Claude Design, Dashboards and Motion
Three newer parts of Claude. Design makes decks and pages from your brand. Dashboards answer a question about your numbers. Motion makes a short explainer. All three get expensive if you generate before you've decided what you're saying.
Plan in ordinary Claude first. Hand over a spec. Then make the thing.
How to access it
Check the current price and what's on your plan at claude.com/pricing. From the plan list we checked:
- Claude Design (and slides and docs) is listed from the Free plan up. On a Team or Enterprise account, an admin may still need to enable it.
- Dashboards are on Pro and Max (beta), and on Team and Enterprise. Not on Free.
- Motion is on Team and Enterprise (beta). Not on Pro or Free.
If a menu is missing: Settings > Capabilities, and turn on Cloud code execution and file creation. On Enterprise, an owner may also need to enable it under Organisation settings, then Artifacts. If that path doesn't match your screen, the screen wins.
They all use your plan limits. Motion in particular goes through them quickly.
The switch people miss is that capabilities toggle. People assume the feature isn't on their plan, when it's switched off.
Design
Bring the brand files: guidelines, fonts, logo. Put them in the folder. Don't describe the brand from memory if the file exists.
GOAL
A [deck or page] for [audience]. After seeing it, they should [feel or do].
CONTEXT
Brand files are in the folder. Reference for the standard, not to copy: [site or deck].
The points, in order, are:
1. [point]
2. [point]
3. [point]
CONSTRAINTS
Follow the brand files. Don't invent a new colour or a slogan.
Show me the outline before you design anything.
If anything is missing, ask me first.
Worked example. A jewellery brand wanted a sell-in deck for stockists. They pasted "make it luxury" and got a generic black cover. The useful run attached the guidelines and the logo, listed six points in text, and only then asked for the deck. They exported to Canva where they still needed to tweak. If you don't see a send-to-Canva option, export and upload. Don't wait on a button that isn't there.
Dashboards
Ask a question. Don't ask for a chart.
A CSV you attach is a snapshot. It will not refresh next week unless you connect a source or drop in a new file. Share is private until you change it. Click a number to see the query behind it.
GOAL
I need to decide [decision] from this data.
CONTEXT
The file or the source is [attached / connected]. Compare to [last period].
The breakdown I care about is [what].
I need to filter by [what].
CONSTRAINTS
Show the top three numbers, then the breakdown.
Tell me every assumption.
Don't add a chart I didn't need for the decision.
If anything is missing, ask me first.
Worked example. An ops lead attached a monthly export and asked for "a dashboard". They got twelve charts. They asked again: "I need to decide whether the late orders are one customer or all of them. Top three numbers versus last month. Tell me every assumption." That version fitted on a screen. They clicked the late-order number and checked the query before they mentioned it to anyone.
Motion
A short film, not a document read aloud. Get the storyboard agreed in text before you generate anything. Fixing a sentence is cheap. Fixing a rendered scene is not.
GOAL
A film of about [length, under 30 seconds unless we agree otherwise] for [who], to play [where].
CONTEXT
Turn this into the film: [the one idea].
The one thing they should remember: [one line].
Logo and brand files are attached.
One idea per scene. End on [the last line].
CONSTRAINTS
Show me the storyboard first. Don't generate yet.
No more than 8 words on screen at once.
If I ask for vertical, recompose it. Don't crop the horizontal version.
If anything is missing, ask me first.
Claude may ask a few questions (style, colours, length). Answer them. You can go longer than 30 seconds. Don't, until the short version is right.
To change a moment, comment on that point in the timeline, the way you comment in a doc. You can ask for an MP4. Expect music and no voiceover unless you've checked otherwise.
Worked example. A founder wanted an all-hands film of a new process. They generated it immediately and hated scene two. The rerun asked for the storyboard first: six scenes, one idea each, the end line written by them. They deleted two scenes in text. The film was the second step.
Optional: use them together
When a chart in a dashboard is the point of the all-hands, comment on it and ask for a short animation of that one number. Still storyboard the words first. Still Team or Enterprise if Motion is the tool you need.
Building from a messy folder of files, with the Code tab, is a later step. Not the first dashboard. If you do it: "Reconcile every breakdown to its total before you show me a chart."
Pro tips
- Outline, then generate. For all three.
- "Max 8 words on screen" saves a film that looks like a policy document.
- Private by default is a gift. Don't flip a dashboard to shared until you've checked the assumptions.
Limits
Design will drift off-brand if the files aren't attached. Dashboards will present a wrong number with a clean layout. Motion will animate a muddled script faithfully.
Beta means the menus will move. If Dashboards or Motion aren't listed, check the plan first, then the capabilities switch, then the admin.
None of these replace the read-through. A wrong number in a beautiful dashboard is still wrong.
Where to start in 30 minutes
- Pick one: a deck you owe, a question about a spreadsheet, or a 20-second explanation.
- Write the outline or the question in a normal chat. No generating.
- Attach the brand file or the CSV.
- Only then open Design, Dashboards, or Motion, and hand it that outline.
- Check one fact before you show it to anyone else.