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Set up brand theming

In this tutorial, we extract a brand theme from existing assets and apply it to slides. By the end, your presentations match your company's visual identity automatically.

What you will learn​

  • How to provide brand assets for theme extraction.
  • How to review and refine a generated theme.
  • How to use the Theme Editor for visual adjustments.

Step 1: Gather brand assets​

Before starting, collect one or more of:

  • Your company website URL.
  • Brand guidelines PDF.
  • Logo files (SVG, PNG).
  • Screenshots or images showing your brand in use.

The more assets you provide, the more accurate the extracted theme.

Step 2: Run brand setup​

  1. Open the Command Palette (Cmd+Shift+P).
  2. Run Pitch Smith: Brand Setup.
  3. The Catalog sidebar opens with a brand setup form.

Fill in the form:

  • Company name: Your organization's name.
  • Website URL: Your main website (used to extract colors and typography).
  • Brand assets folder: Select a folder containing logos, PDFs, or images.
  • Description (optional): Brief description of your brand personality.
  1. Submit the form. Claude Code begins the extraction process.
PDF reader dependency

Extracting from PDFs requires the pdf-reader MCP server to be installed. If you do not have it configured, Pitch Smith will let you know and suggest how to add it.

Step 3: Review the extraction​

Claude Code analyzes your assets and generates:

  1. Color palette — primary, secondary, accent, background, and text colors extracted from your brand.
  2. Typography — font families, weights, and scale matching your brand's type system.
  3. Visual personality — border radius, shadows, and shape styles reflecting your brand.
  4. Sample slides — 6 template slides demonstrating all theme primitives.

Review the sample slides in the Slide Viewer. These show how your theme looks across different slide layouts.

Example theme output
{
  "name": "Acme Corp",
  "colors": {
    "primary": "#1E40AF",
    "secondary": "#6366F1",
    "accent": "#F97316",
    "background": { "default": "#FFFFFF", "alt": "#F1F5F9" },
    "text": { "heading": "#0F172A", "body": "#334155" }
  },
  "typography": {
    "heading": { "family": "Inter", "weight": 700 },
    "body": { "family": "Inter", "weight": 400 }
  },
  "shapes": {
    "borderRadius": "12px",
    "shadow": "medium"
  }
}

Step 4: Provide feedback​

If the theme needs adjustment:

  1. Tell Claude Code what to change. For example:
    • "The blue is too dark — use a brighter shade."
    • "Switch the heading font to Inter."
    • "Make the corners more rounded."
  2. Claude Code regenerates the theme and sample slides.
  3. Review again. Typically 1-3 rounds of feedback produce a good result.
Keep your palette simple

Stick to 3-5 colors. Every additional color increases visual complexity and makes slides harder to read. Pick a primary, an accent, and neutral tones — that is all most presentations need.

Common pitfall

Using 7+ colors in a presentation theme creates visual noise. Audiences struggle to understand what is important when every element competes for attention.

Step 5: Fine-tune with the Theme Editor​

For precise adjustments:

  1. Run Cmd+Shift+P → Pitch Smith: Open Theme Editor.
  2. The visual Theme Editor panel opens with sections for:
    • Colors — click any swatch to open the color picker.
    • Typography — change font families (with Google Fonts search), weights, and sizes.
    • Shapes — adjust border radius, shadows, and borders.
    • Components — configure box and arrow styles.
  3. Changes appear in the preview immediately.
  4. Click Save to write the updated theme to disk.
Theme versions

Every time you edit your theme, Pitch Smith automatically saves the previous version. You can view your current theme at any time with /pitchsmith:theme. This means you can experiment freely — your earlier work is never lost.

Step 6: Verify with a test build​

  1. Create a new deck or rebuild an existing one.
  2. Confirm the slides use your updated colors, fonts, and styles.
  3. Check different slide types (title, content, comparison, chart) to verify consistency.

Result​

Your workspace now has a brand theme stored in .slide-builder/config/theme.json. All future slides automatically use these colors, fonts, and styles.

Next steps​