skills/linkedin-infographic-studio/references/narrative-taste.md

# Narrative taste contract

Use this contract before committing to layout. The job is to make the infographic read like a visual story rather than a decorated list.

## Core progression

Default to this reasoning sequence when the evidence supports it:

`Hook -> Tension -> Evidence -> Turn -> Payoff`

This is not a mandatory five-screen template. It is a story test. Compress, merge, or reorder beats when the idea requires it, but every beat must earn a change in reader understanding.

For every beat record:

- **Reader question**: what the reader is trying to understand at this moment
- **Beat job**: what changes in understanding
- **Evidence**: which fact, state, relationship, or supported claim earns the beat
- **Beat-to-visual mapping**: the visual relationship that communicates the beat
- **Transition job**: why the next state should appear
- **Payoff dependency**: what this beat makes possible later

If a beat exists only because the animation needs another scene, remove it.

## Story-shape selection

Choose a story shape from the actual relationship in the material, not from a favorite layout. Useful shapes include:

- misconception -> counterexample -> better rule
- before -> trigger -> after -> measurable implication
- many options -> constraints -> shortlist -> decision
- whole -> parts -> interaction -> consequence
- claim -> evidence -> verdict
- input -> transformation -> output -> feedback
- levels -> threshold changes -> capability payoff
- question -> competing positions -> convergence -> verdict
- hidden friction -> behavior -> commercial consequence -> intervention

A card grid is not a story shape by itself.

## Demo inspiration

When repository access exists, `demos/` is a taste corpus. Inspect only a small number of relevant examples, normally one to three. Use `scripts/demo_taste.py` when executable repository tools are available.

The demo media itself is not part of the public OpenAI package. Installed ChatGPT/Codex skills use the packaged abstract guidance and do not pretend repository demo files are locally available.

For every selected demo or reference use:

`Evidence -> Observation -> Transferable Rule -> Anti-Rule`

Assign one explicit inspiration job to each reference, such as hook, progression, proof, comparison, pacing, composition, typography, motion, or payoff. Multiple references must have non-overlapping jobs whenever possible.

**Do not copy** source wording, source claims, exact composition, proprietary artwork, mascot geometry, logos, exact palette measurements, unique illustration signatures, or a recognizable frame-by-frame sequence.

A good transfer sounds like:

- "keep the whole ladder visible while one level becomes active"
- "use one shared axis so the comparison has a verdict"
- "show the result first, then expose the operating steps"

A bad transfer sounds like:

- "make it look like demo 4"
- "use the same cards, colors, and character"
- "recreate the GIF but change the text"

## Narrative pressure tests

Before layout, reject a direction when any of these are true:

- the hook gives away everything and leaves no reason to continue
- the hook is vague tension with no concrete subject
- evidence arrives before the reader knows why it matters
- every beat has equal visual weight
- the story contains no turn, contrast, reveal, state change, or new relationship
- the payoff merely repeats the headline
- motion reveals decoration rather than meaning
- the reader can remove the middle beats without losing understanding
- the concept is a list converted into cards
- a reference is being followed more literally than the source evidence

## Visual narrative rules

1. One primary takeaway governs the whole sequence.
2. One dominant focal anchor governs each important state.
3. Every transition must answer a Reader question, reveal evidence, or change state.
4. Keep enough persistent context that the reader never has to reconstruct the whole story after every motion.
5. Use contrast in scale, density, position, or state to express narrative hierarchy before adding effects.
6. Reserve the strongest visual change for the strongest conceptual turn or payoff.
7. The first frame must already communicate a useful idea; animation adds progression, not basic legibility.
8. The final readable state must resolve the promise made by the hook.
9. If a mascot is present, it performs a story job and follows the identity-asset contract; it does not become generic decoration.
10. If a logo is present, it identifies the relevant entity and remains identity-locked; it does not become a decorative motif.

## Originality gate

After selecting a reference-derived mechanism, deliberately change at least two structural dimensions that are not required by the mechanism, such as topology, visual metaphor, evidence placement, scale relationship, reading direction, or motion route.

Preserve the transferable rule. Replace the surface expression.

The result should be explainable without naming the source demo.

## Output

Before layout, carry forward a compact narrative contract containing:

- primary takeaway
- selected story shape
- hook
- ordered beats
- Reader question per beat
- evidence dependency per beat
- Beat-to-visual mapping per beat
- turn
- payoff
- persistent context
- selected reference jobs
- transferable rules
- anti-rules
- originality changes
- motion jobs that are actually necessary

If these cannot be stated clearly, concepting is not finished.