canvas-design Skill: Posters and Visual Art with Claude

/plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

canvas-design is an Anthropic example skill for creating static visual pieces such as posters, cover art and abstract designs. Its twist is a two-stage process: Claude first invents a design philosophy, an aesthetic movement with a name and manifesto, and then expresses that philosophy on a canvas as a PNG or PDF.

What it does

1. Design philosophy (.md): Claude names a movement in one or two words, for example “Brutalist Joy” or “Chromatic Silence”, and writes four to six paragraphs on space, form, color, scale, rhythm and hierarchy.
2. Canvas expression (.png or .pdf): Claude renders the piece, keeping text minimal and letting composition carry the meaning.

The skill repeatedly stresses craftsmanship, telling Claude the result should look like it took countless hours from someone at the top of their field. It ships a canvas-fonts folder so typography does not depend on system fonts.

Install

/plugin marketplace add anthropics/skills
/plugin install example-skills@anthropic-agent-skills

Skills in example-skills load only when relevant. Paid Claude.ai plans already include Anthropic’s example skills.

Example prompts

Design a poster for a jazz night called "Late Set" in a bold geometric style
Create abstract cover art for a podcast about urban gardening
Make a minimalist conference badge background as a PDF

Tips and limits

• Give a mood or constraint, then let it explore; the skill treats input as a foundation rather than a spec.
• Output is generated with code, so photographic realism is out of scope.
• Brand work needs your colors and fonts stated explicitly, or try theme-factory.
• For generative, animated work see algorithmic-art.

Related: frontend-design, best Claude Code skills.