Retro Halftone Poster

Retro Halftone Poster

Core Rule

For anything that involves generating or editing an image, first use the Image Gen skill. Do not replace image generation with SVG, HTML, or text-only instructions unless the user explicitly asks for a non-image artifact.

Use this skill to turn Chinese copy into a visual strategy and image prompt for a "retro newspaper / editorial risograph / halftone magazine quote poster" style. The skill is not merely "put text on a picture"; it translates copy into theme, emotion, metaphor, color, layout, and production style before calling Image Gen.

Workflow

1. Read the user's input and classify it:
   • quote or aphorism
   • brand concept or value statement
   • seasonal or solar-term content
   • product or collection knowledge
   • lifestyle or preservation advice
2. Extract:
   • core theme
   • emotional tone
   • implied tension or point of view
   • intended use, if known
3. Convert the text into visual language:
   • rational or restrained -> cool monochrome ink, spacious editorial layout
   • sharp or critical -> angular landscape, mountain ridges, precise linework
   • time, storage, preservation -> cellar, cabinet, archive, rings, vessels, patina
   • tea or calm cultivation -> misty mountains, tea steam, kiln texture, quiet table
   • cigar or wine -> aging room, wood grain, humidified cabinet, labels, glass reflection
   • long-termism or compounding -> mountain, ascent, strata, steps, accumulation
4. Build the poster system:
   • off-white or cream paper background
   • one dominant ink color, default Deep Teal
   • halftone dots, risograph grain, letterpress or old newspaper texture
   • left text / right image editorial split, unless user asks otherwise
   • large English editorial headline, smaller subtitle, Chinese main copy, short English footnote
   • restrained brackets, corner marks, small starburst, short rules, or dotted dividers
5. Create the Image Gen prompt using the template below.
6. After generation, inspect whether the result matches the intended style and whether text is usable.
7. Explain the design decisions briefly: theme, metaphor, color, layout, and risk notes.

Text Accuracy Policy

Chinese text inside generated images is risky. If the user needs a brand-ready commercial poster, prefer one of these:

• Generate a no-text or minimal-placeholder background, then tell the user to typeset the exact Chinese copy in Figma, Canva, PS, or another layout tool.
• If the user still wants text embedded by Image Gen, keep the Chinese copy short, line-broken, and quoted exactly. Warn that the image must be checked for wrong, missing, or distorted characters.

When exact Chinese is important, put this in the prompt:

All Chinese text must be copied exactly as provided. Do not invent, simplify, translate, misspell, distort, or add Chinese characters.

Prompt Template

Use this as the base Image Gen prompt and adapt only what the user's content requires:

Use case: ads-marketing
Asset type: retro editorial quote poster / brand knowledge card
Primary request: Create a refined retro newspaper and editorial risograph style poster from this Chinese copy:
"<exact Chinese copy>"

Concept translation:
- Core theme: <theme>
- Tone: <rational / calm / sharp / contemplative / premium / archival>
- Visual metaphor: <mountain / tea steam / cellar / cabinet / vessel / archive / strata / etc.>

Scene/backdrop:
Cream or warm off-white paper, subtle fiber texture, aged print surface, no glossy modern gradient.

Subject:
<main visual metaphor> rendered as monochrome halftone / engraving / risograph print, not photorealistic.

Style/medium:
Retro newspaper print, editorial magazine spread, letterpress, risograph grain, halftone dots, single-ink print.

Composition/framing:
Landscape poster, clean two-column editorial layout. Left side is text-led with generous negative space. Right side contains a large halftone illustration panel. Add restrained corner brackets, small starburst mark, short horizontal rule, and dotted divider.

Typography:
Large uppercase serif English headline: "<English headline>"
Small serif subtitle: "<English subtitle>"
Main Chinese copy in large refined Ming/Song style print typography, broken into elegant short lines.
Small English footnote: "<English footnote>"

Color palette:
Deep Teal ink on cream paper by default. Keep it mostly monochrome. Optional tiny accent only if needed.

Constraints:
Premium, quiet, knowledge-card feeling. Avoid commercial hard-sell, loud colors, stock-photo look, cartoon style, neon, glossy 3D, cluttered layout, and modern tech gradients.

Headline And Footnote Generation

Generate English support text from the theme, not literal translation.

Examples:

Style Definition

If the user asks "这是什么风格", describe it as:

复古报刊印刷风 / Editorial Risograph Poster Style.
也可以叫复古杂志内页 + 凸版印刷 + 半调网点海报风，或复古半调印刷风哲思海报。

Core features:

• one-color ink feeling, usually deep teal, navy, forest green, burgundy, or charcoal
• halftone dots and newspaper screen texture
• cream paper and tactile print grain
• editorial layout with English title, Chinese body, and English note
• philosophical, knowledge-card, independent-magazine mood
• small experimental symbols, brackets, misregistration-like details, and generous white space

Deliverable Shape

For generation tasks, return:

1. The image output from Image Gen.
2. A short design note in Chinese:
   • 文案主题
   • 视觉隐喻
   • 配色
   • 版式
   • 风格名
   • 中文文字是否需要人工复核

For analysis-only tasks, return the style name, visual features, and how to reproduce it as a prompt.

Avoid

• Do not make motivational corporate stock posters.
• Do not use busy collage, pure photo background, glossy product-ad style, or large decorative gradients.
• Do not overuse text. If the Chinese copy is long, summarize visually and recommend post-production typesetting.
• Do not claim generated Chinese text is accurate without inspecting it.