pro-deck-builder

Presentation Designer

VC-backed SaaS design quality for PowerPoint. Think Linear, Attio, Vercel, Raycast — not corporate clip art.

Install

git clone https://github.com/thatrebeccarae/claude-marketing.git && cp -r claude-marketing/skills/pro-deck-builder ~/.claude/skills/

Quick Reference

| Task | Approach | |------|----------| | Create from scratch | Read [REFERENCE.md](REFERENCE.md), use PptxGenJS | | Edit existing / use template | Read [editing.md](editing.md) | | Read/extract content | python -m markitdown presentation.pptx | | Visual overview | python scripts/thumbnail.py presentation.pptx |

Before You Start (Required Steps)

Step 1: Ask the User

Before writing any code, ask:

1. Light or dark mode? Dark = premium/keynote feel. Light = reports/data-heavy decks.
2. Palette preference? Show the palette table below, or ask if they have brand colors.
3. Logo? Ask if they have a logo file to include (PNG/SVG path).

Step 2: Discover Fonts

Check what's installed — premium fonts make a massive difference:

# macOS — list all installed font families
fc-list : family | sort -u

# Search for premium fonts first
fc-list : family | grep -iE "inter|dm.sans|poppins|avenir|futura|geist|sf.pro|sf.mono|jetbrains|fira.code|montserrat|playfair|source.sans"

# Check macOS Font Book directories directly
ls ~/Library/Fonts/ /Library/Fonts/ /System/Library/Fonts/Supplemental/ 2>/dev/null

Priority order for font selection:

1. Inter — the gold standard for SaaS UI (if installed, use it for everything)
2. DM Sans — geometric, startup-friendly
3. Poppins — rounded, approachable
4. Avenir / Avenir Next — ships with macOS, Apple-adjacent elegance
5. Calibri — safe fallback, always available

For data/mono: JetBrains Mono > Fira Code > SF Mono > Consolas

Design Language: VC-Backed SaaS

Aesthetic Principles

1. Depth through layering — Surfaces float above backgrounds. Cards and panels have subtle elevation via shadows and fine borders, not flat colored boxes.
2. Bold typography, minimal decoration — Let type hierarchy do the work. No accent lines, no decorative shapes, no clip art.
3. Restrained color — One accent color used sparingly (10%). Mostly neutrals. Color = signal, not decoration.
4. Generous whitespace — Empty space signals confidence. If a slide feels sparse, make the content bigger, don't add more.
5. Every element earns its place — Before adding anything: what does it communicate? If removing it changes nothing, remove it.

Light vs Dark Mode

The user picks one mode for the entire deck. Never mix modes within a deck.

Color System

Dark Mode (Default — Premium/Keynote)

| Token | Value | Use | |-------|-------|-----| | bg-primary | 0A0A0C | Slide backgrounds (deep space black) | | bg-surface | 17181A | Cards, panels (deep slate) | | bg-elevated | 1E1F23 | Elevated surfaces, hover states | | bg-glass | FFFFFF at 4% opacity | Translucent overlays | | text-primary | FFFFFF | Headlines, key content | | text-secondary | A0A0A0 | Body text, descriptions | | text-muted | 5A5A5E | Captions, metadata, labels | | border-subtle | FFFFFF at 8% opacity | Card borders |

Light Mode (Reports/Data-Heavy)

| Token | Value | Use | |-------|-------|-----| | bg-primary | FFFFFF | Slide backgrounds | | bg-surface | F8F9FA | Cards, panels | | bg-elevated | FFFFFF | Elevated surfaces (use shadow) | | text-primary | 111111 | Headlines, key content | | text-secondary | 555555 | Body text, descriptions | | text-muted | 999999 | Captions, metadata, labels | | border-subtle | E8E8E8 | Card borders |

Palette System

Each palette defines one accent color (used at 10%) plus semantic status colors. The accent is the personality — everything else is neutral.

Built-In Palettes

| Name | Accent | Hex | Best For | |------|--------|-----|----------| | Electric Blue | Intense azure | 0055FF | SaaS, tech, product | | Neon Lime | Acid green | 39FF14 | Dev tools, performance | | Hot Coral | Warm energy | FF6B6B | Marketing, creative | | Indigo | Deep purple | 6366F1 | Startups, AI/ML | | Teal Trust | Cool confidence | 0D9488 | Healthcare, finance | | Amber Signal | Warm authority | F59E0B | Consulting, strategy | | Rose | Refined pink | F43F5E | Design, brand, luxury | | Emerald | Growth green | 10B981 | Sustainability, success | | Cyan Edge | Sharp blue-green | 06B6D4 | Data, analytics | | Violet | Creative depth | 8B5CF6 | Education, innovation | | Slate | No accent | 64748B | Minimal, understated | | Gold Standard | Financial premium | D4AF37 | Investor, board decks |

Custom Palette (User Brand Colors)

If the user provides brand colors, build a custom palette:

const palette = {
  accent: "0055FF",      // primary brand color
  accentMuted: "0055FF" + " at 15% opacity", // for tinted backgrounds
  positive: "10B981",    // good, up, success
  warning: "F59E0B",     // attention, caution
  critical: "EF4444",    // bad, down, error
};

Color Application: 85/10/5 Rule

• 85% — Backgrounds + neutral text (bg + text tokens from mode)
• 10% — Accent (key numbers, chart primary, CTAs, active states)
• 5% — Semantic status (positive/warning/critical in KPIs and data)

Typography

Font Priority

Run font discovery (Step 2 above), then pick:

| Priority | Header | Body | Data/Mono | Vibe | |----------|--------|------|-----------|------| | 1st | Inter 700 | Inter 400 | JetBrains Mono | Linear/Vercel | | 2nd | DM Sans 700 | DM Sans 400 | Fira Code | Geometric startup | | 3rd | Avenir Next Bold | Avenir 400 | SF Mono | Apple-adjacent | | 4th | Poppins 700 | Poppins 400 | JetBrains Mono | Friendly modern | | Safe | Calibri Bold | Calibri | Consolas | Always available |

For editorial/financial decks:

| Header | Body | Vibe | |--------|------|------| | DM Serif Display | DM Sans | Sophisticated editorial | | Playfair Display | Source Sans Pro | Luxury, financial | | Georgia | Calibri | Classic corporate |

Size Scale

| Role | Size | Weight | Use | |------|------|--------|-----| | Hero title | 54-72pt | Bold (700) | Title slide only | | Slide title | 32-40pt | Bold (700) | Every content slide | | Section header | 20-24pt | Semibold (600) | Within-slide sections | | Body text | 14-16pt | Regular (400) | Paragraphs, bullets | | Captions/meta | 10-12pt | Regular (400) | Footnotes, sources | | Big KPI number | 48-72pt | Bold (700) | Dashboard callouts | | KPI label | 9-10pt | Semibold, ALL CAPS, +tracking | Below KPI numbers | | Data/numbers | 11-14pt | Mono regular | Tables, data labels |

Typography Rules

• Left-align body text and lists — center ONLY titles and KPI values
• Max 2 font families per deck (+1 mono for data)
• ALL CAPS + charSpacing only for small labels (KPI labels, category tags)
• Line height: 1.3x for body, 1.1x for titles
• Never underline for emphasis — use bold or accent color

Text Fitting (Prevents Overflow)

Big numbers and titles WILL overflow if you use a fixed font size without checking content length. Use these rules:

Big KPI Numbers — scale font to character count:

| Characters | Example | Max Font Size (card) | Max Font Size (standalone) | |------------|---------|---------------------|--------------------------| | 1–4 | $4.2M | 48pt | 72pt | | 5–7 | $5,307K | 36pt | 54pt | | 8–10 | $5,307,540 | 28pt | 44pt | | 11+ | $12,345,678 | 22pt | 36pt |

Rule: prefer abbreviated numbers. $5.3M > $5,307,540. Only use full numbers in tables or footnotes where precision matters.

Slide Titles — max characters before wrapping:

| Font Size | Max Chars (~9" wide) | If Longer | |-----------|---------------------|-----------| | 54pt | ~30 | Reduce to 44pt or rewrite shorter | | 44pt | ~38 | Reduce