how top presenters handle the content type (e.g., data-heavy, narrative, pitch)
4. Synthesize findings into a concrete design direction before proposing anything.

3. Plan Slides From Content Outline

Translate each content section into specific slides. Use the section's emphasis level and the design research to decide:

• How many slides each section becomes (high emphasis sections may need 2-4 slides; low emphasis may be a single divider or combined with adjacent content)
• Which layout for each slide (refer to the slide-patterns reference for the layout catalog)
• Content per slide — enforce: 30 words max, one idea per slide, headlines state the takeaway
• Layout rhythm — never the same layout more than 3 slides in a row; alternate between high-density and low-density slides

Present the slide plan to the user for approval:

"Based on your content outline and visual research, here's how I'd structure the slides:

• Section 1 (Opening) → 1 slide: Title slide
• Section 2 (Key insight, high emphasis) → 3 slides: Big number, Chart, Single message
• Section 3 (Context, medium) → 2 slides: Two-column, Bullet list
• ...

Total: [N] slides. Does this structure work?"

Get approval before proceeding.

4. Visual Direction

Propose the visual design approach informed by the research:

"I'll design this presentation with:

• Color palette: [chosen palette with hex codes — following 60-30-10 rule]
• Typography: [font choices + size scale — web-safe fonts only]
• Visual style: [e.g., minimal with generous whitespace, inspired by X]

Does this direction work?"

Get approval before documenting.

5. Document the Slide Design

Save the validated design to decks/<name>/slide-design.md (use the existing deck folder, or create one if it doesn't exist).

Document format:

# [Presentation Title] - Slide Design

> **Next step:** Use **/deckwright:present** to generate the .pptx file.

## Visual Direction
- **Color palette**: [hex codes — 60% dominant / 30% secondary / 10% accent]
- **Typography**: [font choices + size scale]
- **Visual style**: [description + inspiration sources]

## Slide Plan

### Slide 1: [Title — states the takeaway]
**Layout**: [layout type]
**Content**:
- [Headline or key point — 30 words max]
- [Supporting details]
**Speaker notes**: [talking points]

### Slide 2: [Title]
**Layout**: [type]
**Content**:
- [details]
**Speaker notes**: [talking points]

[... continue for all slides ...]

## Source References
- [Carried forward from content outline — preserve all URLs]

Handoff

After design approval, offer next steps. Carry forward the session mode so downstream skills inherit the correct context:

If this was edit mode:

"Your slide design is ready. Edit session — the generation script will be updated in place.

• Use /deckwright:present to apply the changes and regenerate the .pptx
• Or refine the design further"

If this was a new presentation:

"Your slide design is ready. New presentation — ready to generate.

• Use /deckwright:present to generate the .pptx file
• Or refine the design further"

Slide Content Constraints

Apply these to every slide during the planning step:

• 30 words max per slide — Move detail to speaker notes or split into additional slides
• One idea per slide — If a slide needs "and", split it
• Headlines state the takeaway — "Revenue grew 40%" not "Q3 Revenue Data"
• Prefer visuals over text — If a point can be a number, chart, or image instead of bullets, use that

Principles

• Research first — Never propose a design direction without reading the references and searching the web
• Emphasis drives structure — High-emphasis sections get more slides and visual weight; low-emphasis sections stay brief
• Validate incrementally — Get approval on slide plan before visual direction, get approval on visual direction before documenting