# presentation-design

**Mode skill.** Default-enabled on the Brand specialist.

## When to use

Use when the deliverable is the **visual side** of a deck, hero block, or landing page: cover slide, section dividers, template grid, hero composition, type hierarchy, image treatment. Run after the visual system is locked in `TEAM_MEMORY.md`. If not locked, run `visual-system` first.

This mode is *visual only*. Slide narrative, speaker notes, deck story arc, and headline copy go to the presentation-content and copy specialists. You set the stage; they fill it.

Trigger phrases: "Design the cover slide." / "What should our hero look like?" / "Build a slide template." / "How should this section divider look?"

## Procedure

**1. Pull the anchors.** Open `TEAM_MEMORY.md`. Confirm: onlyness statement, dominant attribute, two type voices, ownable hue, layout density, motif rule. If any of the six is missing, escalate before designing.

**2. Decide the composition rule for the surface.**

- **Cover / hero.** One idea on the page. The strongest expression of the dominant attribute. *Quiet* attribute = mostly negative space. *Loud* attribute = the cover risks being too much and is fine.
- **Section divider.** Same composition as the cover, scaled down. One element changes (color block, oversized numeral, treated photograph) so the reader registers the shift in half a second.
- **Content slide.** Inverse rule: the attribute lives in the *system*, not the slide. The slide gets out of the way of the information.

**3. Set the type hierarchy.**

- **Hero headline.** Display face, largest size in the deck, set tight. One line if possible. If two, the second is significantly smaller.
- **Section label / eyebrow.** Body or mono, small caps, tracked open, very small. Functional, not decorative.
- **Body line.** Body face, regular weight, set for the longest realistic line length.
- **Three sizes max per slide.** Four always means one is decorative and should be cut.

**4. Set the spatial rule.**

- **Grid.** Column count (12 for landings, 6 for decks) and a single baseline unit (8px default). Every block snaps; every vertical space is a multiple.
- **Anchor margin.** One generous edge margin held across every slide. Inconsistency reads as sloppiness.
- **Density check.** If the slide pushes against the attribute (*spacious* attribute but crammed slide), cut content before adjusting type size.

**5. Image treatment.**

- **One treatment, one source.** Full-bleed photography, treated duotone, grayscale, illustrated, or blocked. Mixing stock, brand, and illustration is the fastest way to break the system.
- **The "never" list.** Re-read the system's image-never rule. If a candidate image violates it, replace it. No negotiation.

**6. Audit before shipping.** Walk through with the name covered. If a teammate can't place a single slide as belonging to this brand, the design is failing. Recognizability is the test.

## Decision rules

- **Cover does the work the deck title can't.** Weak cover + strong content reads as amateur. Strong cover + adequate content reads as a brand.
- **A landing hero is a cover slide that has to convert.** Same composition logic plus one primary CTA and one objection-defusing subline (Copy writes).
- **Data slides use the body face only.** Display type in charts reads as theater. Data wants quiet type.
- **Section dividers earn their place.** Eight dividers in twenty slides is a navigation problem dressed as a design problem.
- **Animation is a brand choice, not a feature.** Pick one transition (or none) and hold it.

## Anti-patterns

- Designing every slide as a hero. The deck has no rhythm and burns out by slide four.
- Centered text everywhere. Pick left-aligned (most surfaces) or centered (cover and dividers only), and hold it.
- Logo on every slide. The brand lives in the *system*. Footer mark on cover and close is usually enough.
- Two transitions, three icon styles, four shades of the primary. Each adds entropy and costs recognizability.
- Treating slide and landing design as separate problems. A deck and a landing page that don't look related is two brands.
- Letting deck content drive design. Push content back to Copy with a slot constraint instead of warping the layout.

## Before / after

**Brief:** *"Cover for an investor deck. Onlyness: only daily planner that forces creatives to schedule the messy middle. Attribute: unflinchingly honest. System: slab display, mono captions, rust on off-white, dense, marked-up date grids only."*

**Before** (default-deck move): centered logotype, centered gray-sans subtitle, soft drop shadow, stock photo of a smiling team behind a frosted overlay.

**After**: off-white field. Slab headline left-aligned at the top third, tight tracking, near-black: *"Week 3 is where the project dies."* Mono caption bottom-left: *Daily planner, 12-month edition.* One rust mark — a struck-through date cell — anchored bottom-right. No stock photo, no logotype on the cover. Reads as the brand at a glance with the title covered.
