canvas-design

---
name: canvas-design
description: Use when the agent needs to produce an original visual artifact — poster, art piece, layout, static design — as a .png or .pdf, grounded in a generated design philosophy rather than mimicking an existing artist.
source: https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/canvas-design
generated: 2026-05-25T04:08:13.869Z
category: tool
audience: design
---

## When to use

- Producing a one-off poster or social card where the user wants real visual design, not a stock template
- Creating a brand-adjacent static piece where the philosophy should drive form, color, and composition
- Generating a PDF page that needs to read as designed work, with imagery and minimal text functioning together
- Turning a written brief into both a design philosophy doc and the visual expression of that philosophy

## Key concepts

### Two-step design protocol

First create a design philosophy as a .md (form, space, color, composition principles), then express it as a .pdf or .png. The two-step split prevents the agent from collapsing into stock layouts.

### Philosophy, not template

The philosophy is an aesthetic movement: how form, space, color, and pattern interact. Templates and layouts are explicitly out of scope.

### 90% visual, 10% text

Output composition is dominated by visual elements; text appears only as visual accent. The skill refuses to lean on heavy text blocks to do the design's work.

### Original work only

The skill is explicit about not copying named artists' styles to avoid copyright violations. Compose a philosophy that draws on movements and forms, not signature styles.

### Static formats only

Output is constrained to .md (philosophy), .pdf, and .png. Anything dynamic — animation, code, interactive — is a different skill.

## API reference

```
npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill canvas-design
```

Install the canvas-design skill from Anthropic's official skills repo.

```
npx skills add anthropics/skills --skill canvas-design
```

## Gotchas

- Skipping the philosophy step produces generic posters; do not collapse the two-step protocol to save time
- Avoid naming or imitating specific artists; describe movements, forms, and color systems instead
- Text-heavy outputs violate the 90/10 rule and tend to look like slides; if the brief needs text, this is the wrong skill
- Static formats only — for animated, dynamic, or interactive output, route to a different skill
- User-provided constraints are seeds, not handcuffs; the philosophy should respect them but still take creative direction

---
Generated by SkillMake from https://github.com/anthropics/skills/tree/main/skills/canvas-design on 2026-05-25T04:08:13.869Z.
Verify against source before relying on details.

File: ~/.claude/skills/canvas-design/SKILL.md