Shadowing Practice: Claude Design is Insanely Easy (even for beginners) - Learn English Speaking with Video

Most Cloud Design tutorials tell you to jump right in, pick a template, give it a name, and just start prompting, which is not how Cloud Design is designed to work,

pun intended, because you end up with something incredibly generic

and you waste even more time in tokens trying to save those unusable slides.

So in this video, I'll show you how preparing three simple files ahead of time helps you go from disasters like this

to polished visuals that look like this.

And the best part is every improvement you make carries over to all future designs.

Let's get started.

To prove I'm not bullshitting you, this is the actual deck I recently used to run a paid workshop.

And this is a presentation I'm working on right now, which arguably looks even better.

And we're gonna learn how to recreate this from scratch in the next 10 to 15 minutes.

And to do this, we're gonna follow three simple steps.

First, we're gonna create something called a design.md file in less than a minute from free and publicly available resources.

Then we'll use that design.md file to build something called a design system within Claude Design.

And finally, we'll use that design system to create a reusable presentation template, one that matches your style and gets better every time you give it feedback.

And even though we're focusing on slides today, this workflow applies to any design.

For example, here's some carousel slides I made for social media.

And here I have some on-brand visuals that I use in my newsletter and work email campaigns.

Kicking things off with input number one, let's quickly go over what a design.md file actually is.

In plain English, it's just a text file that serves as a rule book for how a design should look and feel.

The exact colors, the fonts, the spacing, and how things like buttons and cards get styled.

This file works in any AI tool, so Claude Design is able to transform it into a design system that's native to Claude Design specifically.

Sort of like taking a piece of software and optimizing it to run on a Mac instead of a Windows PC.

Now, we don't even need to write one from scratch because luckily for us, there's a public GitHub repository with the design.md files from a bunch of major brands.

And don't worry, I'll drop a link to this down below.

For today's walkthrough, I'm just gonna download Stripe's design.md file by clicking the download button right here.

And then we're just gonna head on over to ChatGPT or any AI chatbot for that matter, upload that design.md file.

And then we're gonna use this prompt, which I'll also link down below.

Remove the proprietary content from this design file and replace them using your own judgment.

Keep everything else exactly as is.

And then we're just gonna rename it to the Subtle Gradient Design System and we're just gonna send this off.

And while ChatGPT is processing, the reason we clean this file is because Claude Design won't directly copy a real brand's brand guidelines, right?

Obviously.

So we still need a file that's very detailed, but yet safe to use.

Okay, ChatGPT is done and it's given us a clean markdown copy renamed to the Subtle Gradient Design System.

And we'll just click here to download it for the next step.

Moving on to input number two, let's first quickly cover what a design system actually is.

Put simply, a design system is a style guide optimized for Claude Design,

where our raw design.md file is transformed into something Claude Design can actually use.

The colors, fonts, and logos all stay the same.

it's now just formatted in a Claude design friendly way.

So once the design system is built, anything we ask Claude Design to make from slides to carousels to one-off graphics comes out consistent

and on brand without us ever having to re-explain our look and feel.

To kick this off, we start a new chat in Cloud Design.

I'll first pick the latest Opus model that already does a great job without the token consumption of Fable.

Set the effort to max and go down here and click Create Design System.

In the first field, I write something simple like gradient design system, subtle, beautiful, and minimalistic as an example.

Now, don't be intimidated by all these other options.

We can just scroll straight to the bottom and upload the design.md file we made a minute ago.

And that's it for now.

This is gonna take around 10 to 20 minutes, but before I fast forward, let me quickly explain what Claude Design is actually doing.

Basically, it's reading through the design.md file we just uploaded

and turning that into a real working rulebook with mockups for us to review.

It's pulling out every color, font, and spacing rule, generating actual sample slides and components so we can see the style in action and give feedback.

All right, Claude Design is done, and that took around 15 minutes.

First, we can ignore this checkbox up here since we're not working with a team.

And if we just scroll down a bit, we can see Claude Design has generated a bunch of mockups for us to review.

And the reason why these already look pretty good is because we started with a design.md file.

If there's something I wanna change, I can just click the feedback button and describe it in plain English.

For example, replace the dark 900 color with this hex code from my own brand palette, right?

And we're gonna fast forward this to about after a minute, we can see that Claude Design has swapped the original color for my preferred shade.

This next part is completely optional, but I'm just gonna upload a few more things to customize our design system even further.

For example, I can upload a voice principles file.

So any copywriting down the road actually sounds like me

and I'll upload my actual business logo plus a few more

icons I know I'll be using in my slide decks again and again.

And after all this is uploaded, I'll just tell Claude Design, hey, I've uploaded a voice principles file so the copywriting will sound like me,

my business logo and some commonly used icons.

And I'm just gonna send this part off and we'll fast forward.

All right, Claude Design has finished working And first we can see that my voice principles have been baked in, no em dashes, no corporate jargon,

right for the ear, okay?

And scrolling down a bit, we can see our logo and tool icons are now built into the design system as well.

So every future design can use all of these without me having ever to upload them again.

Once we're happy with the design system, we'll say, go ahead and build a slide deck template for workshops

and trainings you pick the number of slides and Claude Design will start building our slide deck template,

which brings us neatly to input number three and we'll start off by explaining what a template actually is.

In plain English, it's a pre-built slide deck in your style that every new presentation starts from.

Your title slide, your section dividers, a two column layout, et cetera, all designed and ready to use.

So to be clear, the design system is responsible for how everything looks, your colors, fonts, and logos.

The template, which is built from the design system, is responsible for how a deck is actually laid out, which slides you have and how they're arranged.

And when you use them together, every new deck starts on brand and pre-structured instead of from a blank canvas.

All right, back in Claude Design, we can see that Claude has created the slide template for us.

And scrolling through this, although this already looks pretty good,

in my opinion, there's still definitely room for improvement since every single future slide presentation will reference this template.

I'm not gonna read this word for word, but here's what I'm gonna tell Claude.

Edit based on my feedback, add the gradient mesh to every single slide with a white background.

So not just like the cover slides.

Don't use orange backgrounds for slides.

That was actually kind of ugly.

Scale up the text to fill up the empty space.

And then let's add my logo to the bottom left footer.

While Cloud Design is processing all that, let's quickly walk through the navigation since it's not very intuitive.

You can click the design system button to go back to the homepage.

And if you want to see all the files in this design system, we can actually click the dropdown, all project files.

And here we can see all the quote unquote, like folders in this system.

And we can double click templates

and double click the workshop deck and opening up the HTML file brings us back to the slide templates.

And now I'm just gonna fast forward.

All right, Claude's done.

So let's review the template one more time.

100

And yes, we can see all the changes have been implemented.

101

The orange ugly slide has been removed, for example.

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And all right, looks good.

103

We're finally ready to generate our first slide deck.

104

Back on our quad design homepage, I'll first select the design system we just created, then select the corresponding slides template,

105

and I'll attach my talking points for an upcoming workshop.

106

And this is just in simple markdown format.

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And we'll send all this off by saying,

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turn the attached talking points into a workshop deck and ask me anything you need before you build.

109

Now, after just a few seconds, Claude Design is gonna pause and ask us a few questions first.

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And it's very important you take the time to answer these carefully,

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because a few extra minutes here saves you hours down the road, believe me.

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And if you're genuinely unsure of how to answer a question, you can always just pick the decide for me option.

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And once we've answered all the questions, we'll just hit continue and Claw Design will go ahead and generate the first version of the slide deck.

114

Awesome.

115

Now that our slides have been generated, I just want to reiterate the reason why this first version already looks pretty good in my opinion is

116

because of all the prep work we did, but we're not done because there are two types of feedback.

117

We can glyph Claw Design to make this even better.

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The first kind of feedback applies to this current deck and every future deck we create in this Claude design project.

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Oh, which reminds me, let's rename this project to something more descriptive, like active gradient slides project.

120

And now for the actual feedback, I feel like the eyebrow labels on the content slides aren't prominent enough,

121

and the icons will look much better with transparent backgrounds.

122

So here's what I'm gonna say.

123

Review my feedback below, and in addition to making the edits, create a Claude.md file, you'll read for all future slide decks.

124

As for the feedback, make the eyebrow labels more prominent, wrap them in a rectangular container maybe, and the icons should all have transparent backgrounds.

125

So what did I just do?

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In plain English, a claw.md is a plain text file where claw design stores all your standing instructions for a project, and it reads that file before every new design.

127

Meaning every time I give it feedback, Claude Design saves that feedback and applies it to all future decks.

128

And that's how our corrections compound over time.

129

By the way, if you like this idea of learnings that carry forward, my free Co-Work Toolkit applies the exact same philosophy to Claude Co-Work.

130

It includes all the templates you need to build a Co-Work workspace in just one week.

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Link down below.

132

All right, the first round of feedback has been implemented and we can see that all our changes have been applied.

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The labels have more contrast and the icons look much better.

134

And if we go back to the root page of this project, we can also see that Claude Design created the Claude.md file.

135

And if we click in, we can see all the feedback has been captured.

136

The implication for you is instead of creating an entirely new project for your next presentation, we can just stay in the existing Gradient Slides project

137

and start a new chat because this new chat has access to everything in the claw.md file.

138

So all your learnings carry forward.

139

Moving on, the second kind of feedback is surgical slide level changes.

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And this is a perfect opportunity to show off these features up here.

141

First, I can make changes myself by clicking the edit button, selecting an element like this agenda box.

142

And then I can increase the font size, change the color, eh, that doesn't look very good.

143

Let's change that back and make the text bold, for example.

144

Second, on this slide, I can click annotate and literally draw a circle around these two elements.

145

Then type something like add more visual contrast to differentiate what beginners versus power users will walk away with.

146

And we're just gonna hit send and see what happens.

147

And after a few seconds, it made the change.

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This looks pretty great, right?

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Now, moving on to the tweaks feature, and it's much easier to show you instead of telling you what it does.

150

I'm just gonna say, give me two toggles, one to toggle my logo and one to show slide numbers in the bottom right.

151

And we're just gonna fast forward this next part here.

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Now, at first you might be confused because nothing seemed to have happened.

153

But if we click the tweaks icon again, we can see our two toggles have appeared.

154

So if I toggle off show logo, the logo disappears from every slide at once.

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And if I turn on show slide numbers, they appear across every slide.

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And I can even save this as a default.

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As a quick recap, a tweak is just a switch for a decision that shows up all over your deck, like whether your logo appears on every slide.

158

So use edit and annotate to fix one thing in one place

159

and use tweaks when a single decision touches every slide at once and you want to flip between options before committing.

160

Now that our slide deck is finalized, we can click the share button in the top right.

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And in addition to PowerPoint and PDF, We can click more formats and apps.

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And personally, I like to export to a standalone HTML file because of how versatile it is.

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To show you what I mean, once you download the standalone HTML file,

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you can double click to open that in any browser and it'll work like so.

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And anyone you send this file to can open up in their browser as well.

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Exporting to HTML also gives you some advanced options.

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I'm not gonna spend too much time on this today, but to give you an idea, This is the real deck I used in a paid workshop recently.

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And you'll notice I asked Claude Design to add a presenter view button

169

that I can click and it'll open up a speaker notes for me that I can interact with, which is pretty freaking awesome.

170

If you found this tutorial helpful, I recommend checking out my Claude co-work playlist next.

171

See you on the next video in the meantime.

172

Have a great one.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Claude Design is Insanely Easy”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: design, slide, file, Claude, deck. This video has 172 sentences and 2647 words to shadow. The speech runs for 14:35. The speaker talks fast, about 182 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. Only 79% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
template noun	/ˈtɛm.plɪt/	A physical object whose shape is used as a guide to make other objects.
upload verb	/ˈʌpˌloʊd/	To transfer data to a computer on a network, especially to a server on the Internet.
icon noun	/ˈaɪ.kɑn/	An image, symbol, picture, portrait, or other representation, usually as an object of religious devotion.
gradient noun	/ˈɡɹeɪdiənt/	A slope or incline.
workshop noun	/ˈwɝk.ʃɑp/	A room, especially one which is not particularly large, used for manufacturing or other light industrial work.
claw noun	/klɔ/	A curved, pointed, horny projection on each digit of the foot of a mammal, reptile, or bird.
font noun	/fɑnt/	In metal typesetting, a set of type sorts in one size.
toggle verb	/ˈtɒɡ.əl/	To alternate between two positions using a single switch or lever.
tweak noun	/twiːk/	A sharp pinch or jerk; a twist or twitch.
scroll noun	/skɹoʊl/	A roll of paper or parchment; a writing formed into a roll.
rename verb	/ɹiːˈneɪm/	To give a new name to.
subtle adjective	/ˈsʌtəl/	Of an action or movement: very delicate or slight, and thus barely noticeable; not obvious; inconspicuous, unintrusive.
annotate verb	/ˈæn.ə.teɪt/	To add annotation to.
carousel noun	/ˌkæɹəˈsɛl/	A pleasure ride, typically found at amusement parks and fairs and accompanied by music, consisting of a slowly revolving circular platform on which are fixed…
eyebrow noun	/ˈaɪˌbɹaʊ/	The hair that grows over the bone ridge above the eye socket.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
carry forward verb		To transfer to a new page, column, ledger, or similar entity.
go ahead verb	/ˌɡoʊ əˈhɛd/	To proceed with; to begin.
go back to verb		To stem from; to originate in.
open up verb		To open.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come out verb	/ˌkʌm ˈaʊt/	To be discovered; to be revealed.
fill up verb		To make (something) completely full.
go down verb		To descend; to move from a higher place to a lower one.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	has generated · has swapped · I've uploaded
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is designed · is done · is transformed
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	prompting, which is · template, which is · with, which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 80 contractions and reduced forms, such as gonna, we're, I'm. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: workshop /ˈwɝk.ʃɑp/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/, implication /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/, differentiate /dɪf.əˈɹɛn.ʃi.eɪt/, corrections /kəˈɹɛkʃənz/
Long words — get the stress right: intimidate /ɪnˈtɪmɪdeɪt/, preposition /ˌpɹɛpəˈzɪʃən/, reiterate /ɹiːˈɪt.ə.ɹeɪt/, repository /ɹɪˈpɒz.ɪ.t(ə.)ɹɪ/, implication /ˌɪmpləˈkeɪʃən/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like template, upload, icon.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?