I built a full client deck in 4 minutes last week. That's not an exaggeration.
The old me spent a whole evening in PowerPoint, moving boxes around at 11 p.m. Now I give Claude Design my notes and my brief, and I watch it build the deck while I drink my coffee. The time I used to spend on layout goes into the part that wins the client: the story they need to hear.
Here's the exact prompt, the brief I paste before it, and the three follow-up prompts I use to make the deck sharper.
Your clients are not paying you for slides. They're paying you for the thinking behind them.
From notes to deck
Before
- An evening in PowerPoint
- Most of the time spent on layout
- Story written last, when I was tired
Now
- About 4 minutes to a full first draft
- Layout handled by Claude Design
- All my time goes into the story
What Claude Design is
It's Anthropic's design workspace, launched in April 2026. You describe what you want, it builds a first version on a canvas, and you refine it by chatting, leaving comments on a slide or editing the text directly. If your company has a design system set up, it uses your colors and fonts automatically.
The prompts
Step 1. The brief
Paste this first. Asking Claude to tell you the story before it builds is what keeps the deck from being generic.
Here are my notes for this client. Read them before you design anything: - Who they are: [role, company type, size] - What they told me in the call: [paste notes or transcript highlights] - What they're worried about: [objections] - The one result that would make them say yes: [outcome] - Proof I can use: [case study, numbers, testimonials] Before you build the deck, tell me in 3 bullet points the story you plan to tell. Wait for my OK.
Step 2. The deck
This is the prompt I used. Change what's in brackets. The flow works for most client pitches, and you can cut or add slides.
Create a [8]-slide pitch deck for [CLIENT TYPE, e.g. a founder of a fintech startup] who wants [THEIR GOAL]. Don't name the client anywhere unless I give you the name. What I want them to feel at the end: [e.g. "this team understands my business and has a clear plan"]. Next step on the last slide: [e.g. book a 30-minute strategy call]. Flow: 1. Title slide with a headline that states the promise 2. The problem, in their words 3. What it's costing them 4. Proof: [a client result, benchmark or case study] 5. Our approach in 3 steps 6. What the first 90 days look like 7. Why us 8. Next step Style: [your brand colors and fonts, or "use my design system"]. Premium and clean, one idea per slide, large numbers when there's data, no stock photos, no emojis. Copy: short, direct sentences. Max 30 words of body text per slide. No em dashes. Use [placeholder] wherever a number is missing. Never invent data. Footer on every slide: "Prepared by [YOUR COMPANY]".
Step 3. Make it sharper
Run one of these after the first draft. One is usually enough.
Cut every slide's body text by a third. Keep the headlines. Make each headline a full sentence that states the point of the slide.
Read the deck as the client. Which slide would make you stop paying attention, and why? Rewrite that slide.
Add one slide after the approach that answers the objection they're most likely to raise: [OBJECTION]. Answer it with proof, not reassurance.
Before you send it
- Check every number against your source. Anything in [brackets] still needs a real figure.
- Read it once out loud. If a slide is hard to say, it's hard to read.
- Upload a screenshot of the client's website so the deck feels made for them.
Read this next
Want to build this with me, one on one?
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