{
  "id": "signal-editorial",
  "name": "Signal Editorial",
  "category": "Editorial",
  "medium": "Digital collage",
  "best": [
    "Business analysis",
    "Trends",
    "Opinion columns"
  ],
  "description": "Generate coherent Signal Editorial editorial illustration sets using digital collage with confident visual direction. Use when illustrating articles, blogs, newsletters, essays, or social posts in this named style, or when the user asks for reusable, consistent visuals matching Signal Editorial.",
  "dna": "Bold contemporary magazine illustration using flat geometric framing, decisive cropping, and one editorial focal point.",
  "palette": [
    {
      "hex": "#eb5f4b",
      "use": "primary structure and focal subject"
    },
    {
      "hex": "#f5c752",
      "use": "supporting contrast and secondary forms"
    },
    {
      "hex": "#203653",
      "use": "accent for emphasis and directional cues"
    }
  ],
  "must": [
    "one dominant focal point",
    "clear foreground and background relationship",
    "bold crop or scale contrast",
    "limited palette",
    "editorial rather than advertising tone"
  ],
  "never": [
    "stock-photo collage",
    "corporate slide",
    "dashboard UI",
    "generic isometric office",
    "decorative gradients",
    "tiny repeated icons",
    "headline in a corner"
  ],
  "negatives": [
    "no stock photography",
    "no photorealistic faces",
    "no glossy advertising finish",
    "no presentation frame",
    "no dense text"
  ],
  "patterns": [
    {
      "name": "Focal metaphor",
      "best": "core argument, abstract concept",
      "how": "Build one dominant physical metaphor around the article's central relationship."
    },
    {
      "name": "Contrast",
      "best": "before and after, tradeoff, tension",
      "how": "Use two clearly different states joined by one meaningful transition."
    },
    {
      "name": "Process",
      "best": "workflow, cause and effect, transformation",
      "how": "Show only the essential stages and make the change itself visually dominant."
    },
    {
      "name": "System relationship",
      "best": "framework, network, components",
      "how": "Limit the system to three to five meaningful parts with an obvious hierarchy."
    },
    {
      "name": "Narrative scene",
      "best": "human consequence, decision, editorial tension",
      "how": "Stage one decisive moment rather than summarizing the whole article."
    }
  ],
  "objects": [
    "window",
    "signal tower",
    "lever",
    "bridge",
    "lens",
    "stage",
    "threshold",
    "stacked blocks",
    "cutaway room"
  ],
  "actions": [
    "crop",
    "reveal",
    "separate",
    "magnify",
    "balance",
    "connect",
    "interrupt",
    "redirect"
  ],
  "scaffold": "Generate one standalone 16:9 horizontal editorial illustration.\n\nVisual style: Bold contemporary magazine illustration using flat geometric framing, decisive cropping, and one editorial focal point.\nArticle theme: <theme>\nCore idea: <one relationship>\nStructure: <composition pattern>\nComposition: <framing, hierarchy, reading direction>\nElements: <only essential subjects and objects>\nLabels: <verbatim supplied labels or none>\nPalette: #eb5f4b, #f5c752, #203653\nConstraints: <must, never, and article-specific avoid list>",
  "qa": [
    "strong editorial hierarchy",
    "one visual thesis",
    "palette remains limited",
    "crop feels intentional",
    "readable at article width"
  ],
  "failures": [
    "looks like a banner ad",
    "too many equal elements",
    "weak focal point",
    "generic business clip art",
    "decorative color without meaning"
  ],
  "example": "assets/signal-editorial.webp",
  "guide": "# Signal Editorial style guide\n\n## Visual DNA\n\nBold contemporary magazine illustration using flat geometric framing, decisive cropping, and one editorial focal point.\n\n- Aspect ratio: 16:9 horizontal\n- Canvas: clean warm-white or one controlled flat color field; no decorative background clutter\n- Rendering language: crisp geometric silhouettes, confident blocks, selective cut-paper edges, and restrained editorial detail\n- Minimum whitespace: 22%\n- Maximum subject coverage: 72%\n- Typography: No headline inside the image; allow at most 3 short functional labels when the concept requires them.\n\n## Palette\n\n| Role | Color | Use |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Palette 1 | `#eb5f4b` | primary structure and focal subject |\n| Palette 2 | `#f5c752` | supporting contrast and secondary forms |\n| Palette 3 | `#203653` | accent for emphasis and directional cues |\n\n## Must\n\n- one dominant focal point\n- clear foreground and background relationship\n- bold crop or scale contrast\n- limited palette\n- editorial rather than advertising tone\n\n## Never\n\n- stock-photo collage\n- corporate slide\n- dashboard UI\n- generic isometric office\n- decorative gradients\n- tiny repeated icons\n- headline in a corner\n\n## Negative constraints\n\n- no stock photography\n- no photorealistic faces\n- no glossy advertising finish\n- no presentation frame\n- no dense text\n\n## Composition patterns\n\n### Focal metaphor\n\nBest for: core argument, abstract concept.\n\nBuild one dominant physical metaphor around the article's central relationship.\n\n### Contrast\n\nBest for: before and after, tradeoff, tension.\n\nUse two clearly different states joined by one meaningful transition.\n\n### Process\n\nBest for: workflow, cause and effect, transformation.\n\nShow only the essential stages and make the change itself visually dominant.\n\n### System relationship\n\nBest for: framework, network, components.\n\nLimit the system to three to five meaningful parts with an obvious hierarchy.\n\n### Narrative scene\n\nBest for: human consequence, decision, editorial tension.\n\nStage one decisive moment rather than summarizing the whole article.\n\n## Metaphor method\n\n1. Translate the abstract relationship into a physical arrangement.\n2. Choose one object family suited to the visual medium.\n3. Make the decisive change visible without relying on a headline.\n\nObject pool:\n\n- window\n- signal tower\n- lever\n- bridge\n- lens\n- stage\n- threshold\n- stacked blocks\n- cutaway room\n\nAction pool:\n\n- crop\n- reveal\n- separate\n- magnify\n- balance\n- connect\n- interrupt\n- redirect\n\nAnti-repetition:\n\n- Change both the main object and the spatial arrangement between illustrations.\n- Do not repeat the same composition pattern consecutively.\n- Derive metaphors from the current article rather than a stock visual library.\n\n## Prompt scaffold\n\n```text\nGenerate one standalone 16:9 horizontal editorial illustration.\n\nVisual style: Bold contemporary magazine illustration using flat geometric framing, decisive cropping, and one editorial focal point.\nArticle theme: <theme>\nCore idea: <one relationship>\nStructure: <composition pattern>\nComposition: <framing, hierarchy, reading direction>\nElements: <only essential subjects and objects>\nLabels: <verbatim supplied labels or none>\nPalette: #eb5f4b, #f5c752, #203653\nConstraints: <must, never, and article-specific avoid list>\n```\n\n## QA checklist\n\n- strong editorial hierarchy\n- one visual thesis\n- palette remains limited\n- crop feels intentional\n- readable at article width\n\nFailure signals:\n\n- looks like a banner ad\n- too many equal elements\n- weak focal point\n- generic business clip art\n- decorative color without meaning\n",
  "example_image": "https://illustration-desk.skillsafe.ai/assets/signal-editorial.webp",
  "style_guide_chars": 3599
}