# Art Director

> Manual-only visual exploration before implementation. Invoke explicitly to explore and choose interface, product, campaign, or brand directions using imagegen, optional brandkit proof, and one-question-at-a-time intake.

- Skill: `hcaiano/art-director` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add hcaiano/art-director`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/hcaiano/art-director/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: hcaiano (https://skillmd.com/u/hcaiano)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/hcaiano/art-director

---


# Art Director

Explore visual directions, curate them with the user, and converge on one
defensible choice. Do not implement the product while this skill is active.

## Compose, do not copy

- Read and use `imagegen` for every generated concept. Its generation, editing,
  validation, and save-path rules own the image work.
- For a brand or identity exploration, read `brandkit` only after a direction
  has earned a system proof. Do not generate a brand board for every early idea.
- Run intake as a grilling conversation: investigate facts yourself, ask
  decisions one at a time, include your recommended answer, and wait for the
  user's reply. No separate intake skill is required.
- If the current runtime cannot generate images, use `pair` to give a
  Codex peer the generation brief. When image generation is available directly,
  Herdr is unnecessary.
- Obey the current project's agent, product, brand, and design-system
  instructions.

## Workflow

1. **Inspect.** Determine whether this is blank-slate or constrained by an
   existing brand. Read available references, product context, design tokens,
   and existing surfaces before asking questions.
2. **Intake.** Resolve the audience, surface, communication goal, required
   content, format, references, anti-references, hard brand constraints, and
   decision deadline. Ask only what materially changes the exploration.
3. **Frame directions.** Name three to five concrete visual premises. Each
   direction needs a different underlying rule for composition, hierarchy,
   imagery, and mood. "More options" is not a direction.
4. **Generate breadth.** Use one `imagegen` call per direction. Keep the
   functional content and format constant so the visual ideas are comparable.
   Preserve an established identity; for blank-slate work, explore a genuine
   range. Keep the exact prompt for every output.
5. **Curate.** Inspect every image. Identify it by filename or stable ID and
   explain what works, what fails, and which reusable trait it contributes.
   Maintain a shortlist and a rejected-pattern list. Ask the user for the next
   decision one question at a time.
6. **Refine.** Generate two or three variants of the strongest direction.
   Change one named trait at a time instead of remixing everything.
7. **Prove the system.** Stress-test the winner on an adjacent page, state, or
   asset. For identity work, use `brandkit` to create one coherent system board
   from the selected direction.
8. **Hand off.** Return the selected asset paths, exact prompts, visual rules,
   rejected patterns, and remaining trade-offs. Save project-bound outputs in
   the workspace according to `imagegen`; preview-only outputs may remain
   inline.

## Stop condition

Stop when the user has selected a direction and it survives one relevant system
proof. Do not start an unattended loop, create arbitrary batches of dozens of
images, or create persistent `BRIEF.md` or curation files unless the user asks
for them or the exploration belongs in the project.