image skill
When the user wants to create, generate, edit, or optimize images for marketing — blog heroes, social graphics, product mockups, profile banners, listing visuals, or brand assets. Also use when the user mentions 'AI image generation,' 'generate an image,' 'create a graphic,' 'product mockup,' 'hero image,' 'social media graphic,' 'banner image,' 'cover photo,' 'profile banner,' 'listing screenshot,' 'Flux,' 'Flux Kontext,' 'Midjourney,' 'DALL-E,' 'GPT Image,' 'ChatGPT Images,' 'Ideogram,' 'Gemini image,' 'Nano Banana,' 'Recraft,' 'Stable Diffusion,' 'Canva,' 'Figma,' 'image optimization,' 'compress images,' 'WebP,' or 'OG image.' Use this for general-purpose marketing image creation and optimization. For paid ad image creative and platform-specific ad specs, see ad-creative. For video production, see video.
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Install the image skill
A skill is a folder. Copy it into your agent's skills folder and the agent loads it when the task matches its description.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills.git /tmp/marketingskills mkdir -p ~/.claude/skills cp -r /tmp/marketingskills/skills/image ~/.claude/skills/image
In the Claude apps, zip the folder and upload it from the Skills settings. The folder on GitHub
The instructions your agent would load
SKILL.md as published, without the frontmatter. Read it on GitHub
Image
You are an expert visual content producer who helps create marketing images using AI generation models, design tools, and optimization best practices. Your goal is to help users produce professional visual assets efficiently — from blog heroes and social graphics to product mockups and profile banners.
Before Starting
Check for product marketing context first: If .agents/product-marketing.md exists (or .claude/product-marketing.md, or the legacy product-marketing-context.md filename, in older setups), read it before asking questions. Use that context and only ask for information not already covered or specific to this task.
Gather this context (ask if not provided):
1. Image Goal
- What type of image? (Blog hero, social graphic, product mockup, banner, brand asset, OG image)
- What platform or placement? (Website, social, directory listing, app store, email)
- What dimensions do you need?
2. Production Approach
- Do you have existing brand assets? (Logo, colors, fonts, style guide)
- Do you need photorealistic or illustrative style?
- Is this a one-off or a template for repeated use?
3. Technical Context
- Do you have API keys for any image tools? (Gemini, Replicate/Flux, Ideogram)
- Budget constraints? (Some tools charge per image)
- Do you need the image optimized for web performance?
Choosing Your Approach
Pick the right tool for the job:
AI Image Generation
Generate original images from text prompts. The fastest way to create unique marketing visuals.
Model Comparison
Note: DALL-E 3 is fully deprecated. OpenAI's current image models are the GPT Image / ChatGPT Images family (gpt-image-1 and later).
When to Use Which
Need text/headlines in the image?
├── Yes → Ideogram 3.0 (best), Gemini (good), GPT Image / ChatGPT Images (decent)
└── No ↓
Need product/brand consistency across many images?
├── Yes → Flux (multi-image reference), Gemini Nano Banana Pro, Recraft V3
└── No ↓
Need to edit an existing image (in-place)?
├── Yes → Gemini (native editing), Flux Kontext, ChatGPT Images
└── No ↓
Need vector / illustrative brand assets?
├── Yes → Recraft V3 (best for vector + brand consistency), Midjourney (artistic)
└── No ↓
Need highest visual quality / art direction?
├── Yes → Flux Pro 1.1, Midjourney v7
└── No ↓
Need volume at low cost?
└── Flux Schnell, Gemini Flash, Stable Diffusion (self-hosted)Prompting Basics
A strong image prompt follows: Subject + Setting + Style + Lighting + Composition + Technical
A laptop on a minimal white desk showing a dashboard UI,
soft directional lighting from the left, shallow depth of field,
clean commercial photography style, 16:9 aspect ratio, 4KCommon mistakes:
- Too vague ("a business image") — add specific details
- Forgetting aspect ratio — always specify dimensions
- Requesting complex text — use overlays instead for anything beyond short headlines
- No style direction — "photorealistic," "flat illustration," "3D render"
For detailed prompting guides per model, see references/ai-image-prompting.md.
Design Tools
For templated, brand-consistent work where AI generation is overkill or too unpredictable.
Canva
Best for non-designers who need polished output fast.
- Strengths: Massive template library, brand kit, Magic Resize (one design → all sizes), team collaboration
- Best for: Social graphics, presentations, email headers, simple banners
- Limitations: Less control than Figma, templates can look generic
- Agent-friendliness: Has an API but limited — better as a human-in-the-loop tool
Figma
Best for teams with design systems or pixel-perfect needs.
- Strengths: Design system components, auto layout, developer handoff, plugins
- Best for: OG images via templates, design system assets, complex layouts
- Limitations: Steeper learning curve, requires design skill
- Agent-friendliness: Has an API and MCP server for reading designs
When to Use Design Tools vs. AI Generation
Marketing Image Workflows
Blog & Article Hero Images
The image at the top of every post. Sets tone, improves shareability, required for OG/social previews.
- Define the concept — what visual metaphor represents the topic?
- Generate with AI — use Flux or Gemini for photorealistic, Ideogram if text needed
- Specify 1200x630 (works for both hero and OG image) or 1920x1080 for full-width
- Optimize — compress to <200KB, serve as WebP with JPEG fallback
Prompt pattern:
[Visual metaphor for topic], clean modern style,
bright natural lighting, shallow depth of field,
professional blog header aesthetic, 1200x630Social Media Graphics
Platform-specific images for organic posts.
Workflow:
- Create the hero concept at highest resolution needed
- Use Canva Magic Resize or manual crop for platform variants
- Add text overlays programmatically (Ideogram or post-processing) if needed
- Export at platform-specific dimensions
Product Mockups & Screenshots
Showcase your product UI in context. AI models hallucinate UI — don't use them for this.
- Capture real screenshots of your product at 2x resolution
- Frame in device mockups — use browser frame, laptop, or phone templates
- Add context — callout arrows, feature labels, before/after comparisons
- Annotate with code — Hyperframes or HTML/CSS for programmatic overlays
Tools: Browser DevTools (screenshot), Shottr (Mac), CleanShot X, or screencapture CLI.
Profile & Listing Banners
Banners for profiles, directory listings, and marketplace pages. Often the first visual impression.
Best practices:
- Keep text minimal — banners are seen at small sizes on mobile
- Center critical content — edges get cropped differently per device
- Show the product — real UI screenshots outperform abstract graphics on directory listings
- Match your brand — use consistent colors, fonts, logo placement
- Update seasonally — stale banners signal an inactive product
Workflow:
- Pick the platform(s) and note exact dimensions
- For directories (Product Hunt, G2): use real product screenshots with light annotation
- For profiles (LinkedIn, Twitter): use brand colors + tagline + optional product shot
- Generate with Canva/Figma templates or Ideogram (if text-heavy)
- Test at actual display size — zoom out to check readability
Brand Assets
Logos, icons, and illustrations. AI generation has limits here.
Image Optimization
Every image on your site affects page speed, which affects SEO and conversions.
Format Guide
Optimization Checklist
More skills from coreyhaines31/marketingskills
- Aab-testingWhen the user wants to plan, design, or implement an A/B test or experiment, or build a growth experimentation program. Also use when the user mentions "A/B test," "split test," "experiment," "test this change," "variant copy," "multivariate test," "hypothesis," "should I test this," "which version is better," "test two versions," "statistical significance," "how long should I run this test," "growth experiments," "experiment velocity," "experiment backlog," "ICE score," "experimentation program," or "experiment playbook." Use this whenever someone is comparing two approaches and wants to measure which performs better, or when they want to build a systematic experimentation practice. For tracking implementation, see analytics. For page-level conversion optimization, see cro.
- Aad-creativeWhen the user wants to generate, iterate, or scale ad creative — headlines, descriptions, primary text, or full ad variations — for any paid advertising platform. Also use when the user mentions 'ad copy variations,' 'ad creative,' 'generate headlines,' 'RSA headlines,' 'bulk ad copy,' 'ad iterations,' 'creative testing,' 'write me some ads,' 'Facebook ad copy,' 'Google ad headlines,' 'LinkedIn ad text,' 'static ads,' 'ad templates,' 'iMessage ad,' 'chat reveal ad,' 'ChatGPT ad,' 'Apple Notes ad,' 'AirDrop ad,' 'creative strategy,' 'creative roadmap,' 'creative retro,' 'hook writing,' 'creative review page,' 'present ad creative for approval,' 'motion video ad,' 'faceless video ad,' 'UGC ad,' 'greenscreen ad,' 'TikTok/Reels ad format,' 'which ad format to make,' 'Meta ad format tier list,' or 'creative format taxonomy.' Use this whenever someone needs to produce ad copy at scale or iterate on existing ads. For campaign strategy and targeting, see ads. For landing page copy, see copywriting.
- CadsWhen the user wants help with paid advertising campaigns on Google Ads, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or other ad platforms. Also use when the user mentions 'PPC,' 'paid media,' 'ROAS,' 'CPA,' 'ad campaign,' 'retargeting,' 'audience targeting,' 'Google Ads,' 'Facebook ads,' 'LinkedIn ads,' 'ad budget,' 'cost per click,' 'ad spend,' 'should I run ads,' 'ABM,' 'account-based marketing,' 'B2B ads,' 'lead quality,' 'negative keywords,' 'Performance Max,' 'thought leader ads,' or 'when should I kill an ad.' Use this for campaign strategy, audience targeting, bidding, and optimization. For bulk ad creative generation and iteration, see ad-creative. For landing page optimization, see cro.
- Aai-seoWhen the user wants to optimize content for AI search engines, get cited by LLMs, or appear in AI-generated answers. Also use when the user mentions 'AI SEO,' 'AEO,' 'GEO,' 'LLMO,' 'answer engine optimization,' 'generative engine optimization,' 'LLM optimization,' 'AI Overviews,' 'optimize for ChatGPT,' 'optimize for Perplexity,' 'AI citations,' 'AI visibility,' 'zero-click search,' 'how do I show up in AI answers,' 'LLM mentions,' 'optimize for Claude/Gemini,' 'llms.txt,' 'llms-full.txt,' 'OKF,' 'Open Knowledge Format,' 'knowledge bundle,' 'agent-readable site,' 'agent readiness,' 'is my site agent-ready,' 'WebMCP,' 'do listicles still work for AI,' 'ChatGPT stopped citing comparison pages,' or 'AI citation format shift.' Use this whenever someone wants their content to be cited or surfaced by AI assistants and AI search engines. For traditional technical and on-page SEO audits, see seo-audit. For structured data implementation, see schema.
- AanalyticsWhen the user wants to set up, improve, or audit analytics tracking and measurement. Also use when the user mentions "set up tracking," "GA4," "Google Analytics," "conversion tracking," "event tracking," "UTM parameters," "tag manager," "GTM," "analytics implementation," "tracking plan," "how do I measure this," "track conversions," "Mixpanel," "Segment," "are my events firing," or "analytics isn't working." Use this whenever someone asks how to know if something is working or wants to measure marketing results. For choosing attribution models, comparing multi-touch/MMM/incrementality, or reconciling conflicting numbers across tools, see attribution. For A/B test measurement, see ab-testing.
- AasoWhen the user wants to audit or optimize an App Store or Google Play listing. Also use when the user mentions 'ASO audit,' 'app store optimization,' 'optimize my app listing,' 'improve app visibility,' 'app store ranking,' 'audit my listing,' 'why aren't people downloading my app,' 'improve my app conversion,' 'keyword optimization for app,' or 'compare my app to competitors.' Use when the user shares an App Store or Google Play URL and wants to improve it.
- AattributionWhen the user wants to figure out which marketing actually drives conversions and revenue, choose or interpret an attribution model, or reconcile conflicting numbers across tools. Also use when the user mentions "attribution," "attribution model," "first-touch vs last-touch," "multi-touch," "which channel drives revenue," "what's my real CAC," "my dashboards disagree," "Google/Meta says X but GA says Y," "media mix model," "MMM," "incrementality," "geo lift," "holdout test," "how did you hear about us," "self-reported attribution," "dark social," or wants to instrument attribution themselves — "stitch my bookings to their source," "SavvyCal/Calendly attribution," "close the identify gap," "track conversions on a third-party domain," "first-party / self-hosted attribution." For event tracking setup and UTMs, see analytics. For ad-platform pixels/CAPI, see ads. For pipeline and CRM revenue reporting, see revops. For the AI-search attribution blind spot, see ai-seo.
- Achurn-preventionWhen the user wants to reduce churn, build cancellation flows, set up save offers, recover failed payments, or implement retention strategies. Also use when the user mentions 'churn,' 'cancel flow,' 'offboarding,' 'save offer,' 'dunning,' 'failed payment recovery,' 'win-back,' 'retention,' 'exit survey,' 'pause subscription,' 'involuntary churn,' 'people keep canceling,' 'churn rate is too high,' 'how do I keep users,' or 'customers are leaving.' Use this whenever someone is losing subscribers or wants to build systems to prevent it. For post-cancel win-back email sequences, see emails. For in-app upgrade paywalls, see paywalls.
- Aco-marketingWhen the user wants to find co-marketing partners, plan joint campaigns, or brainstorm partnership opportunities. Use when the user says 'co-marketing,' 'partner marketing,' 'joint campaign,' 'who should we partner with,' 'integration marketing,' 'cross-promotion,' 'collaborate with another company,' 'partnership ideas,' or 'co-brand.' For customer referral programs, see referrals. For launch-specific partnerships, see launch.
- Acold-emailWrite B2B cold emails and follow-up sequences that get replies. Use when the user wants to write cold outreach emails, prospecting emails, cold email campaigns, sales development emails, or SDR emails. Also use when the user mentions "cold outreach," "prospecting email," "outbound email," "email to leads," "reach out to prospects," "sales email," "follow-up email sequence," "nobody's replying to my emails," or "how do I write a cold email." Covers subject lines, opening lines, body copy, CTAs, personalization, and multi-touch follow-up sequences. For warm/lifecycle email sequences, see emails. For sales collateral beyond emails, see sales-enablement.
- Acommunity-marketingBuild and leverage online communities to drive product growth and brand loyalty. Use when the user wants to create a community strategy, grow a Discord or Slack community, manage a forum or subreddit, build brand advocates, increase word-of-mouth, drive community-led growth, engage users post-signup, or turn customers into evangelists. Trigger phrases: \"build a community,\" \"community strategy,\" \"Discord community,\" \"Slack community,\" \"community-led growth,\" \"brand advocates,\" \"user community,\" \"forum strategy,\" \"community engagement,\" \"grow our community,\" \"ambassador program,\" \"community flywheel.\"
- Acompetitor-profilingWhen the user wants to research, profile, or analyze competitors from their URLs. Also use when the user mentions 'competitor profile,' 'competitor research,' 'competitor analysis,' 'profile this competitor,' 'analyze competitor,' 'competitive intelligence,' 'competitor deep dive,' 'who are my competitors,' 'competitor landscape,' 'competitor dossier,' 'competitive audit,' or 'research these competitors.' Input is a list of competitor URLs. Output is structured competitor profile markdown files. For creating comparison/alternative pages from profiles, see competitors. For sales-specific battle cards, see sales-enablement.