---
name: poster-and-canvas-design-brief
description: "Specifies a poster or social canvas: visual hierarchy, grid, palette, type pairing, and the export sizes for each place it will appear. Use when a poster, social post, or banner needs a design brief with hierarchy, grid, palette, type pairing, and export sizes before it is made. Do not use for creating the artwork itself or planning a multi-page brand identity. Related topics: design, creative."
---

# Poster and Canvas Design Brief

Specifies a poster or social canvas: visual hierarchy, grid, palette, type pairing, and the export sizes for each place it will appear.

## When to use

Use this skill when a poster, social post, or banner needs a design brief with hierarchy, grid, palette, type pairing, and export sizes before it is made. Do not use it for creating the artwork itself or planning a multi-page brand identity.

## Workflow

1. Ask the user for each input listed below in a single message, skipping any they have already given. Where options are listed, offer them, but accept other answers too.
2. Rank the content so one element dominates, a second reads next, and the rest supports.
3. Describe the grid, margins, focal point, and placement of headline, image, and call to action with the empty space around them.
4. Choose two or three colours plus neutrals, check text contrast, and name the colour that carries the call to action.
5. Pair one display face with one text face with sizes on a ratio, and confirm the headline reads at thumbnail size.
6. List size, safe margins, and layout adaptation for every requested format.

## Inputs

- **Purpose** (longer free text)
- **Headline and key text** (longer free text)
- **Audience** (free text, e.g. "Who sees it and where")
- **Mood** (choose any: Bold, Quiet, Playful, Premium, Retro, Minimal, Energetic)
- **Brand colours or assets** (longer free text)
- **Formats needed** (choose any: A3 print poster, Instagram square, Instagram story, LinkedIn banner, Event screen)

## Output

A brief with a content hierarchy, grid description, palette, type spec, and an export table giving size and margins for each format.

## Prompt template

Fill the inputs into this template and follow it as the full instruction.

### Poster and Canvas Design Brief

Create a design brief for the piece below that a designer or a tool can build from.

- Purpose: {{Purpose}}
- Headline and key text: {{Headline and key text}}
- Audience: {{Audience}}
- Mood: {{Mood}}
- Brand colours or assets: {{Brand colours or assets}}
- Formats needed: {{Formats needed}}

Rank the content first: one thing the eye hits, a second thing it reads next, and the rest as support. Build the layout on a grid with margins and a clear focal point; say where the headline, image, and call to action sit and how much empty space surrounds them. Choose a palette of two or three colours plus neutrals, state the contrast of text on its background, and say which colour carries the call to action. Pair one display face with one text face, giving sizes in a ratio so the hierarchy is obvious at a glance. Check that the headline still reads at thumbnail size.

For each format, list the pixel or millimetre size, safe margins, and how the layout adapts. Return the brief as a hierarchy list, grid description, palette, type spec, and an export table.

## Pitfalls

- Giving every element equal weight, so nothing stands out and the poster is skipped.
- Placing text inside the area that Instagram stories cover with interface elements.
- Judging legibility at full size only, when most people see the piece as a thumbnail.