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name: virat-design description: "World-class graphic design skill: full end-to-end methodology for premium minimal design — social posts, carousels, presentations (PPT/slide decks), posters, thumbnails, banners, ad creatives, infographics, covers. Fixed design principles with fully adaptable tokens — colors and fonts adjust to the user's brand. Use when creating, art-directing, or reviewing any visual design." version: "3.1.0" license: "MIT"

virat-design

A complete design methodology for premium minimal visuals — the way a world-class designer works, end to end. Principles are fixed. Tokens are flexible. Ships with a default aesthetic ("Virat defaults"); every color and font adapts to the user's brand without breaking the style's DNA.

The Non-Negotiables

These never change, no matter whose brand it's for:

1. Restraint is the luxury. Default to few colors — the exact count follows the user's need, never decoration for its own sake. If in doubt, remove.
2. Typography leads. Max 2 font families. Headlines do the heavy lifting — no decorative clutter.
3. One hero per page. A single headline, number, or visual owns the composition.
4. Whitespace is structure. Minimum 8–10% safe margins; generous vertical rhythm.
5. One accent role. A single accent color, used sparingly — on key words or one element, not whole paragraphs.
6. Human-made, always. No gradients, no glow, no glassmorphism, no neon, no generic AI-template look.
7. Real assets only. Official logos, never faked or recolored. No AI faces as heroes.
8. Nothing ships without QA. Run the checklist at the end of this file. Fix everything.

Scope

Format	Key specs
Social posts / carousels / stories	1080×1350 post, 1080×1080 square, 1080×1920 story; 100px safe margins
Presentations / slide decks	1920×1080; title → sections → closer; one idea per slide; ~30 words max per slide
Posters / flyers	Hero-led, 10%+ margins, info order: what → when/where → action
YouTube thumbnails	1280×720; ≤3 words, huge type, one focal point, readable at 120px wide
Banners	LinkedIn 1584×396, X 1500×500, YouTube 2560×1440 (safe 1546×423); keep content in safe zone
Ad creatives	1080×1080 / 1080×1920; hook ≤5 words readable in 1 second; single CTA pill
Infographics	One numbered flow, consistent icon style, max 5–7 data points, sources in small mono
Covers / certificates / invitations	Double frame, serif headlines, diamond motifs, structured info boxes, proper signing space

End-to-End Workflow

1. Brief. Extract only what changes the design: the one message (one sentence), audience + placement, format/size, brand assets (logo, colors, fonts — if none, use defaults and say so). Ask max 2–3 questions; assume the rest. Never stall waiting for answers you can decide.

2. Research. Study 3–5 best-in-class references in the category. Note what to borrow and what clichés to avoid. Verify every fact, name, and logo — never guess. Define what this piece does differently; if it looks like everything else, the direction is wrong.

3. Direction. Write the art direction as one sentence before touching layout: "[Mood] [format] where [the hero] carries the message, with [accent role]." For major pieces, explore 2–3 directions and let the user pick. For routine work, pick the strongest and go.

4. Tokens. Build the project's token set (below): canvas, ink, accent, muted, line + display font + label font. Write them at the top of your working file.

5. Compose. Copy first — headline ≤ 6 words, subline ≤ 2 lines. Pick a layout pattern (below). One idea per page; two ideas = two pages. Give the hero 40%+ of the canvas.

6. Build. Reference method: HTML/CSS at exact pixel dimensions, screenshotted to PNG. Type stays as real type — never baked into generated imagery. Official logos in white rounded tiles with soft shadow; no logo → mono text tile, never a fake mark.

7. QA. Run the checklist at the end of this file. Read every word twice. Fix everything — "minor" issues don't ship.

8. Deliver & iterate. Deliver the file + one line on the design decision behind it. Take feedback without ego: "something different" means genuinely different, never a remix of the rejected direction. Approved work is locked; new explorations become new files.

Style Tokens

Virat defaults (starting aesthetic — adapt per below)

• Canvas: warm ivory #F6F5F1 (alt cream #FAF6EF, pure white #FFFFFF)
• Ink: #151515 near-black · Muted: #6B675C warm gray · Faint: #8A8578
• Accent: royal blue #334EE8 — key words, numbers, CTAs
• Lines: #E8E2D4 hairlines · Noir: #0A0A0A for deliberate dark pieces
• Display: Plus Jakarta Sans 800 (alt Inter 800), tight tracking, huge sizes
• Labels: Space Mono, uppercase, letter-spacing 4–8px, muted
• Body: Jakarta/Inter 400–500, muted, line-height 1.5+ · Editorial: Georgia serif (formal only)
• Cards 24–32px radius, pills fully round, soft shadow 0 12px 32px rgba(0,0,0,.06); tiny diamond motifs; double frames on formal pieces

Adapting to any brand

Tokens change. Principles don't.

• Canvas: keep warm ivory unless the brand demands otherwise. Dark brands → near-black canvas with ivory text (inverted system, same rules). Never pure gray or textured.
• Ink & text: ink = darkest brand-neutral; muted = ink at ~55% warmth.
• Accent: pick ONE from the brand palette; if none, choose by mood — tech/AI → blue, energy/fitness → orange-red, finance/trust → deep green, luxury → gold (sparingly), creative → violet. One accent per piece, on 1–2 words or one element.
• Fonts: roles fixed, faces flexible. Display role = heavy grotesque 800, tight tracking (Jakarta, Inter, Archivo, Sora, Space Grotesk…). Label role = mono/technical sans, uppercase, wide tracking (Space Mono, IBM Plex Mono, JetBrains Mono…). Max 2 families per piece; use the brand's own fonts in these roles when available.
• The test: set the piece next to a defaults piece — siblings, same DNA, different clothes. If it looks like another designer made it, the adaptation went too far.

Layout Patterns

Cover. Mono kicker + year → giant headline (1–2 accent words) → quiet subline → optional logo tiles → SWIPE → footer.

Feature. Series name + 02 / 07 → logo tile + mono kicker + Jakarta 800 name → hairline → 2–3 line description → feature pills → BEST FOR · mono line → big number + footer.

Comparison. Kicker → headline → two-column table (max 5 rows); winner column right, accent header.

Stat. Kicker → one enormous number (40%+ of canvas) → one quiet line.

Quote. One strong centered line (serif allowed) → mono attribution.

List. Kicker + headline → 3–5 numbered items with hairlines, generous padding.

Formal (certificates/covers/invitations). Double frame border, centered serif/Jakarta headline, diamond divider, structured info boxes, clear signing space.

Carousel rule: all slides share canvas, footer, kicker style, margins. Slide 1 = cover, middle = feature, last = CTA. Number every slide.

Slide rule: consistent chrome on every content slide — brand left, slide number right, mono, faint.

Type Scale

Context	Headline	Body	Kicker	Footer
1080-wide post	120–200px	36–44px	28–34px	24–28px
1920-wide slide	130–180px	44–56px	30–36px	24px

Minimum readable body at 1080 wide: 32px. Below that, cut words instead of shrinking.

QA Checklist

• Safe margins on all edges; one hero per page; deliberate alignment; consistent rhythm
• Color count intentional (default 3, more only on genuine need); accent on 1–2 elements only
• No gradients, glow, glassmorphism; grays warm-toned
• Max 2 font families; headline ≤ 6 words with chosen breaks; kickers uppercase + letterspaced
• Zero typos — every word read twice; facts, names, logos verified
• Real official logos only — none stretched, recolored, faked
• Copy tight; single clear CTA
• Series: shared canvas/footer/kicker style, correct numbering, SWIPE → except last slide
• Exact pixel dimensions; crisp type; sane file size

What This Skill Is Not

• Not video editing — static visuals only.
• Not a logo generator — it art-directs layouts; brand marks come from official sources.
• Not a photo editor — it composes designed graphics.
• Not a fixed template — a methodology that adapts to any brand.

Available connectors

Use muse.connector_search to find the current connector docs before following recovered instructions.