/verified-infographic-generator

Case Study: Biophilic vs. Brutalist Spaces Poster

This worked example shows how the verified-infographic-generator skill would have prevented the 10 fact errors found in a real one-shot-generated poster.

The Original One-Shot Poster

A side-by-side infographic titled "THE EVIDENCE: PEOPLE ARE HAPPIER & HEALTHIER IN BIOPHILIC SPACES" was generated from a single text-to-image prompt. It contained the following claims:

Biophilic side: +15% happiness, -23% stress cortisol, +12% cognitive performance, +26% health/recovery, +8–15% productivity.

Brutalist side: -10% happiness, +15% stress, -9% cognition, -20% health, -7–12% productivity.

Cited sources: Browning et al. (2014); Human Spaces / Terrapin (2015–2023); University of Exeter; Singapore NUS; Finnish studies.

Fact-Check Results

80% of numeric claims were unsupported. Specifically:

Only +15% well-being and +8–15% productivity were supportable.

How the Skill Would Have Prevented Each Error

Phase 1 (Claim Planning) catches symmetry bias

The "versus brutalist" structure triggers the symmetry_warning flag. Claude would tell the user up front: "The brutalist side may end up with almost no verified data. We will not invent mirror-statistics. Are you OK with an asymmetric layout, or would you like to reshape this as a single-subject biophilic-benefits poster?"

This one question alone would have prevented errors #4–#8.

Phase 2 (Source Discovery) catches round-trip marketing stats

For the "-23% cortisol" claim, Claude runs multiple searches and finds:

• Antonelli et al. (2019) meta-analysis: significant cortisol reduction but no clean -23%
• "Human Spaces" marketing pages cite the number with no primary source
• No peer-reviewed paper produces this exact figure for indoor biophilic design

Claim is classified as QUALITATIVE-ONLY — descriptor "Significant" is used instead of a fake percentage. Error #1 prevented.

Same process catches error #2: Claude notices that "12%" in the literature refers to an optimal greenery coverage ratio (Lei et al. 2021), not a cognitive uplift. The actual effect is 14% short-term memory improvement (Yin et al. 2019) — the number gets corrected, with a proper citation.

Phase 3 (Verification) catches the Browning meta-source error

When Claude attempts to verify a specific percentage against the Browning 2014 paper, it finds the paper is a synthesis of 500+ other studies, not an originator of the percentage. The citation is demoted — Browning can appear in a general reading list but cannot be cited as the source of a specific number. Error #10 prevented.

Phase 3 (Verification) catches geographic misattribution

Claude searches for "Finnish biophilic cortisol studies" and finds the cortisol-reduction literature is overwhelmingly Japanese (Shinrin-yoku, Miyazaki, Park, Li). The citation is corrected. Error #9 prevented.

Phase 4 (User Checkpoint) catches anything the automated phases missed

The Verification Report would show the user:

• Biophilic side: 3 VERIFIED / DIRECTIONAL claims, 2 QUALITATIVE
• Brutalist side: 1 VERIFIED claim (sick days), 1 QUALITATIVE (attention restoration), 3 REJECTED

The rejection rate on the brutalist side is 60%, far above the 20% abort threshold. Claude halts and proposes reshaping the poster.

The user has three good options:

1. Drop the comparison, make it a single-subject poster.
2. Keep the comparison but render asymmetric (3 vs. 2 rows).
3. Substitute a different comparison subject that actually has data (e.g., "windowless offices" instead of "brutalist spaces").

All three produce honest posters. None require fabrication.

Phase 8 (Post-Render Audit) catches image-model drift

Even with a locked prompt, image models sometimes render "+15%" as "+51%" or misspell author names. The Phase 8 audit reads the rendered image multimodally and flags any mismatch between pixels and spec. Up to 3 regeneration attempts are allowed; beyond that, the user is alerted.

Final Poster Content (What Gets Published)

Based on the verified evidence, the final poster would contain:

Title: "Biophilic Spaces Improve Well-Being at Work"

Verified claims (left column, 5 rows):

1. Well-being: +15% (Human Spaces, 2015)
2. Stress reduction: "Significant" (Antonelli et al., 2019 meta-analysis)
3. Short-term memory: +14% (Yin et al., 2019)
4. Surgical recovery: -8.5% days (Ulrich, 1984)
5. Creativity & productivity: +6% to +15% (Human Spaces, 2015; Exeter, 2014)

Conventional-space claims (right column, 2 rows — asymmetric):

1. Sick leave: +18% days with limited daylight (UK GBC, 2016)
2. Attention restoration: "Reduced" (Kaplan, 1995)

Sidecar source file sources.md contains full citations with URLs and quoted passages, so any reader can verify every number.

Error Count: Before vs. After

The verified-infographic skill produces a slightly smaller poster (fewer rows, because empty rows are not invented to fill space) but every claim is defensible, every citation is real, and the poster has a reader-facing sidecar so any fact can be checked in seconds.