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Visual Asset Workflow Skill

Context & Problem

Educational visual generation converges toward generic infographics with technical specifications ("44pt Roboto Bold, 250px box") that activate prediction mode instead of reasoning mode. This produces bland, PowerPoint-default aesthetics instead of distinctive, pedagogically effective visuals.

This skill provides professional creative brief methodology to activate Gemini 3's reasoning capabilities.

Core Principles

1. Story activates reasoning - Narrative intent produces distinctive visuals; technical specs produce generic ones
2. Proficiency dictates complexity - A2 students need <5 sec grasp; C2 professionals handle dense information
3. Prerequisites gate content - Visuals cannot assume knowledge students don't have yet
4. Pedagogy drives hierarchy - Visual weight teaches importance, not arbitrary aesthetics

Dimensional Guidance

Planning Before Execution

Avoid: Jumping into visual analysis without context Prefer: Strategic planning phase (Q0)

Read FIRST:

• apps/learn-app/docs/chapter-index.md → Extract part, proficiency (A2/B1/C2), prerequisites
• apps/learn-app/docs/[part]/[chapter]/README.md → Understand lesson structure

Detect conflicts BEFORE work:

• Proficiency-complexity mismatch (complex visual for A2 beginners)
• Prerequisite violations (Python code when students haven't learned it)
• Pedagogical layer incoherence (Layer 1 content using Layer 4 approaches)

Output strategic plan, WAIT for approval before proceeding.

Principle: Plan prevents wasted work (Chapter 9 failure: 5 wrong lessons from skipping planning)

Prompt Structure: Professional Creative Briefs

Avoid: Technical specifications

❌ "Title: 44pt Roboto Bold at (50, 20)"
❌ "Box: 250px × 90px, #aaaaaa, 8px corners"
❌ "Shadow: 4px offset, 8px blur"

Prefer: Story + Intent + Metaphor

✅ The Story: [1-2 sentence narrative of what's visualized]
✅ Emotional Intent: Should feel [exponential growth, surprising magnitude]
✅ Visual Metaphor: [Multiplication cascade - like compound interest]
✅ Key Insight: [ONE thing students must grasp]
✅ Color Semantics: Blue (#2563eb) = Authority (teaches governance concept)
✅ Typography Hierarchy: Largest = Key insight (not arbitrary sizing)
✅ Pedagogical Reasoning: Why these choices serve teaching

Principle: Creative briefs activate reasoning mode; specifications activate prediction mode

Why it matters: Gemini 3 reasons about HOW to achieve intent → Distinctive visuals instead of generic

Token Conservation Strategy

When: Batch mode with >8 visuals OR continuation session

Apply condensation while preserving reasoning activation:

ALWAYS KEEP:

• Story (1-2 sentence narrative)
• Emotional Intent (what it should FEEL like)
• Visual Metaphor (universal concept)
• Key Insight (ONE thing students must grasp)
• Color semantics with hex codes (#2563eb)
• Pedagogical reasoning (why these choices)

CONDENSE:

• Long examples → Short labels
• Verbose descriptions → Bullet points
• Repeated patterns → Compact notation

NEVER REMOVE:

• Narrative elements
• Intent statements
• Reasoning explanations

Example:

FULL: "Top Layer shows the Coordinator at center top with label..."
CONDENSED: "Top Layer - Coordinator: Center top: 'Orchestrator'..."

Target: 60-70% token reduction, 100% reasoning activation preserved

Principle: Efficiency through compression, not through elimination of reasoning triggers

Proficiency-Complexity Alignment

Avoid: One-size-fits-all complexity

Prefer: Proficiency-gated constraints

A2 Beginner (Non-negotiable limits):

• Max 5-7 elements
• <5 second grasp
• Static only (no interactive)
• Max 2×2 grids
• Clear hierarchy (largest = most important)

B1 Intermediate:

• Max 7-10 elements
• <10 second grasp
• Interactive Tier 1 OK (tap-to-reveal)
• Max 3×3 grids

C2 Professional:

• No artificial limits
• Dense infographics OK
• Full interactive architecture
• Production complexity

Principle: Overwhelming A2 students = learning failure; artificial simplicity for C2 = patronizing

Prerequisite Validation Gate

Avoid: Assuming knowledge students don't have

Prefer: Validate against chapter prerequisites

Detection:

• Check Part number: Part 1-2 = no programming, Part 3 = markdown/prompts, Part 4+ = Python
• Check prerequisite list from chapter-index.md

Example Violations:

• ❌ Python code in Chapter 9 (Part 3 - students haven't learned it)
• ❌ Git commands in Part 2 (students haven't learned CLI)

Exception: Meta-level teaching OK

• ✅ Teaching "markdown code block syntax" by showing Python code block (teaches markdown, not Python)

Principle: Visual cannot require unknown knowledge

Constitutional Alignment

Avoid: Decorative visuals without pedagogical purpose

Prefer: Every visual serves specific learning objective

Principle 3 (Factual Accuracy):

• Verify all statistics, dates, technical specs
• Enable Google Search grounding for factual claims
• Cite sources for data

Principle 7 (Minimal Content):

• Reject "let's add a visual for variety"
• Every element must teach something
• Remove non-teaching decoration

Principle: Visual decisions align with project constitution

Pedagogical Layer Coherence

Avoid: Layer mismatch

Prefer: Visual approach matches chapter's pedagogical layer

L1 (Manual Foundation):

• Step-by-step diagrams
• Concrete examples
• Clear labeling (building vocabulary)

L2 (AI Collaboration):

• Before/after comparisons
• Iteration flows
• Three Roles Framework INVISIBLE (no role labels)

L3 (Intelligence Design):

• Architecture diagrams
• Reusable pattern illustrations

L4 (Spec-Driven):

• Specification → implementation flow
• Component composition diagrams

Principle: Visual design reinforces pedagogical approach

Duplicate Prevention Protocol

Avoid: Generating different prompts that produce the same visual

Prevent BEFORE generation:

1. Review existing visuals in chapter:
2. List all *.png files in target chapter directory
3. Read corresponding *.prompt.md files
4. Identify visual patterns already used

1. Validate prompt distinctiveness:
2. Does this prompt's intent differ clearly from existing prompts?
3. Example conflicts to detect:
4. ❌ Timeline + Graph → Both might render as timeline
5. ❌ Architecture + Workflow → Both might render as hierarchy
6. ❌ Same metaphor, different names → Same visual result

1. Differentiation strategy:
2. Make visual type explicit in story ("GRAPH showing exponential growth" not just "showing growth")
3. Use distinct metaphors (cascade vs tree vs timeline vs curve)
4. Specify unique structural elements (2D axes vs linear flow vs hierarchical pyramid)

Detect AFTER generation (in image-generator):

• Visual comparison with existing chapter images
• Prompt alignment check (does output match brief intent?)

Principle: Prevention cheaper than rework

Anti-Patterns

Never:

• Generate visuals without reading chapter-index.md first (skipping context)
• Use pixel specifications, font sizes, coordinates in prompts (kills reasoning)
• Assume knowledge not in prerequisites (prerequisite violation)
• Create decorative visuals without learning objective (Principle 7 violation)
• Apply same complexity to A2 and C2 students (proficiency mismatch)
• Create prompts without checking for duplicate visual patterns (causes rework)

Even if it seems reasonable:

• Don't use Python examples in Part 3 (students don't know Python yet)
• Don't create complex multi-ste