canvas-design
Create beautiful visual art in .png and .pdf documents using design philosophy. You should use this skill when the user asks to create a poster, piece of art, design, or other static piece. Create original visual designs, never copying existing artists' work to avoid copyright violations.
56
Does it follow best practices?
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npx tessl skill review --optimize ./path/to/skillValidation for skill structure
Discovery
67%Based on the skill's description, can an agent find and select it at the right time? Clear, specific descriptions lead to better discovery.
The description adequately communicates the skill's purpose and includes explicit 'when to use' guidance, which is a strength. However, it uses second person voice ('You should use'), lacks comprehensive trigger terms for visual design work, and could be more specific about the concrete actions it performs beyond generic 'create' statements.
Suggestions
Add more natural trigger terms users would say: 'graphic', 'illustration', 'banner', 'flyer', 'infographic', 'logo', 'visual artwork'
Rewrite in third person voice: 'Creates beautiful visual art...' instead of 'You should use this skill'
List more specific concrete actions: 'compose layouts, apply color schemes, generate illustrations, design typography'
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Specificity | Names the domain (visual art, .png/.pdf) and some actions (create poster, art, design), but lacks comprehensive specific actions like 'generate layouts', 'apply color palettes', or 'compose graphics'. Uses second person 'You should use' which violates voice guidelines. | 2 / 3 |
Completeness | Clearly answers both what ('Create beautiful visual art in .png and .pdf documents') and when ('when the user asks to create a poster, piece of art, design, or other static piece') with explicit trigger guidance. | 3 / 3 |
Trigger Term Quality | Includes some natural keywords users would say ('poster', 'piece of art', 'design'), but missing common variations like 'graphic', 'illustration', 'banner', 'flyer', 'infographic', 'visual', or 'artwork'. | 2 / 3 |
Distinctiveness Conflict Risk | Somewhat specific to visual art creation, but 'design' is broad and could overlap with UI design, web design, or presentation skills. The '.png and .pdf' output formats help distinguish it, but 'static piece' is vague. | 2 / 3 |
Total | 9 / 12 Passed |
Implementation
27%Reviews the quality of instructions and guidance provided to agents. Good implementation is clear, handles edge cases, and produces reliable results.
This skill is conceptually rich but severely over-engineered for its purpose. It reads more like an artistic manifesto than actionable technical guidance, with excessive repetition of quality/craftsmanship themes and no concrete implementation details for actually generating PDF/PNG files. The lack of executable code, tool-specific commands, or validation steps makes it difficult for Claude to reliably produce the desired outputs.
Suggestions
Add concrete code examples showing how to generate PDF/PNG files using specific libraries (e.g., reportlab, PIL/Pillow, or cairo)
Reduce redundancy by removing repeated exhortations about 'masterpiece' and 'craftsmanship' - state the quality bar once clearly
Split content into separate files: PHILOSOPHY_EXAMPLES.md, CANVAS_TOOLS.md, and keep SKILL.md as a concise overview
Add validation steps: how to verify the output meets quality standards, check file integrity, confirm fonts loaded correctly
| Dimension | Reasoning | Score |
|---|---|---|
Conciseness | Extremely verbose at ~200 lines with significant redundancy. Repeats 'craftsmanship' and 'masterpiece' concepts excessively as instructed within the skill itself. Contains unnecessary meta-commentary and explains concepts Claude already understands (what a design philosophy is, how to be creative). | 1 / 3 |
Actionability | Provides conceptual guidance and examples of design philosophies, but lacks concrete executable code or specific tool commands. References './canvas-fonts' directory but doesn't show how to use it. No actual PDF/PNG generation code or library usage shown. | 2 / 3 |
Workflow Clarity | Has a clear two-step process (philosophy creation → canvas creation) with numbered steps, but lacks validation checkpoints. No verification steps for checking output quality programmatically, no error recovery guidance, and the 'final step' refinement process is vague. | 2 / 3 |
Progressive Disclosure | Monolithic wall of text with no references to external files for detailed guidance. All content is inline despite being lengthy. Could benefit from separating philosophy examples, canvas creation details, and multi-page instructions into separate referenced files. | 1 / 3 |
Total | 6 / 12 Passed |
Validation
90%Checks the skill against the spec for correct structure and formatting. All validation checks must pass before discovery and implementation can be scored.
Validation — 10 / 11 Passed
Validation for skill structure
| Criteria | Description | Result |
|---|---|---|
frontmatter_unknown_keys | Unknown frontmatter key(s) found; consider removing or moving to metadata | Warning |
Total | 10 / 11 Passed | |
- Reviewed
Table of Contents
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