PDF Theme Designer

The PDF Theme Designer turns a built-in export style into a reusable design system. Open it from the PDF Theme icon in the workspace navigation rail.

A custom Nordic Frost style combines layout controls with live cover and inner-page previews.

Understand the two save actions

The distinction matters:

• Save as Custom creates a reusable custom copy. When an editable custom style is selected, the same button is labeled Update Style and updates it.
• Save & Set Active saves the current values and makes that style the one used by subsequent PDF exports.

A saved style is not necessarily active. If export uses the wrong appearance, check the active selection in Workspace Settings or use Save & Set Active before exporting.

Themes are global

PDF styles are not stored per project. Changing the active style affects the next export from every project on this GDDKit installation.

Start, duplicate, and delete styles

1. Select one of the eight built-in styles to load its values as a starting point, or create an empty custom style.
2. Enter a distinctive Style name.
3. Adjust Layout, Colors, Mermaid, and SVG.
4. Select Save as Custom, or Update Style for an existing custom style, to keep reusable work in progress.
5. Select Save & Set Active when it is ready for export.

Built-in styles cannot be deleted. Custom styles can. Deletion has no undo, so record important HEX and SVG values elsewhere or back up global settings.json.

Layout

Setting	Purpose
Cover label	Uppercase descriptor such as GAME DESIGN DOCUMENT or VERTICAL SLICE BIBLE.
Body typeface	Paragraphs, tables, metadata, and most supporting text.
Display typeface	Cover title and document headings.
Page margins	A4 content margin from 24 to 64 pt, from compact to editorial.
Import custom font	Copies a .ttf or .otf font into GDDKit’s global font storage and registers it for export.

Use generous margins for short pitch documents and more compact margins for dense internal specifications. Extremely narrow margins cannot fix a table that contains paragraphs; redesign the table instead.

Document colors

The Colors tab accepts HEX values for:

• accent;
• heading and text;
• secondary text and borders;
• cover background, cover panel, cover title, and cover subtext;
• metadata card background and text;
• quote background and text;
• code background and text;
• table-header background.

Use six-digit values such as #7C3AED. The editor does not provide a complete color-validation workflow, so malformed values can fail or fall back later. Keep text/background pairs at accessible contrast, then inspect a real PDF.

A safe contrast order

1. Choose body and cover backgrounds.
2. Choose readable text for each background.
3. Add the accent.
4. Derive borders and muted text.
5. Test code, quotes, and tables separately.

Do not rely on the accent color as the only carrier of meaning.

Mermaid colors

The Mermaid tab controls exported-diagram styling independently from general document colors:

• background;
• node background;
• node text;
• connections;
• borders;
• cluster background.

The mini preview is useful for contrast, but the final diagram shape comes from actual Mermaid content. Export a flowchart with a cluster and a state diagram before approving a theme.

Custom fonts

Select Import custom font and choose a valid .ttf or .otf file. GDDKit copies the font into the local application-data GDDKit/Fonts folder, registers it, and adds its internal family to the typeface lists.

Important constraints:

• imported fonts are global to this installation;
• v2 has no font-removal interface;
• a font file can be rejected when its metadata cannot be read or registered;
• the theme will not reproduce on another computer unless that font is installed/imported there;
• you are responsible for font licensing and PDF distribution rights.

Use a dependable fallback style when sending the project to someone who does not share your settings folder.

Optional SVG layers

The SVG tab accepts markup for three separate layers:

• Cover: decorative or branded cover artwork;
• Header: a band rendered on content pages;
• Footer: a band rendered above or around footer content.

The SVG tab applies a custom cover layer immediately; the success banner confirms that the active theme was saved.

Start with self-contained SVG and a viewBox:

<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 400 160">
  <rect width="400" height="160" fill="#16111F" />
  <circle cx="330" cy="32" r="72" fill="#7C3AED" opacity="0.35" />
</svg>

Keep SVG layers decorative. Avoid remote images, scripts, complex filters, and text that must remain editable. Use the regular cover-label and type controls for essential words.

The preview is a design mockup

The designer shows a fixed cover and inner-page specimen. It demonstrates typography, palette, cards, table, code, quote, and general placement, but it is not a live QuestPDF render of the current project.

Before delivery:

1. save and set the style active;
2. export a representative project to PDF;
3. inspect the cover, TOC, longest heading, widest table, code, quote, image, Mermaid, and changelog;
4. test on another PDF viewer if the document is external-facing.

The PDF rendering checklist in the v2 feature reference can help build a stress-test project.