Jeff Su’s counter to the default “jump in, pick a template, start prompting” tutorials — that path gives you generic output and burns tokens fixing unusable slides. His fix: three files prepared ahead of time, demonstrated with the actual deck he used for a paid workshop.
Input 1: design.md (the rulebook)
- Plain-text file: exact colors, fonts, spacing, component styling — works in any AI tool
- Don’t write it from scratch: public GitHub repo of major brands’ design.md files; download one (he uses Stripe’s)
- Clean it in ChatGPT: “remove the proprietary content, replace using your own judgment, keep everything else” — Claude Design won’t copy a real brand’s guidelines directly
Input 2: design system (the native translation)
- design.md transformed into Claude-Design-native format (same colors/fonts/logos, optimized for the tool)
- Create in a new chat: latest Opus (great results without Fable’s token burn), effort max, upload the design.md — takes 10-20 min, returns mockups to review
- Iterate in plain English: “replace the dark 900 color with this hex code.” Optionally add a voice principles file (copy sounds like you — no em-dashes, no corporate jargon), your real logo, and frequently-used icons — baked in forever
Input 3: template (the pre-built deck)
- Division of labor: design system = how things look; template = how a deck is laid out (which slides, arrangement)
- Refine the template once, benefit forever — every future deck references it
Feedback that compounds
- Project-level: give feedback + “create a CLAUDE.md file you’ll read for all future slide decks” — Claude Design reads it before every new design, so corrections carry forward; new chats in the same project inherit everything
- Surgical: edit (select element, change font/color), annotate (draw a circle, type the change), tweaks (toggle switches for decisions touching every slide — logo on/off, slide numbers; save as default)
- Rule of thumb: edit/annotate fix one thing in one place; tweaks flip a decision across the whole deck before committing
Export
- PowerPoint, PDF, or standalone HTML (his pick — opens in any browser for anyone, supports advanced options like an interactive presenter view with speaker notes)
“A few extra minutes answering the clarifying questions here saves you hours down the road. And every improvement you make carries over to all future designs.”