Popup Paradox

---
name: popup-paradox
description: "Generate coherent Pop-up Paradox editorial illustration sets with a reusable collage visual system. Use when illustrating articles, blogs, newsletters, essays, or social posts that need photographed pop-up-book editorial constructions made from bright folded cardstock, visible v-folds, tabs and paper hinges, with a single physically possible unfolding action."
---

# Pop-up Paradox

Create a coherent set of article illustrations with the Pop-up Paradox visual system. Bright folded-card scenes unfold an argument through physical layers and surprises. Build one surprising relationship from folds, tabs, and supports. The open book is a physical stage, not a place for a headline. Keep each fold useful so the reader can see what changes when the construction opens.

Read [references/style-guide.md](references/style-guide.md) before planning or generating. Use the images in `assets/examples/` only for low-frequency visual calibration; never copy their composition, people, objects, or wording.

## Workflow

1. Read the full article or supplied passage.
2. Identify the core argument, contrasts, turning points, system relationships, and conclusion.
3. Select 1-9 cognitive anchors. Do not illustrate paragraphs at even intervals.
4. Write a shot plan before generating. Give each image one core idea, one structure, and a different primary composition.
5. Compile every shot with the visual DNA and negative constraints from the style guide.
6. Use the host agent's available image-generation tool. Generate one standalone 16:9 image per request.
7. Inspect every output against the QA checklist. Regenerate or make one targeted edit when a failure signal appears.
8. Deliver ordered files and preserve original generated files.

## Shot plan

For every proposed image, specify:

- Placement after the relevant passage
- Theme and core idea
- Purpose in the article
- Structure type
- Composition and reading direction
- Suggested elements
- Essential short labels, or none

Prioritize the core argument, contrasts, turning points, system relationships, cause and effect, and a memorable conclusion. Avoid decorative filler, repeated claims, and paragraphs already concrete without a visual.

## Generation rules

- Output one standalone 16:9 horizontal editorial image.
- Keep one core idea per image.
- Make the article-specific relationship visible without relying on a headline.
- Change both the main metaphor object and spatial arrangement between consecutive images.
- Preserve identity through material, palette, hierarchy, and composition grammar rather than repeating a scene.
- Use real supplied labels only. Never invent statistics, quotations, dates, brand marks, or interface copy.
- Respect every `must`, `never`, and negative constraint in the style guide.

## QA and iteration

Reject an output when it is generic, off-style, repetitive, text-heavy, anatomically broken, semantically wrong, or dependent on decoration instead of the article idea.

When revising:

- Generic: replace the stock scene with one article-specific physical relationship.
- Complex: remove secondary elements and preserve one focal idea.
- Repetitive: change both the object family and composition pattern.
- Off-style: return to the exact visual DNA in the style guide.
- Text-heavy: remove the headline and keep only essential supplied labels.

## Delivery

Name files in article order using `{order}-{topic-slug}.png`. Report where each image belongs in the article and preserve the original generated outputs.