Claude design skill

A Claude skill that knows the Area Foundation brand. It asks who a piece is for and where it will live, then designs to this guide.

New in October 2026: social posts are photo-free by default (type, color and the mosaic); a photo is added only when you supply one or pick one from the library, and Claude never invents placeholder people. It asks whether you have a photo up front and hands over every post with a ready-to-paste caption (with the link) and alt text. The skill now fits Claude’s upload limits (under 200 files); Claude unpacks its pattern and photo files the first time it runs.

What’s new: the updated wordmark, the color names Twilight and Lunaria, the mission and vision, and the four-tier brand architecture with its fund lockups. Also new: the Mark to Name motion, and PowerPoint and Word templates with placeholder text. Version 2 added the official pattern backgrounds, corners, graphics, and avatars as files. It also added layouts for every social tier and a one-pager, size tables, approved examples, a deck builder, and a self-check Claude runs before handing anything over.

Includes the brand fonts, licensed to the San Antonio Area Foundation. For use by SAAF staff only.

• Starts every request with a short brief: the channel (social, PowerPoint, Word, email, web, print), the audience (donors and fundholders, nonprofits, community leaders, scholars, professional advisors), the one goal, and the format.
• Uses the answers to pick the fonts, the message, and the colors. Office files get Aptos and Georgia, email gets Arial Narrow and Georgia, and finished design work gets Marr Sans Condensed, Trust 3A, and Inter.
• Writes from the approved verbal identity: the mission, vision, purpose, promise, values, brand story, boilerplate, and the value proposition and proof points for each audience, word for word.
• Applies the brand exactly: the 34 colors and their names, the contrast rules, the color pairs and sets, the logo family, the brand architecture tiers and fund lockups, the hand-cut mosaic, corner elements, and photography.
• Knows how the brand moves. Every motion has a name, so you can ask for one directly: “Give this card Section Gather,” or “Open with Mark to Name and close with Name to Mark.”
• Includes all 28 logo files, the brand lockups, the pattern backgrounds, corners, graphics, the campaign avatar, the color tokens, and the PowerPoint and Word templates, so Claude places the real assets and never redraws them.
• Starts from ready-made layouts, sizes type from a table for every format, and checks its own work before handing it over: type size, official files, contrast, margins, the dos and don’ts, and photo crops.

• Ask in plain words: "Design an Instagram post announcing this year's scholarship recipients," "Build a one-pager for donors about donor-advised funds," or "Make five slides for the board meeting."
• Answer its questions about channel and audience. The answers drive the design.
• Give it the real facts: names, dates, and figures. It won't invent them, and it marks anything missing.
• Have Communications review anything public before it goes out. The skill follows the guide, but it doesn't replace a human eye.
• When this guide changes, download the skill again and replace the old one. Installed the earlier version, called saaf-design? Remove it first, so only one copy loads.

Paste any of these into Claude with the Area Foundation design skill installed. Swap the bracketed parts for your own content.

1. 01Instagram post

   Make a 1080×1350 Instagram post announcing that our [year] grant cycle is open. Use tier 2, a Marr Sans headline of five to eight words, and the monogram small in a corner. Write the caption and alt text too. Details: [paste your text].

   Copy

2. 02Board deck

   Build a 10-slide board deck from our PowerPoint template: a pattern cover, a pillar divider, a three-column pillars slide, two content slides, one chart, and a closing slide. Here are my notes: [paste your notes].

   Copy

3. 03Donor one-pager

   Turn this into a one-pager for donors and fundholders about donor-advised funds, in our Word template. Use the approved messaging for that audience, a tier 4 frame, and one mosaic corner. Content: [paste your text].

   Copy

4. 04Donor Impact Report

   Design a 4-page Donor Impact Report for the [fund name] as a letter-size PDF. Open with a tier 3 mosaic cover, chart the figures in the core colors on Limestone with Twilight labels, and close with the boilerplate. Figures: [paste your data].

   Copy

5. 05Area News issue

   Build this month's Area News from our 13-block Mailchimp template. Pick one of the three themes, lead with [main story], then add two spotlights and an events block. Stories, photos, and links: [paste your text].

   Copy

6. 06Scholarships web section

   Design a responsive scholarships section in HTML and CSS for students and families: a hero photo, a tier 2 panel with a Marr Sans headline, three steps to apply, and one Apply button. Check it at phone width. Copy: [paste your text].

   Copy

7. 07Gala print set

   Create the print pieces for our [event name] gala: a 5×7 in invitation, a folded place card on Limestone, and a 4-page program with a mosaic cover on Twilight. Event details: [paste date, venue, and run of show].

   Copy

8. 08County chart

   Chart our grants by county as a horizontal bar chart, once for a slide and once as a 1080×1350 social card. Use the core colors on Limestone, Twilight labels, and a headline that states the finding. Data: [paste your data].

   Copy

9. 09Animated title card

   Animate a 1920×1080 title card for our [video name] video. Open with Counties Gather, then use Corner Sweep for the headline and the wordmark. Export an MP4 and a still for reduced motion.

   Copy

10. 10Tote and pins

    Design a canvas tote with the tier 3 mosaic and “Together for brighter futures” in Marr Sans, plus a set of three enamel pins from different avatar crops. Give me print-ready SVG files and a mockup.

    Copy