ckm:banner-design

Overview of ckm:banner-design skill

What ckm:banner-design skill is for

ckm:banner-design is a focused design skill for creating banners, headers, covers, display ads, website hero graphics, and print banner concepts. Its value is not just “make a banner,” but turning a vague campaign request into a structured banner brief with size awareness, content hierarchy, style direction, and AI-assisted visual exploration.

Who should install it

This skill is best for people who regularly need marketing or UI-facing banner assets:

• UI and product designers creating hero or promo graphics
• marketers producing social and ad creatives
• founders who need fast campaign visuals without starting from a blank page
• AI-assisted design users who want better structure than a generic image prompt

If you mainly need full landing page design, video creatives, or print production specs, this is not the right primary skill.

The real job-to-be-done

Most users do not struggle with “having an idea.” They struggle with converting that idea into a banner that fits a platform, respects visual hierarchy, and gives enough direction for good AI output. ckm:banner-design helps by asking for the right inputs first: purpose, platform or dimensions, text content, brand guidance, style preference, imagery direction, and output format.

What makes it different from a normal prompt

A normal prompt often skips the practical decisions that determine whether a banner is usable. This skill is stronger when you need:

• platform-specific sizes
• multiple art direction options
• clearer separation between headline, subtext, CTA, and imagery
• guided style selection across common banner aesthetics
• a reusable workflow instead of one-off prompting

Best fit for UI design work

ckm:banner-design for UI Design is especially useful when a banner must sit inside a product, website, or campaign system rather than exist as a standalone image. The repository also references adjacent design skills, which suggests it fits best in a broader UI/UX workflow where banners need to align with interface or brand decisions.

What to check before adopting

The skill appears lightweight and practical, with its core logic in SKILL.md and one useful support file at references/banner-sizes-and-styles.md. That means adoption is easy, but you should expect prompt-and-process guidance more than automation, templates, or scripts. Install it if you want a reliable banner design workflow; skip it if you are looking for coded generation pipelines or production export tooling.

How to Use ckm:banner-design skill

Install context for ckm:banner-design install

The skill lives inside the nextlevelbuilder/ui-ux-pro-max-skill repository under .claude/skills/banner-design. If your skills tool supports remote GitHub installs by repo and skill name, use your normal install flow against that repository and target the banner-design skill specifically. After install, open:

• SKILL.md
• references/banner-sizes-and-styles.md

Those two files contain most of the practical value.

Read these files first

Start with SKILL.md to understand activation and workflow. Then read references/banner-sizes-and-styles.md for two things that materially improve output quality:

• ready-to-use dimensions by platform
• a menu of art direction styles you can name explicitly

This is one of those skills where the reference file is not optional if you want usable output quickly.

What input the skill needs

For strong ckm:banner-design usage, give the model these inputs up front:

• banner purpose
• platform or exact dimensions
• audience
• headline and supporting copy
• CTA text
• brand colors, fonts, logo rules
• preferred style
• desired imagery
• output type: concept directions, prompt set, layout guidance, or final creative spec

If any of those are missing, the skill can still work, but the output usually becomes generic.

Turn a rough request into a complete brief

Weak request:

• “Make me a banner for our new product.”

Stronger request:

• “Use ckm:banner-design to create 3 banner directions for a SaaS analytics launch. Platform: LinkedIn company cover and website hero. Headline: ‘See Product Health in Real Time.’ Subtext: ‘Unified analytics for product, support, and revenue teams.’ CTA: ‘Book a demo.’ Brand: deep navy, cyan accent, clean sans-serif, modern B2B. Style: editorial-tech, minimal, data-centric. Imagery: dashboard fragments, abstract data glow, no cheesy stock-photo people.”

The stronger version gives the skill enough structure to produce options you can actually choose between.

Include dimensions early

Banner quality often fails because sizing is treated as an afterthought. The reference file includes platform sizes such as:

• 1500 × 500 for Twitter/X header
• 1128 × 191 for LinkedIn company cover
• 2560 × 1440 for YouTube channel art with safe area notes
• common Google Display sizes like 300 × 250, 728 × 90, and 970 × 250

Use exact dimensions whenever possible. If you need responsive adaptation, say which format is primary and which versions should be derived from it.

Ask for multiple directions, not one

The skill is built around producing multiple art directions. In practice, ask for 3 distinct routes rather than a single answer:

1. conservative brand-safe option
2. high-impact campaign option
3. experimental or premium option

This improves decision quality and reduces the common failure mode where the first concept is technically correct but creatively flat.

Use named styles from the reference

The repository includes a style list covering options like minimalist, gradient, bold typography, photo-based, illustrated, geometric, retro, glassmorphism, 3D, neon, duotone, editorial, and collage. Instead of saying “make it cool,” specify a style family and what that means for layout.

Example:

• “Use bold typography with geometric accents and restrained gradients.”
• “Create an editorial style with strong crop framing and high text contrast.”
• “Use glassmorphism only if readability stays strong at small ad sizes.”

Suggested ckm:banner-design usage workflow

A practical workflow:

1. Define platform and dimensions.
2. Lock message hierarchy: headline, subtext, CTA.
3. Pick 2 to 3 styles from the reference file.
4. Ask the skill for multiple directions.
5. Review for readability at actual target size.
6. Refine one chosen direction with stronger brand and imagery constraints.
7. Only then generate production-ready variants.

This order matters. If you generate visuals before hierarchy and size are clear, you usually spend extra rounds fixing avoidable issues.

Prompt pattern that works well

Use a structure like this:

• Objective
• Platform and dimensions
• Audience
• Copy block
• Brand rules
• Visual style
• Imagery constraints
• Number of concepts
• Deliverable format

Example:
“Use ckm:banner-design skill to create 3 concept directions for a 970 × 250 billboard ad. Audience: SMB ecommerce teams. Headline: ‘Launch Better Promotions Faster.’ CTA: ‘Start free.’ Brand: black, electric blue, white; modern sans-serif; crisp product-led visuals. Style options: minimal tech, duotone editorial, geometric motion. Avoid clutter and avoid tiny text. Output: concept summaries, layout rationale, and AI image prompt suggestions.”

Practical tips that affect output quality

Small prompt changes matter a lot:

• Say where the logo should go.
• Say whether people should appear in the visual.
• State if text must remain editable and not embedded in generated imagery.
• Mention safe areas for platforms like YouTube.
• Tell the model which element is most important: text, product, offer, or mood.

These constraints prevent attractive but unusable concepts.

When to use it with other design skills

The skill description references ui-ux-pro-max, frontend-design, ai-artist, and ai-multimodal. In practice, ckm:banner-design guide is strongest when paired with:

• a UI skill for surrounding layout or hero-section integration
• an image-generation skill for creating source visuals
• a frontend skill if the final output becomes a coded website hero

Use ckm:banner-design for banner thinking and concept structure, then hand off downstream work to the more specialized skill.

ckm:banner-design skill FAQ

Is ckm:banner-design skill good for beginners?

Yes, if you can provide the content and business goal. The workflow is explicit enough for non-designers, especially because it starts with requirement gathering instead of aesthetic guesswork. Beginners benefit most when they use the size reference file and ask for 2 to 3 clearly different concepts.

What does it not cover?

It does not handle video editing, full website design, or print production. It can help concept a print banner, but it is not a substitute for production-ready prepress setup, bleed handling, or vendor-specific export requirements.

Is it better than a generic banner prompt?

Usually yes for repeatable work. The gain comes from structure: platform sizing, art direction choices, and content hierarchy. If you only need a throwaway concept image, a generic prompt may be enough. If you need assets that map to real placements, this skill is more reliable.

Can I use ckm:banner-design for UI Design teams?

Yes. It is useful for hero banners, in-product promos, campaign strips, and launch visuals that must fit product or web surfaces. It is less suitable for complete page systems where layout, interaction, and code implementation are the main tasks.

Does it include ready-made templates?

Not really. The repository evidence points to process guidance and a size/style reference, not editable design files, scripts, or template packs. Install it for decision support and prompting quality, not for drag-and-drop assets.

When should I not use this skill?

Skip ckm:banner-design if:

• you need only raw image generation with no messaging structure
• you need full brand identity work
• you need export automation or production specs
• your task is actually a landing page, video ad, or long-form creative system

How to Improve ckm:banner-design skill

Give stronger inputs than “make it modern”

The biggest improvement lever is specificity. Replace vague style words with constraints tied to layout and audience.

Weak:

• “Modern, clean, premium.”

Better:

• “Minimal B2B tech style, strong left-aligned headline block, dark background, cyan accent, subtle data-grid motif, high contrast, no decorative clutter.”

The better version tells the skill what the design should do, not just how it should feel.

Prioritize hierarchy before aesthetics

Users care most about whether the banner communicates fast. Improve results by ranking elements:

1. primary message
2. CTA
3. brand mark
4. supporting imagery
5. background treatment

If you do not set hierarchy, the model may over-index on visuals and under-serve the business goal.

Choose one primary size first

For multi-format campaigns, start with one anchor size and adapt later. A 1920 × 600 website hero and a 300 × 250 display ad cannot carry the same composition. Tell ckm:banner-design which format should lead the concept so it does not produce a compromise that fits none of them well.

Prevent common failure modes

Common weak outputs include:

• too much copy for the canvas
• unreadable text over busy visuals
• style mismatch with brand tone
• no focal point
• concepts that ignore safe areas or crop behavior

You can prevent most of these by specifying:

• max text amount
• preferred text region
• visual density
• image subject
• crop-sensitive zones

Ask for rationale, not just outputs

A high-value way to improve ckm:banner-design skill results is to ask the model to explain each concept in terms of:

• message hierarchy
• why the style fits the audience
• where the CTA should sit
• what may break at smaller sizes

That explanation helps you reject weak routes faster and refine the right one intelligently.

Iterate from one chosen direction

After the first pass, do not ask for “more options” blindly. Pick one route and refine it with targeted edits:

• simplify background
• increase headline prominence
• reduce subtext
• swap image direction
• make CTA more visible
• adapt for a narrower crop

This produces better second-round results than restarting from scratch.

Use the reference file as a prompt ingredient

The repository's best support asset is references/banner-sizes-and-styles.md. Pull exact sizes and style names into your prompt. That simple move reduces ambiguity and increases the chance that ckm:banner-design usage produces something deployment-ready rather than merely inspirational.

Improve cross-platform consistency

If you need a campaign set, say which elements must remain constant across variants:

• headline
• art direction
• color treatment
• subject matter
• CTA language

Then specify what can change:

• crop
• text length
• element ordering
• background detail

This keeps a family resemblance while respecting different placements.

Build better prompts for brand-sensitive work

For branded output, include:

• hex colors
• font category or exact font
• logo usage rules
• banned motifs
• competitor styles to avoid
• examples of “on-brand” and “off-brand”

The skill becomes much more useful when it can design within real brand boundaries instead of inventing them.

Improve final handoff quality

If the output will go to a designer or another tool, ask for the result in a handoff-friendly form:

• concept name
• one-sentence strategy
• layout description
• size-specific notes
• image prompt
• copy placement notes
• adaptation notes for secondary formats

That turns ckm:banner-design guide from a creative brainstorm into a usable production brief.