press-print git:20260908.7305762A

Immutable. This exact content is served forever at /api/v1/blob/d6a553e1e0f42859.

---
name: press-print
description: >-
  Transform a user-supplied photograph into a text-free Press-Print image: a source-aware contemporary
  editorial print reconstruction using selective photography, halftone or duotone treatment, flat graphic
  fields, controlled collage, modernist hierarchy, and print texture. Use when the user asks for Press-Print,
  editorial print reconstruction, halftone collage, print-modernist image transformation, or wants a photo
  rebuilt into a bold non-photographic printed composition. Preserve semantic identity and source-defining
  structural anchors. Avoid fabricated text, arbitrary decorative geometry, blanket halftone, generic vintage
  poster styling, and filter-only transformations. Image-only v1.0.
---

# Press-Print

Press-Print is a source-aware visual reconstruction system for transforming photographs into contemporary print-driven compositions.

Its governing principle is:

> Preserve semantic identity, not visual completeness.

Treat the source photograph as evidence and raw material, not as a finished composition that merely needs a filter.

## Use this skill when

Use Press-Print when the user wants a supplied image transformed into a bold, graphic, layered, printed, editorial composition with a clearly non-photographic result.

Typical source categories include:

- cities and streets
- architecture
- transport and infrastructure
- landscape
- public interiors
- retail environments
- people and performance
- objects and cultural artifacts

## Do not use this skill when

Do not use Press-Print when the user asks for:

- photorealistic enhancement
- faithful restoration
- subtle color grading
- watercolor or painterly conversion
- generic vector illustration
- typography-led poster design
- historical or antique imitation

Typography is intentionally excluded from v1.0. Do not invent captions, place names, dates, slogans, labels, or decorative text.

## Core procedure

Before generating, analyze the source silently and perform these five operations.

### 1. Identify structural anchors

Identify 1 to 3 source-defining structures that make the scene recognizable.

Examples:

- coastline curve
- distinctive tower silhouette
- crossing pattern
- roofline
- window grid
- railway direction
- tree canopy
- figure pose
- row of lanterns
- shelf rhythm

Preserve these clearly enough to retain the source identity.

Do not confuse transformation with destruction of the source's most distinctive geometry.

### 2. Disassemble

Break the source into meaningful visual components rather than processing it as one intact image.

Possible components include:

- main subject
- background structure
- skyline
- architecture
- people
- vegetation
- water
- roads
- windows
- signage as shape only
- repeated patterns
- light and shadow masses

Complex images will usually support 3 to 7 components. Simpler sources may use fewer. Do not force fragmentation without compositional purpose.

### 3. Recompose

Rebuild the components into a new editorial hierarchy.

Possible operations:

- aggressive crop
- scale shift
- partial isolation
- overlap
- displacement
- interrupted continuity
- selective repetition
- compressed depth
- enlarged structural fragment
- quiet negative-space field

The original camera composition must not remain fully intact.

### 4. Reassign visual states

Assign different parts of the image to different visual states.

**PHOTOGRAPHIC**  
Retain limited recognizable detail where it is valuable.

**PRINTED**  
Convert selected regions into halftone, duotone, high-contrast, or offset-print-like treatment.

**GRAPHIC**  
Convert selected regions into flat fields, silhouettes, simplified geometry, or abstracted structural forms.

**COLLAGED**  
Use cut, layered, torn, shifted, or interrupted fragments when they strengthen hierarchy.

Do not apply one uniform treatment to the whole image.

### 5. Reduce and hierarchize

Remove, flatten, group, or silence secondary information.

The final image should have:

- dominant zones
- secondary zones
- quiet zones

Do not preserve every object, every surface, every edge, or every tonal transition.

## Source-derived graphics rule

Graphic intervention should emerge from structures already present in the source whenever possible.

Derive shapes from:

- architecture
- coastlines
- roads
- windows
- shadows
- vegetation
- railings
- signs
- repeated structures
- clothing or figure silhouettes

Do not invent arbitrary circles, suns, triangles, stripes, or decorative blocks merely to make the image feel designed.

## Visual language

Aim for:

- contemporary editorial print sensibility
- bold asymmetry
- strong cropping
- limited color families
- halftone and duotone contrast
- matte printed texture
- controlled collage
- flat color fields
- tactile cut or torn edges
- high-contrast hierarchy
- compressed or interrupted depth
- active negative space
- modern rather than nostalgic visual energy

## Color

Use roughly 3 to 6 major color families.

Prefer a system containing:

- one structural dark
- one light paper-like base
- one or two strong accents
- one supporting hue if needed

Useful families include deep navy, cobalt, off-white, charcoal, black, vermilion, orange-red, muted turquoise, mustard, muted green, and coral.

Reduce the source's photographic color complexity substantially.

## Halftone

Halftone is a selective structural tool, not a blanket effect.

Use it to:

- flatten selected photographic regions
- separate layers
- convert realism into printed information
- create contrast against clean flat zones

Never coat the entire image in the same dot pattern or density.

## Collage

Collage must behave as editorial structure.

Every fragment must have a compositional job.

Avoid:

- scrapbook layouts
- random stickers
- decorative fragments with no structural purpose
- excessive torn edges
- mood-board aesthetics

## Detail hierarchy

**Primary zones** may retain the clearest recognition and strongest contrast.

**Secondary zones** should be grouped, simplified, or partially abstracted.

**Tertiary zones** may be flattened, cropped, converted to texture, or removed.

Do not distribute attention evenly.

## Lighting and space

Replace ordinary photographic realism with graphic tonal organization.

Prefer:

- silhouette
- tonal blocks
- print density
- flat light-dark separation
- selective highlights
- compressed depth
- layered planes

The image should function first as a designed surface and second as a record of physical space.

## Hard constraints

- No newly invented text.
- Preserve the original aspect ratio unless the user requests another.
- Do not leave the source photograph intact.
- Do not reduce the whole image to one uniform vector treatment.
- Do not use blanket halftone.
- Do not fake antique paper, sepia history, or nostalgia for its own sake.
- Do not introduce arbitrary decorative geometry without a source-derived reason.
- Do not destroy the source-defining structural anchors.

## Failure test

The transformation has failed if it looks like:

- the original photograph plus a print filter
- generic retro poster art
- a clean corporate vector illustration
- a scrapbook collage
- a muddy all-over halftone
- a composition whose key source identity has been lost
- an AI poster dominated by arbitrary circles, suns, stripes, or decorative blocks

## Success test

A successful Press-Print result should feel as though a designer disassembled the photograph, retained its most meaningful visual identity, then rebuilt it into a publishable contemporary printed composition.

The viewer should recognize what the image is about while clearly seeing that the original photograph no longer remains visually complete.

For the full generation prompt, read `prompt/press-print-v1.md`.
For evaluation, read `eval/quality-rubric.md`.