Mono-Color Editorial Print Skill

Turn any user theme, sentence, or reference photo into an original printed editorial artifact with one stable visual language: adaptive neutral substrate + one or two inks + mechanically reproduced image + typographic tension + concise human voice.

This skill designs and generates the image; it does not imitate any one reference, copy a source composition, wording, logo, or artwork, and it never uses more than two printing inks.

When to Use

The user asks for a monochrome editorial poster, duotone print, risograph/zine poster, halftone photo treatment, one-ink or two-ink cover, or names the mono-color style. Chinese trigger vocabulary includes 单色海报、双色印刷、单色调视觉、蓝色/绿色孔版印刷、网点照片、复古或当代编辑排版. Do not trigger merely because a request mentions a color.

Prerequisites

• The Hermes image_generate tool (search/describe it via the deferred-tool catalog if not loaded). If image generation is unavailable, deliver prompt-only and say so.
• The design-system/ catalogs bundled with this skill (see Quick Reference).

Quick Reference

Print modes:

Catalogs (source of truth — when an exact value differs, the catalog wins over any prose; read only the catalog relevant to the current decision):

References:

• references/visual-language.md — full color/space/image-treatment/typography/tone rules
• references/composition.md — layout decision flow, layout families, composition grammar, rhythm
• references/quality-gate.md — originality firewall, hard avoids, inspection checklist

Procedure

1. Read the input. Extract five things:

• Subject: the one person, object, scene, or idea that must remain recognizable.
• Intent: poetic observation, announcement, field note, personal statement, cultural poster, or specimen page.
• Words: preserve exact supplied text verbatim in its original language — never translate or rewrite it. If no text is supplied, invent one English display phrase of 2–8 words and keep it stable across retries. Omit text only on explicit request.
• Image role: hero photograph, isolated specimen, cropped fragment, texture source, or none.
• Representation: faithful reproduction (default) or abstract symbol extraction (when the user asks for abstract, artistic, loose, experimental, less realistic, or less photographic treatment).

For a complex topic, pick one concrete visual metaphor; do not illustrate every point. If the user supplies an image, preserve its identity and factual content — crop/isolate/halftone it, never replace the subject or invent branded details.

1. Resolve the recipe manifest. Fill every field; do not skip any and do not expose the manifest unless the user asks for process details. Look up IDs and exact values in design-system/.

   subject: <one recognizable subject>
   intent: <one intent from Input Reading>
   exact_text: <user text, generated 2-8 word phrase, or none>
   text_language: <language of supplied text, otherwise English>
   representation: <faithful reproduction or abstract symbol extraction>
   ratio: <explicit ratio or 3:4>
   carrier: <one carrier ID from design-system/carriers.json or none>
   substrate: <one substrate ID and exact hex from design-system/colors.json>
   mode: <pure one-ink, chromatic + black, complementary duotone, or overprint duotone>
   palette: <one palette ID from design-system/colors.json>
   inks: <the palette's named ink or approved pair with exact hex values>
   plate_roles: <one explicit role per ink plate>
   layout: <one composition ID from design-system/compositions.json>
   empty_paper: <explicit percentage>
   visual_tension: <relaxed, balanced, or assertive from design-system/rhythm.json>
   focal_event: <one strong visual event from design-system/rhythm.json>
   release_zone: <one deliberately quiet region that gives the focal event room>
   unresolved_edge: <one optional edge behavior from design-system/rhythm.json or none>
   image_treatment: <one mechanical reproduction process>
   type_hierarchy: <one role ID from design-system/typography.json>
   disruption: <one deliberate disruption>
   imperfection_seed: <stable hash derived from the resolved recipe>
   imperfections: <0-2 restrained effect IDs for contemporary work, or 2-3 for tactile/vintage work>

Defaults when the user hasn't chosen: ratio 3:4; substrate Neutral White #FAFAF7 (Cool Gray #E9E9E5 for architecture/tech/restrained; Pale Beige #F5F1E8 only for tactile/archival/nostalgic subjects — never assume beige merely because the work uses halftone or risograph language); mode complementary duotone with Cobalt + Terracotta; empty paper 35%; tension relaxed for reflective/leisure/unspecified cultural subjects, balanced for editorial information, assertive only for forceful declarations; disruption = one off-center image crop, or one oversized word when there is no image. Explicit user choices override defaults unless they violate the two-ink limit or the originality firewall. Identical inputs must resolve to the identical manifest — never vary palette, layout, percentages, or process for novelty.

Resolve generic color words consistently: blue→Cobalt, green→Botanical Green, orange→Terracotta Orange, red→Signal Red, purple→Aubergine, black→Charcoal; green+black→Mint Green + Charcoal; blue+orange→Cobalt + Terracotta. Exact named inks always take precedence.

1. Choose the layout. Walk the decision flow in references/composition.md top to bottom and take the first match (events→ruled information poster; botanical→archival plate; repeated object→object field; crossing layers→overprint collage; supplied photo→image field or editorial cover; isolated objects→specimen annotation; phrase-as-subject→type-led declaration; essay-like→editorial journal; otherwise editorial cover).

1. Compile the prompt in five compact paragraphs, in order:
2. Canvas and ink: ratio, exact substrate hex and reason, exact one/two-ink palette hexes, print mode, plate roles, flat front-facing page (no mockup, frame, desk, or shadow).
3. Original composition: layout family, tension profile, one focal event, one release zone, margins (5–9%), empty-paper percentage (25–55%), grid, dominant object scale (45–80% of page) and edge crop, optional unresolved edge, one manual gesture.
4. Subject: what appears; for faithful reproduction, preservation/crop/halftone/paper exposure; for abstract extraction, the 2–4 identity anchors, dominant mass, structural contour, repeated rhythm, and where exposed paper cuts through.
5. Typography and words: hierarchy, type voices, exact short display text, and the explicit overlap/crossing/split/tight alignment between headline and dominant object.
6. Material and avoids: dots, fibers, bleed, misregistration, plus the hard negative constraints from references/quality-gate.md.

Describe only visible outcomes. Never mention reference artists, studios, sample posters, or "in the style of."

1. Generate and inspect. Call image_generate with the compiled prompt. Inspect at full and thumbnail size against the checklist in references/quality-gate.md; regenerate once on failure (extra ink, missing plate roles, empty paper outside 25–55%, unrecognizable subject, no ≥5x type scale jump, garbled text, composition copying a reference, no identifiable focal event). If exact text still renders wrong after one retry, generate a text-light base image and state that typography should be overlaid in a layout tool — never pretend distorted text is correct.

1. Deliver. Save outputs under ./mono-color-output/ in the user's working directory (create it if needed), or another location the user names. Present:
2. the generated image (path or rendered);
3. the final prompt in a fenced text block;
4. a short recipe note: Mode, Ink (exact hexes), Layout, Type (editorial + utility voice), Process, and one Originality sentence naming the structural departures from any supplied reference.

Stop at prompt-only only when the user explicitly asks or image generation is unavailable.

Pitfalls

• Never more than two printing inks. The substrate is not an ink; overprint mixing and density variation are not extra inks. Gradients, rainbow accents, and full-color photography are always out.
• Catalog wins over prose. When a hex, ID, range, or geometry in design-system/ differs from any prose description, use the catalog value.
• Preserve supplied text verbatim — original language, exact wording, no translation unless asked. Never distort microcopy or factual text with imperfection effects.
• Never copy a source composition, wording, logo, or artwork. Change at least four structural features from any supplied reference (see the originality firewall). No fake signatures, mastheads, sponsors, URLs, or invented branding.
• Contemporary by default. Do not add yellowed paper, sepia, distressed borders, or retro props merely because the work uses halftone or limited inks — only when the user asks for vintage/archival mood.
• One focal event, one release zone. Never center everything, never distribute elements evenly like a template, never fill the quiet zone with decoration.

Verification

• Manifest fully resolved, all IDs present in the design-system/ catalogs.
• Result uses one intentional white/gray/pale-beige substrate and ≤2 inks with clear plate roles.
• 25–55% visibly empty paper; one dominant object at 45–80%; headline visibly crosses or locks to it.
• Type hierarchy shows a 5–12x scale jump with ≤3 type voices.
• Supplied subject and text preserved exactly; ≥4 structural features differ from every supplied reference.
• An image was generated (unless prompt-only was requested) and saved under the output directory, and the recipe note was delivered.

Notice

Upstream example artwork is not included: examples/ in the source repo is all-rights-reserved (see upstream ASSET-LICENSE.md); only MIT-licensed text and design-system catalogs are vendored here. Code and text are MIT (see LICENSE.txt).