Strategy Consulting Visualization

Purpose

Use this skill to turn any content into professional visualization specs with strategy-consulting clarity: insight-led headlines, disciplined layout, accurate data, restrained design, and explicit implications. It covers board slides first, and generalizes to reports, proposals, training materials, technical diagrams, infographics, and any input that benefits from visual structure.

Fast Path

Skip the pattern-by-pattern build when the user just wants a complete, real deck or document immediately.

Full deck — scaffold a ready-made archetype from templates/decks/, then fill in the illustrative placeholders with real data:

python3 scripts/scaffold_deck.py --list                       # 6 archetypes with slide counts
python3 scripts/scaffold_deck.py board-update -o my-deck       # copies deck.json + specs/
# edit my-deck/specs/*.json with real data, keeping the pattern shapes intact
python3 scripts/build_html_deck.py --manifest my-deck/deck.json -o my-deck/deck.html

Document — write Markdown (with spec:/svg: exhibit references where a chart belongs) and build it straight to a browser-ready, print-to-A4 HTML report:

python3 scripts/build_html_report.py my-report.md -o my-report.html --lang en

templates/reports/ has three starting points (board pre-read, one-pager, proposal memo).

Speaker script — the podium version of any deck: add a top-level "notes" field (a string, or a list of paragraph strings) to the slides that need narration, then build a print-first, one-slide-per-page HTML script with the narration set below each slide. The renderer ignores notes entirely, so adding it never changes the rendered slide, and a slide with no notes still gets its own page with a muted "no script" marker.

python3 scripts/build_speaker_script.py --manifest my-deck/deck.json -o my-deck/script.html --lang en

Deck as an article — the same deck read top-to-bottom on a single 680px reading column instead of click-through slides or a side-nav document: a paper-first hero (kicker/lead from the manifest's optional series/lead keys), then each slide's SVG followed by its notes as reading prose, with optional per-slide label/refs fields adding a section tag and a "Links" aside that rolls up into an end-of-article links section.

python3 scripts/build_html_article.py --manifest my-deck/deck.json -o my-deck/article.html --lang en

All four fast paths still obey the style system and quality rubric below — they only skip writing specs from a blank page. Fall back to the full workflow for anything the templates don't already cover.

Use When

• The user needs a board slide, executive memo visual, market map, competitor benchmark, investment view, performance bridge, or strategic timeline.
• The user needs visuals for any other document: internal reports, research summaries, sales proposals, project status updates, training or education materials, technical documentation, one-pagers, infographics, or study notes.
• The user has raw data, prose, notes, a process description, or a question and needs a visual direction — even if they only say "visualize this".
• The user asks for McKinsey-style, BCG-style, Bain-style, consulting-style, boardroom-ready, executive-ready, or strategy-deck visuals.
• The output should feel like a top-tier professional deliverable without implying affiliation with any consulting firm.

Do Not Use When

• The user wants decorative art with no informational content, brand campaigns, or low-density inspirational visuals.
• The user needs regulated financial, medical, or legal conclusions without source verification.
• The user asks for a final rendered chart but has not provided enough data to check labels, scales, and claims.

Workflow

1. Identify the decision, question, or job the visual should support for its reader.
2. If the input is not an obvious chart request, triage it with references/input-triage.md to map any input type to a pattern family.
3. Pick the document profile from references/document-type-profiles.md to set canvas, density, and tone.
4. Convert the request into an insight-led headline that answers the reader's question. The headline must be a single proposition — one answer or one tension, never several claims joined by "and".
5. Select the visualization pattern from references/visualization-patterns.md, starting from the comparison-type gate at the top of that file. Structural patterns (section_divider, agenda, bullet_list, closing, quote, end_cover, cover) are deck furniture, not the argument — use them for connective tissue between slides (opening, orienting, transitioning, closing) and spend the insight-headline discipline on the content slides they connect.
6. Apply the visual system in references/style-system.md, using the canvas from the document profile. Write copy to its Word Budget: when text does not fit, cut words or split the slide — never shrink type.
7. Produce a structured spec, diagram-as-code source, or image-generation prompt using references/prompt-templates.md. When the environment allows running scripts, render supported patterns to SVG with python3 scripts/render_slide_spec.py <spec.json>. Twenty-two patterns render (cover, section_divider, end_cover, agenda, bullet_list, closing, quote, waterfall, gap, before_after, time_series, benchmark_table, summary_strip, process_flow, funnel, heatmap, gantt, kpi_scorecard, two_by_two, scatter, distribution, small_multiples), on a 16:9 canvas only; every other pattern and canvas is spec-only. cover, section_divider, and end_cover are full-bleed navy and skip the header/footer chrome; every other renderable pattern uses the standard white content chrome. Tell the user which they are getting — never imply a spec-only pattern will render. Spec examples are in examples/render-specs/.
8. Score the output against references/quality-rubric.md. For decks, also run its deck-level headline check.
9. Flag missing data, unverifiable claims, source-sensitive assumptions, or trademark-sensitive wording.
10. For public, high-stakes, cross-functional, or broad-audience work, run references/expert-review-loop.md to remove blind spots, overclaims, jargon, accessibility issues, and cultural assumptions.
11. For polished executive work, run the draft through references/iterative-review-loop.md until the output reaches the stopping criteria.

Output Contract

Return a concise deliverable with:

• Strategic question (or the reader's key question for non-strategy documents)
• Insight headline
• Recommended visualization
• Slide spec (or figure, page, or diagram spec matching the document profile)
• Data and assumptions
• Quality check
• Expert review notes when the output is public, high-stakes, cross-functional, or broad-audience

When the user requests a batch, deck, or multi-figure document, repeat the contract per visual and add a brief flow summary explaining how the visuals build the argument.

Reference-led reproduction

When the user requests a particular firm's style or supplies a reference, read references/reference-reproduction.md before selecting a theme. Consult references/consulting-reference-evidence.json and inspect the specific source page. Record geometry, hierarchy, chart encoding, notes and deviations. Choose presentation, analytical pre-read, or reading document explicitly. Do not claim exact fidelity from a colour preset alone. The worked examples are in templates/reference-layouts/.

Default Visual Standards

• For business presentation requests, prefer "theme": "executive" consistently across the deck: sans-serif headlines, neutral comparison marks, and navy for the main outcome. In a metric-led summary, use focus_block only for the single decision-critical column. For diagrams, keep executive process flows to five steps with optional owner/duration fields and priority matrices to six numbered options; split denser content across slides. See references/style-system.md for the supported options; retain classic when the user requests serif styling.

• Slides render to 16:9. Supported chart/diagram patterns also render compact document exhibits with --exhibit; arbitrary canvases remain spec-only. HTML reports support A4 briefing/editorial layouts with editable captions and sources. Optional scripts/build_briefing_docx.cjs creates editable A4 Word briefs and requires Node packages docx and sharp.

• White content slides with black text, a single navy accent (#15296B), and grey hierarchy.

• Navy full-bleed slides only when opening a deck (cover), opening a section (section_divider), or closing a deck (end_cover) — never for a content slide.

• Classic uses serif headlines; executive and analytical content use sans-serif headlines. A reference-led request takes precedence over these defaults.

• High information density with clear hierarchy; no decorative clutter.

• All numbers must be visible, consistently formatted, and tied to the user's data or cited assumptions.

Marketplace Safety

This skill is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by McKinsey & Company, Boston Consulting Group, Bain & Company, or any other consulting firm. Use category language such as "strategy consulting visualization" in user-facing outputs unless the user specifically asks for comparative style references.

Do not invent client names, confidential labels, benchmark data, or source citations. If a visual depends on uncertain or missing data, mark the assumption explicitly in Data and assumptions.

Reference Files

• references/consulting-design-study.md for the six-firm page-level design study.

• references/reference-reproduction.md for measured reproduction, supported routes and fidelity review.

• references/persona-playbook.md for role-based entry points (sales, marketing, product, PMO, HR, engineering, research, finance, executive) with prompts and example specs.

• references/input-triage.md for mapping any input — numbers, prose, processes, ideas — to a pattern family.

• references/document-type-profiles.md for adapting format, density, and tone to slides, reports, proposals, training materials, technical docs, and infographics.

• references/visualization-patterns.md for pattern selection and use cases.

• references/style-system.md for palette, typography, spacing, and layout rules.

• references/prompt-templates.md for slide specs and image-generation prompts.

• references/quality-rubric.md for final scoring and marketplace-quality checks.

• references/expert-review-loop.md for challenging assumptions, overclaims, accessibility, localization, and audience-fit risks.

• references/public-reference-corpus.md for public executive-report sources to study without copying.

• references/iterative-review-loop.md for draft, review, revise, and score cycles.

• templates/decks/ and scripts/scaffold_deck.py for ready-made deck archetypes (--list to see all six).

• templates/reports/ and scripts/build_html_report.py for Markdown-to-report documents with numbered exhibits.

• scripts/build_speaker_script.py for a print-first, one-slide-per-page podium script built from a deck's notes field.

• scripts/build_html_article.py for reading the same deck top-to-bottom as a single web-page article, slide by slide with its notes as prose.

HTML to PDF

Use JSON for charts and Markdown for the narrative. Generate HTML, review it in the browser, and export that same HTML to PDF. HTML is the primary layout artifact; Word is an optional separate export. Reports use A4 print styles; decks use one 16:9 slide per page.

python3 -m pip install playwright
python3 scripts/build_html_report.py templates/reference-layouts/decision-brief.md -o brief.html
python3 scripts/export_pdf.py brief.html -o brief.pdf
python3 scripts/export_pdf.py examples/demo-deck.html -o deck.pdf

PDF export requires installed Google Chrome or Chromium (--browser /path/to/browser for a custom executable). SVG and HTML generation remain Python-standard-library only. Alternatively, open the generated HTML, choose Save as PDF, and select the browser’s PDF destination. Inspect every page after changing content; longer reports may need deliberate page breaks.