| name | design-linkedin-post |
| description | Generate a LinkedIn post artifact — a 1200×627 image canvas (LinkedIn's recommended share image dimension) plus a companion text suggestion (1300-char limit, hook-first structure). Reads ./design/<brand-slug>/DESIGN.md, tokens.css, and components.html. Triggers include "linkedin post about X", "linkedin artifact", "generate a linkedin image", "/linkedin-post". |
Skill: linkedin-post
Produces a pixel-exact 1200×627 HTML canvas suitable for screenshotting and uploading to LinkedIn as a post image, plus a markdown block with the recommended companion text. Reads from a brand's DESIGN.md system — never hardcodes brand values.
When to use
- User wants a visual asset for a LinkedIn post (announcement, milestone, opinion piece, takeaway from a project)
- A
DESIGN.md exists for the brand. If it doesn't, stop and tell the user to run /design-plan → /design-system first.
Inputs
- Required: brand slug, post topic / headline (1 line)
- Optional: key claim or supporting line, CTA text, attribution (author name + role), variation hints
Output
./design/<brand-slug>/artifacts/linkedin-YYYY-MM-DD-<topic-slug>.html
Steps
1. Verify brand exists
test -f ./design/<brand-slug>/tokens.css
If missing, stop and instruct the user to build the design system first.
2. Gather the brief
Ask in one message:
1. Headline — the single sentence on the image (max 8 words for legibility at feed scale)
2. Optional supporting line (max 14 words)
3. Optional CTA text (e.g. "Read more →") — leave blank to omit
4. Attribution — your name + role, or leave blank for a clean unsigned look
5. Companion text style: insight | story | announcement | question
3. Pick variation — ARCHITECTURE FIRST
Before anything else, pick ONE architecture archetype. This is the structural skeleton; everything else is decoration. The single biggest cause of AI-editorial output is reaching for chrome-led by default.
- Architecture archetype (most-important choice — pick FIRST):
chrome-led — eyebrow + headline + signature-row footer. Treat as the LAST resort. This is the AI-editorial default; using it more than once per brand creates structural sameness.type-only — nothing but the type. No eyebrow, no footer, no rules. The headline IS the artifact.number-led — one oversized number/stat dominates ~60%+ of canvas; the rest is short caption. Everything bows to the figure.object-of-content — the artifact IS the thing being communicated. Looks like a fragment of the product (a transcript, a printed page, a list of entries, a receipt). The "post" frame disappears.pattern-led — typographic pattern or repetition fills the canvas; one element breaks the pattern as the punctum.inverse-text — text becomes surface. Massive headline with body text wrapping the negative space; or a block of body type with the headline carved out as a void.
After the archetype, pick ONE from each remaining axis:
- Layout:
symmetric | asymmetric | off-grid | full-bleed | split
- Type pressure:
display-dominant | body-dominant | mono-led | mixed-weight
- Color usage:
monochrome | single-accent | duotone | inverted (inverted = surface-as-ink)
- Composition focus:
headline-led | quote-led | mark-led | data-led
Cross-artifact rule (mandatory): before picking, list ./design/<brand-slug>/artifacts/ and read the variation comments of the most recent 2–3 artifacts. If your archetype matches any recent one, pick a DIFFERENT archetype. Same with secondary axes — don't repeat combos within a brand.
4. Generate the canvas HTML
Template (canvas dimensions are NOT negotiable — exact 1200×627):
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="utf-8">
<title><Brand> — LinkedIn — <topic></title>
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com">
<link rel="preconnect" href="https://fonts.gstatic.com" crossorigin>
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=<families from DESIGN.md>&display=swap">
<style>
<contents of tokens.css>
html, body { margin: 0; padding: 0; background: #2a2a2a; min-height: 100vh; display: grid; place-items: center; font-family: var(--type-body-md-family); }
.canvas {
width: 1200px;
height: 627px;
background: var(--color-surface);
color: var(--color-ink);
position: relative;
overflow: hidden;
padding: var(--space-3xl);
box-sizing: border-box;
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
justify-content: <space-between | center | flex-start>;
}
.headline {
font: var(--type-display-xl-weight) var(--type-display-xl-size)/var(--type-display-xl-leading) var(--type-display-xl-family);
letter-spacing: var(--type-display-xl-tracking);
margin: 0;
font-size: clamp(40px, 5vw, 72px);
}
.eyebrow {
font: var(--type-label-caps-weight) var(--type-label-caps-size)/var(--type-label-caps-leading) var(--type-label-caps-family);
letter-spacing: var(--type-label-caps-tracking);
text-transform: uppercase;
color: var(--color-ink-soft);
margin-bottom: var(--space-md);
}
.footer {
display: flex;
justify-content: space-between;
align-items: baseline;
border-top: 1px solid var(--color-rule);
padding-top: var(--space-md);
font: var(--type-label-caps-weight) var(--type-label-caps-size)/var(--type-label-caps-leading) var(--type-label-caps-family);
letter-spacing: var(--type-label-caps-tracking);
text-transform: uppercase;
color: var(--color-ink-soft);
}
@page { size: 1200px 627px; margin: 0; }
@media print {
html, body { background: var(--color-surface); }
.canvas { box-shadow: none; }
}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<article class="canvas">
<header>
<span class="eyebrow"><eyebrow text — typically the topic category, never the brand name itself></span>
<h1 class="headline"><headline></h1>
</header>
<footer class="footer">
<span><Brand mark or name></span>
<span><YYYY.MM.DD></span>
<span><optional CTA, e.g. "Read more →"></span>
</footer>
</article>
</body>
</html>
Adapt the layout structure to match the chosen variation. For example:
- off-grid layout: shift the headline 8% from center using
transform, push the footer to bottom-left only
- split layout: divide canvas into 2 columns — headline left, supporting line + CTA right
- mark-led composition: put a typographic brand mark large in the upper-left, headline below as a smaller block
- inverted color: swap
--color-surface and --color-ink for the canvas (use background: var(--color-ink); color: var(--color-surface);)
5. Generate companion text
Append a markdown block AFTER the HTML file inside an HTML comment, OR write a sibling .txt file. Default: include in an HTML comment at the end of the artifact for portability.
LinkedIn companion text rules:
- Hook first line (must stand alone — LinkedIn truncates after ~3 lines)
- Line breaks between paragraphs (single blank line)
- No more than 1300 characters total (LinkedIn's "see more" cutoff)
- Style by user's choice:
- insight: claim → reasoning → invitation
- story: scene → turn → takeaway
- announcement: what → why it matters → next step
- question: provocative ask → context → invite replies
- No hashtags unless explicitly requested
- No links in body (LinkedIn deprioritizes posts with links — put link in first comment)
Append:
6. Verify and report
Before claiming done, mentally check:
Report:
LinkedIn artifact at ./design/<brand-slug>/artifacts/linkedin-YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.html.
Variation: <layout> × <type-pressure> × <color> × <composition>.
To export as PNG: open in browser → DevTools → device toolbar → set viewport to 1200×627 → screenshot the .canvas element. Or Cmd+P → save as PDF (page size auto-set to 1200×627 by @page).
Companion text is in an HTML comment at the end of the file.
Anti-Slop Rules
Governed by three shared canonical references — read them, do not restate them:
../design-anti-patterns.md — the hard floor. Wins every conflict.../design-principles.md — the craft floor (typographic hierarchy, spatial rhythm, color theory, layout logic, visual tension).../design-variation-sop.md — the named-aesthetic roster + the procedure for varying every invocation.
Forbidden (fast scan — the references hold the full list):
- Indigo/violet/purple as default accent or primary — the
hsl(230–280) family on a near-white surface. The single loudest AI tell.
- Purple→blue / "aurora" / gradient-mesh backgrounds; gradient-fill text.
- Glassmorphism without an explicit AA-contrast scrim; floating gradient "blobs" as atmosphere.
- The three-up icon-card feature grid; the "hero → 3 cards → CTA" median skeleton.
- One global border-radius on every element; timid evenly-weighted low-contrast palette.
- Inter / Roboto / Arial / Open Sans / Lato / Helvetica / system as the primary family (Space Grotesk = yellow flag). Use a category-matched stack from the variation roster.
- Value-free CTAs ("Get Started", "Learn More", "Sign Up"); the two-CTA hero. Name the real action and its value.
Required variation (every invocation):
- Make at least two intentional decisions that differ from the safe defaults (palette, layout structure, typographic voice, or spatial density) AND from the most recent artifact in this brand.
- Never default to "clean / minimal / modern" — that is the absence of a direction (variation-sop Rule 1).
- Sketch three distinct directions, offer them as a one-line menu, generate the best-fit by default, all three only if asked (variation-sop Rule 3).
Authenticity: prefer specific over generic everywhere — real datelines (not "today"), the brand's actual voice (not "build the future" filler), concrete CTAs over placeholders.
Rules
- Pixel exactness. Canvas is 1200×627 — no rounding, no responsive scaling beyond
clamp() for headline overflow.
- Token-pure. Every visual value via
var(--*) from tokens.css. The only literal pixel values allowed are 1px for hairlines and 1200px / 627px for the canvas.
- One artifact per file. Don't bundle multiple post variants in a single HTML — make multiple files if the user wants alternates.
- No template fallback. If you can't pick a clear variation, ask the user — don't default to a safe centered layout, that's the cliché the system exists to avoid.
- Companion text is optional but on by default. If the user says "image only", skip step 5.
- Anti-pattern compliance. This skill defers to three shared canonical references:
../design-anti-patterns.md (the hard floor — wins every conflict), ../design-principles.md (the craft floor), and ../design-variation-sop.md (direction roster + offer-3 procedure). The anti-patterns file is the canonical anti-tell list. If you find a new tell in the output, add it there.
