Coordenadas content system · Design agent playbook · Nov 2026

Carousels built in Canva, by the agent

How Claude builds social carousels inside a brand’s own Canva file, how the designer stays in control, and how every hand edit becomes a rule. Proven on Factronics USA, ready for the next brand. Read with the handoff file DESIGN_AGENT_PLAYBOOK_HANDOFF.md.

3 approvals

Plan, save, and anything public. Nothing ships without the designer’s yes.

4 → 1

Slides edited by hand on Factronics, from the second carousel to the third.

6

Things a brand needs before its first brief.

01Set up the brand once

The agent doesn’t invent a look. It copies layouts from the brand’s Canva master file and follows the brand’s written rules. The left-hand box is your one-time setup. After that, each post only needs a brief.

What a brand needs before the first carousel The brand kit, partner logos, photo library, voice rules, design rules and a brief feed the agent, which copies layouts from the Canva master file, builds a new carousel and saves it to the brand folder. BRAND KIT · ONE PER BRAND READS COPY PAGES BUILD SAVE Brand kit logos, colors, fonts Partner logos light + dark Photo library labeled, cut out voice.md copy + CTA rules design-rules.md layout lessons Brief goal, slides, photos AGENT Claude + Canva plan, photos, copy self-check, ask Canva master file brand’s best layouts New carousel copy of master pages Canva brand folder one per brand LEGEND Set up once Per post Agent Canva Output
Fig. 1 · The master file is the design engine. Keep its logo current, because every copy inherits it.

02The process, brief to rules

You appear at four points: the brief, approving the plan, approving the save, and the polish. The agent does everything between them and checks its own render before you see anything. The dashed line is what makes the system improve.

The carousel process, brief to rules Swimlane across designer, agent and Canva: brief, plan, plan approval, build, self-check, save approval, save, hand polish, then the agent logs the edits as rules that the next brief reads. DESIGNER AGENT CANVA NEXT BRIEF READS THE NEW RULES Brief goal, photos Plan slides copy + layouts Approve plan before build Build slides copy, cut-outs Self-check render, fix ×2 Approve save thumbnails Save brand folder Polish + post hand edits Log the diff design-rules.md LEGEND Designer Agent Quality gate Canva Approval Learning loop
Fig. 2 · Lime arrows are approvals. The plan is approved before anything is built.

03The quality gate on every slide

Each slide goes around this loop at least twice: plan, edit in Canva, render the thumbnail, score it against the brand’s rules, fix. The rules file sits in the middle and is the only thing that grows.

The render and critique loop Five-station loop the design agent runs per slide: plan, edit in Canva, render, score against the rubric, fix; every pass writes lessons back to a shared design-rules file. RULES LESSONS 01 Plan the slide copy, photo, base layout 02 Edit in Canva MCP transaction 03 Render thumbnail read-design 04 Score the rubric 8 checks, 2 measured 05 Fix and re-place min. 2 passes design-rules.md brand kit + lessons LEGEND Station Gate the agent skipped Work moves Writes back to the rules
Fig. 3 · Per-slide loop. The hub is design-rules.md for the brand you’re working on.

04The photo gate

A carousel without real product photos looks cheap. If approved photos don’t exist, the agent asks you instead of making a type-only card.

The photo gate Flowchart for every post brief: if approved product photos exist they are imported and cut out, otherwise the agent asks the designer instead of silently falling back to a flat type-only card. YES NO NEVER PHOTOS ADDED FAILS New post brief List claims + visuals per slide Approved photos exist? Ask the designer say what is missing Flat type-only card silent fallback Import + cut out upload, remove-bg Compose on master brand master file Render + critique rubric, 2 passes Ready for review This branch makes flat, cheap-looking cards. Closed. LEGEND Step Ask, do not guess Banned path Happy path Retry
Fig. 4 · Missing photo means ask, never a silent fallback.

05How your edits become rules

After you polish, tell the agent you edited the design. It compares the two versions, lists your changes, and writes each one as a short rule. Factronics rules that apply to any brand: the photo fills half the frame and bleeds off an edge, no flat solid overlays, the logo anchors top-left, a partner logo chip goes on product slides, the CTA slide has 2 body lines max, and event photos are cropped to cut out other exhibitors.

How edits become rules Each hand edit is compared, written as one rule in the brand design-rules file, and read by the next carousel, so manual edits shrink over time. REPEAT EVERY CAROUSEL Designer polish hand edits in Canva Compare versions saved vs polished Write the rule one line, testable design-rules.md per brand Next carousel fewer edits Factronics: IJ470 had 4 of 5 slides edited. SFMA live had 1 of 6. LEGEND Designer Agent step Key step Rules file Loop
Fig. 5 · Count the slides you edited per carousel. The target is zero.

06Keeping Canva tidy

One top-level folder per brand. One-shot jobs share a miscellaneous folder. Utility folders start with an underscore. Name designs Brand - Topic - Format so they never end up untitled at the root.

Where a Canva design goes Decision flow for filing loose Canva designs: brands with two or more clear designs get their own folder, one-offs go to a shared miscellaneous folder, unclear ones are parked for review, and nothing moves before approval. YES NO UNSURE Loose design at root Read name + brand cues title, logo, text Brand with 2+ clear designs? Brand folder create if missing _Miscellaneous one-offs or _Templates, _Personal _Needs review thumbnail check later Nothing moves until the plan is approved. LEGEND Agent reads Canva folder Parked
Fig. 6 · How the agent filed about 480 loose designs, after approval.

07Your first run on a new brand

  1. Create the Canva brand folder and master filePut the brand’s best layouts in one design, with the current logo.
  2. Fill the brand kitLogos and partner logos in light and dark, colors, fonts, and labeled photos in the brand folder of the content system.
  3. Write voice.md and seed design-rules.mdStart with the universal rules from the handoff, section 6.
  4. Send a brief and approve the planInclude the master link, the page range, the photo source and anything that must always be replaced.
  5. Polish, then report the diffTell the agent “I edited it, check my changes,” and count the slides you touched.
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