Instagram Carousel Designer

Generate Instagram carousel posts as self-contained HTML files in your brand. Each carousel is a single HTML file with fixed-dimension slides (420x525px) that export as pixel-perfect 1080x1350px PNGs via Playwright.

This skill handles both copy and design. Give it a topic, pick a style, and it writes the slides + builds the visual — using your colors, your photo, your name.

Architecture

Fixed Dimensions

Every slide is a fixed 420x525px box. Not responsive. Fixed pixel dimensions.

Design:  420 x 525px  (what you see in browser)
Export:  1080 x 1350px (what gets uploaded to Instagram)
Scale:   2.5714x (via Playwright device_scale_factor)
Ratio:   4:5 (Instagram carousel standard)

Modular Reference Files

4 Design Styles

Style Selection Logic

1. Explicit request — user says "bold impact", "tweet style", "editorial", "product showcase"
2. Auto-detection by content:
   • Hot take / opinion / conversational / quote → Tweet Post
   • List of tools / product comparison / category breakdown → Product Showcase
   • Framework / tutorial / educational / how-to / case study → Clean Editorial
   • Everything else (numbered insights, tips, shifts, mistakes) → Bold Impact (default)
3. If ambiguous — ask 1 question max, default to Bold Impact

Workflow

Follow these phases in order.

Phase 0: Brand Setup (First Use Only)

Check if carousels/brand-config.json exists in the current working directory.

• If it exists: Read it and use those values for all brand elements. Skip to Phase 1.
• If it does NOT exist: Run the brand onboarding below before doing anything else.

Brand Onboarding Interview

Ask the user these 6 questions (can be asked all at once):

Before we build your first carousel, I need to set up your brand. This only runs once.

1. What's your full name? (shown on every slide as the profile name)
2. What's your @handle? (watermark on every slide, e.g. @yourname)
3. What's your subtitle or tagline? (e.g. "Paid Media | Growth Marketing")
4. Path to your profile photo? (e.g. carousels/photo.jpg — or type "skip" to use initials)
5. What's your brand accent color? (paste a hex code like #6EE421, or describe: green / coral / blue / purple / orange)
6. Default style preference? (dark / light / minimal — or type "auto" to let me decide per content)

Saving Brand Config

After collecting answers, save carousels/brand-config.json:

{
  "name": "User's Full Name",
  "handle": "@userhandle",
  "subtitle": "Their Tagline Here",
  "profile_photo": "carousels/photo.jpg",
  "accent_color": "#HEXCODE",
  "initials": "XX",
  "default_style": "dark",
  "setup_complete": true
}

Accent color mapping (if user describes instead of hex):

Initials: Extract first letter of first name + first letter of last name. If only one name, use first two letters.

Profile photo fallback: If user skips or file doesn't exist, use a circle with their initials in the accent color.

Create the carousels/ folder

Also create carousels/[year]/[month]/ structure if it doesn't exist.

Phase 1: Research

1. Check carousels/ for any past carousels — scan titles/filenames to avoid repeating topics
2. Determine style (see selection logic above)

Phase 2: Write Slide Copy

Follow these copy rules:

Voice:

• Direct and opinionated — clear stances, not wishy-washy
• Experience-backed — real examples, real specifics
• Anti-fluff — no corporate speak, no filler words
• Punchy — fragments fine, contrast wins

Banned words: "just", "really", "actually", "basically", "simply", "literally"

Hook formulas (Slide 1):

• Contrarian: "Your [strategy] is backwards."
• Number promise: "5 [topic] mistakes burning your [resource]."
• Challenge: "I bet you're still doing this in [year]."
• Bold statement: "[Thing] didn't kill [people]. [Behaviour] killed [people]."

Slide count: 5-10 slides (7 is the sweet spot). Every slide readable in 3-4 seconds.

Phase 3: Build HTML

Generate a single self-contained HTML file using brand config values. Read all reference files:

• references/design-system.md — dimensions, fonts, colors
• references/components.md — shared components
• references/styles.md — chosen style's CSS and layout

Critical build rules:

1. Every slide: width: 420px; height: 525px; — FIXED, never responsive
2. Use brand.accent_color for all accent/highlight elements
3. Use brand.name, brand.handle, brand.subtitle in profile header and watermark
4. Profile photo: if brand.profile_photo file exists → base64 encode and embed; else → initials circle using brand.initials and brand.accent_color
5. All images: base64 encoded inline (self-contained HTML)
6. Always use Python to generate HTML — never shell/bash (corrupts special characters)
7. IG preview frame wraps carousel for in-browser preview
8. Navigation: touch swipe + mouse drag + keyboard arrows
9. Export buttons: PNG per slide + PDF (all slides)
10. Save to: carousels/[year]/[month]/carousel-XX-topic.html
11. MANDATORY — accent color sanitisation: The reference files contain example hex values (#6EE421, #85F040, #5BC01C) from a sample brand. After generating the full HTML string, run a global replace in Python before writing the file:

# Replace all sample accent colors with the user's brand color
SAMPLE_ACCENTS = ["#6EE421", "#85F040", "#5BC01C", "#6ee421", "#85f040", "#5bc01c"]
for sample in SAMPLE_ACCENTS:
    html = html.replace(sample, brand["accent_color"])

This guarantees no one else's carousel ever shows your design's green.

Phase 4: Preview and Iterate

Show the carousel. Present a slide-by-slide summary. Ask if any slides need changes.

Phase 5: Export

Primary (Playwright — pixel-perfect): Run the Python export script from references/export-guide.md. Produces 1080x1350px PNG per slide.

Fallback (Browser): HTML file includes Export buttons using html2canvas + jsPDF.

Phase 6: Save and Suggest

1. Save to carousels/[year]/[month]/carousel-XX-topic.html
2. Suggest an Instagram caption with relevant hashtags
3. Present file path and next steps

Quality Checklist

Before presenting the carousel, verify:

• Brand config was read (not hardcoded values)
• Poppins font loads via Google Fonts CDN
• Every slide is exactly 420x525px — no responsive widths
• Slide count is 5-10 (ideally 7)
• Every slide readable in 3-4 seconds
• Hero slide has a scroll-stopping hook
• Profile header on every slide (photo or initials fallback)
• Progress bar on every slide
• Arrow indicator on every slide EXCEPT CTA
• Handle watermark on every slide
• CTA slide uses white/textured design
• Accent color used correctly throughout (not hardcoded green)
• Text sized correctly for style
• Visual effects applied correctly per style
• Navigation works (touch / mouse / keyboard)
• IG preview frame wraps carousel at exactly 420px
• PNG + PDF export buttons present and functional
• File saved to correct path
• Instagram caption suggested