Facebook Carousel

facebook-carousel: cards for a Facebook carousel

Goal: produce the PNG assets of the N cards of a Facebook carousel ad, at the chosen Meta ratio, coherent with each other and aligned with the guidelines. A carousel is not N independent images: it is a series that tells something. Coherence across cards is the heart of the deliverable.

This is a specialization of new-template. Same conventions: the Template contract (from brand-artisan), assets through brand(), fonts discovered in fonts/, export default ... satisfies Template.

Status of the dimensions. The specs come from Meta's Ads Manager (Ads Guide + the carousel help pages); there is no organic post spec. The ratios are official Meta; the "1080×1080" is a convention (Meta documents 1024×1024 as the recommended minimum at 1:1).

0. Prerequisites (blocking)

The chain project -> template folder -> guidelines must exist:

• Resolve <project> (from the arguments, otherwise ask).
• Check templates/<project>/ and brands/<project>/brand.md.
• Missing guidelines or project -> STOP: ask for /new-project <project> first. No visual without guidelines (CLAUDE.md rule).

1. Frame it (ask, don't guess)

• Name of the carousel: a kebab-case slug, default carousel. It is the subfolder templates/<project>/<name>/. Check that it does not exist.
• Narrative mechanic (see §3): a story, one card per product, a top N, a tutorial, before/after, or seamless. It dictates the whole design.
• Number of cards: 2 to 10, sweet spot 3-5. If a card adds nothing, drop it.
• Ratio: default 1:1 (1080×1080). Otherwise 4:5 (1080×1350) or 9:16 (1080×1920). The same for every card (mandatory).
• Content of each card: a short message + its role in the series (hook, development, CTA). Plus the final CTA.
• Read brands/<project>/brand.md: palette, type, logo variants, don'ts. If the project already holds a .tsx, read it as a reference.
• Read brands/<project>/project.md if it exists: set the tone and the claims of the cards (don't invent figures or promises). If absent -> ask for the tone and the message rather than guessing.

2. Facebook constraints (to respect)

• The same ratio on every card: mixing 1:1 and 4:5 is not supported.
• The primary text and the headline/link are set in Ads Manager, not in the image: don't write everything into the visual.
• The old 20 % text rule was dropped (2021), but an overloaded card is still illegible on mobile: one idea per card.

3. The spirit: arrange it so it lands

Narrative mechanics (pick ONE)

• Sequential story: hook -> problem -> solution -> proof -> CTA. Each card moves the story forward.
• One card = one product: a catalog, a range, variants. Constant product position and background; each card legible on its own.
• Top N / tips: card 1 = the title of the list, cards 2..N = one item each, the last = the CTA. Number the cards.
• Step-by-step tutorial: one step per card, each visual self-supporting (understandable without reading the text).
• Before / after: strong contrast between the first and the last card.
• Seamless (panoramic): see the dedicated warning below.

Card 1 = the hook (decisive)

It is the only one visible before the first swipe. A single message, 3-5 words, strong contrast, one element that creates curiosity (a figure with no context, a visual that "spills over", a question). Don't explain everything here: that kills the swipe.

Coherence across cards (the heart of it)

• Identical palette and type on every card (a single accent that varies if needed).
• The logo in a fixed, discreet position (the same corner throughout), never as the centerpiece: enlarging it on every card is a common mistake.
• Constant placements: if the headline is at the bottom, it is always at the bottom.
• A visual through-line: an element or a color that links the cards; a shade that evolves from card to card signals the progression.
• Each card legible on its own (a user can enter in the middle).

Rising CTA

Soft at the start ("Find out more"), direct next, conversion on the last card ("Request a quote"). Each card has its own link in Meta.

Mistakes to avoid

Card 1 too explanatory; cards siloed with no through-line; repeating the same message; text too dense; mixing ratios; logo too big.

4. Write the cards

Structure: one subfolder per carousel, one .tsx per card, plus a shared theme.ts.

Copy code
templates/<project>/<name>/
  theme.ts        <- shared palette + layout (pure TS, NO JSX)
  card-1.tsx      <- one card = one PNG
  card-2.tsx
  card-3.tsx

• theme.ts factors out the coherence: palette taken from the guidelines, ratio/SIZE, margins. Pure TS with no JSX: discovery only loads .tsx files, so theme.ts is ignored as a template. Do not create a frame component as a .tsx in this folder: it would be discovered as a fake card and break the build. The coherence travels through the constants; the little bit of frame JSX gets repeated in each card (they differ anyway).
• Naming and order: the sort is natural, so card-2 comes before card-10. Number the cards plainly, no padding needed.
• Colors as constants (from theme.ts), assets through brand("<project>/..."), fonts discovered in fonts/; a missing font -> the "missing font" appendix in new-template, never silently.

theme.ts (skeleton)

tsCopy code
import type { CSSProperties } from "react";

export const SIZE = { width: 1080, height: 1080 }; // 1:1 carousel

// <Project> guideline palette (from brands/<project>/brand.md).
export const INK = "#......";
export const ACCENT = "#......";
export const PAPER = "#......";

// Frame shared by every card: same background, same safe area.
export const frame: CSSProperties = {
	width: "100%",
	height: "100%",
	display: "flex",
	flexDirection: "column",
	justifyContent: "space-between",
	padding: 96, // safe area (~10%)
	backgroundColor: INK, // opaque background, identical everywhere
};

card-1.tsx (skeleton)

tsxCopy code
import type { ReactNode } from "react";
import type { Template } from "brand-artisan";
import { SIZE, frame, PAPER, ACCENT } from "./theme";

function render(): ReactNode {
	return (
		<div style={frame}>
			{/* logo in a fixed position (same corner on every card) */}
			{/* the hook: a single message, strong contrast */}
			{/* progress marker (e.g. 1/3) */}
		</div>
	);
}

export default { size: SIZE, render } satisfies Template;

(With no title, the PNG comes out under the file's name: out/<project>/<name>/card-1.png.)

Warning: seamless mode (panoramic)

Facebook inserts gutters (a border plus a shadow) between the cards, so a panoramic image is never perfectly continuous on screen. If the user wants seamless with this model (N files):

• Design a mural of N×1080 × 1080 in your head, and offset the background by -1080*(i-1) px in card i (each card renders its own slice).
• No critical element (text, a face, the logo) within about 100 px of a left or right edge: the gutter would cut it.
• In Ads Manager, turn off automatic optimization ("show the best-performing cards first") and upload left to right, otherwise Meta reorders them and destroys the mural. Seamless is demanding: by default, prefer a per-card mechanic (product, story, top N) that tolerates the gutters.

5. Verify

• npm run typecheck -> green.
• npm run build -> writes out/<project>/<name>/card-*.png.
• Check each PNG: exact dimensions for the chosen ratio, the same ratio throughout, opaque background.
• Check the visual coherence across the series (palette, type, logo position, through-line) and that each card is legible on its own.
• Preview: npm run dev then /<project>/<name> (lists the carousel's cards).

Success criterion: N cards (2-10) at the same Meta ratio, opaque, visually coherent, card 1 catchy, the last card carrying the CTA, and using only colors and type from brand.md.