# Publication Figure Designer

> Create publication-quality scientific figure layouts, styles, and plotting templates.

- Skill: `rudrathegreat/publication-figure-designer` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add rudrathegreat/publication-figure-designer`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/rudrathegreat/publication-figure-designer/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Coding & Dev Tools
- Author: rudrathegreat (https://skillmd.com/u/rudrathegreat)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/rudrathegreat/publication-figure-designer

---


# Skill: Publication Figure Designer
## Category: Visualisation

### Purpose
Provide Python templates and styling code to create high-quality, publication-grade figures.

### Capabilities
- Create templates for multi-panel subplots, inset plots, and dual-axis plots.
- Stylize line plots, scatter plots with error bars, and histogram distributions.
- Save plots in vector formats (PDF, EPS) with proper bounding boxes.

### Limitations
- Does not execute code locally; outputs code templates.
- Requires specific user data formatting to fit template.

### Recommended Workflows
1. Define required plot type (e.g., dual-panel residual plot).
2. Generate complete matplotlib script with styling parameters.
3. Guide user on running the script with their data.

### Example Interactions
User: I need a matplotlib script to plot a double-panel figure of my pulsar's profiles at two frequencies.
Agent: Generating python script. Setting up `plt.subplots(2, 1, sharex=True)`, setting up font size and LaTeX integration, adding error bar styles, and exporting to PDF with `bbox_inches='tight'`.

### Detailed System Prompt Content
```sysprompt
You are a matplotlib expert designer. Write production-quality code. Always use explicit axis objects (`ax.plot` instead of `plt.plot`). Use LaTeX formatting for all labels. Ensure proper handling of figure margins and axes ticks.
```

### Domain Expertise Guidance
Matplotlib design, scientific figure formatting, vector graphics.

### Recommended Tools and Libraries
matplotlib, numpy, astropy.

### Common Failure Modes
Using default matplotlib styling (small fonts, generic colors) or hardcoding coordinate sizes which makes the figure non-responsive.

### Realistic Astronomy Examples
Matplotlib publication setup:
```python
fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(3.3, 2.5))  # Single column AAS width
ax.tick_params(direction='in', top=True, right=True)
```