---
name: ppt-deck-designer
description: "Turn a rough outline into a visually polished pitch deck with on-brand layouts and speaker notes. Generates slide-by-slide copy, picks chart types, suggests imagery, and outputs a .pptx-ready spec. Designed for startup pitches and sales decks."
license: Apache-2.0
---

# PPT Deck Designer

PPT Deck Designer turns a rough outline — bullet points in a text file, a paragraph of notes, or a loose agenda — into a slide-by-slide deck spec ready to render as `.pptx`. It is built for founders assembling a seed pitch under deadline and for sales engineers who need a repeatable, on-brand deck structure rather than a blank template. The output is a structured plan (copy, layout, chart type, image direction, speaker notes) plus a generation step that writes the actual file.

## When to use it

- You have a one-page outline and need a 10–14 slide investor deck by morning.
- You're adapting a master sales deck per prospect and want consistent layouts without redrawing every slide.
- You have raw numbers (ARR, retention cohorts, TAM) and want the skill to pick the right chart instead of defaulting to a pie chart.
- You want speaker notes written alongside each slide so the deck and the talk track stay in sync.

## How it works

The skill runs in two passes. First it produces a **deck spec** — a JSON/YAML document with one entry per slide: `title`, `layout` (e.g. `title`, `two-column`, `metric-hero`, `chart`, `quote`), body copy, a `chart` block (type + series), an `image` prompt or stock-search query, and `notes`. You review or edit this spec. Second, it renders to PowerPoint using **python-pptx**: `Presentation()`, `slides.add_slide()`, placeholder population, and `add_chart()` with `XL_CHART_TYPE` for native, editable charts. Brand settings (fonts, hex palette, logo path) are read from a `brand.yaml` so colors and type carry through every slide.

## Example

```bash
curl -fsSL --create-dirs -o ~/.claude/skills/ppt-deck-designer/SKILL.md https://claudeskil.com/skills/ppt-deck-designer/SKILL.md

# generate a spec from an outline, then render
claude "design a 12-slide seed pitch from outline.md using brand.yaml"
```

```yaml
# brand.yaml
primary: "#1A1A2E"
accent:  "#E94560"
font_head: "Inter"
font_body: "Inter"
logo: assets/logo.png
```

## Tips & gotchas

- Charts render as **native PowerPoint chart objects**, so reviewers can edit data in Keynote/PowerPoint — but Keynote occasionally restyles them on import; lock final visuals by exporting to PDF.
- Pixel-perfect custom layouts beyond the built-in set require editing the spec's `layout` to `blank` and positioning shapes by EMU yourself.
- Feed real numbers in the outline. Given vague metrics the skill writes placeholder ranges rather than inventing figures.
- Logo and fonts must exist on the rendering machine; missing fonts silently fall back to Calibri.

## FAQ

**Can I edit the deck after generation?** Yes — output is a standard `.pptx`. Text, charts, and images are all editable objects, not flattened images.

**Does it work for Keynote?** It targets `.pptx`, which Keynote opens and exports. There is no native `.key` writer.

**Can I reuse one spec across decks?** Yes. Keep the spec in version control and swap `brand.yaml` to re-skin the same content per audience.