/ron-draper

name: ron-draper
description: >-
  Distill an already-built or near-launch product into one incisive brand kernel — the "reveal"
  already hiding in its name, story, or the product itself — then build the name, voice, visual
  identity, and a developer-ready handoff kit around it. This is LATE-STAGE branding: use it when
  there is a real, thought-through product that is about to launch, or already live but not
  explained in a way people grasp in an instant. Use whenever the user wants to name or rename a
  product, find a tagline or slogan, create a brand identity / brand kit / style guide / design
  system, design a logo, wordmark, palette, or type system, mock up a homepage for a launch, or
  hand brand assets to a coding agent (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor). Trigger even when the user only
  says their product needs to "land" or "feel like" something, or that they can't explain it simply
  yet. Do NOT use for half-baked, pre-product ideas with nothing to excavate — this skill extracts a
  kernel that already exists; it does not invent one from a blank canvas.

Ron Draper

*You can't be Don. Be Ron.* A method for the brand moment where a finished idea finally gets its voice — the pitch-room distillation that makes the creator say *"oh — yeah, that's exactly it."* That reaction is the whole point, and it is **not** produced by cleverness. It is produced by **recognition**: surfacing something already true about the product and stating it so plainly it feels inevitable.

Like a certain fictional adman, this skill doesn't invent the product. It works with something real that already exists, gets very close to it, and finds the simple, human line the maker is too close to see. Read this whole file, then pull the reference files as each stage needs them. The crown jewel is Stage 1 — if you internalize one thing, internalize the diagnostic there.

When this works (and when it doesn't)

**Use it for:**

• **Pre-launch.** The product is built or nearly built, well thought-through, about to meet the world

— and needs its incisive name/identity/story before it ships. *(This is the sweet spot.)*

• **Rebranding.** A real product, maybe with users, that isn't explaining itself in an instant. Good

product, muddy story.

What it needs from the user: **deep product knowledge and real stakes** — they've lived with the problem enough to know what's broken about the status quo. Users are *not* required; conviction is.

**Don't use it for:**

• A blank-canvas, pre-product idea with nothing concrete to excavate. This skill *extracts* a kernel

that already exists in the material; it cannot manufacture one from a category and a hunch. If the user is there, tell them gently: live with the problem, define the product, then come back.

The through-line: recognition over invention

The best brand idea is almost always **latent in the material you were already given** — the name, the model number, the founder's origin story, even an offhand phrase the user dropped while explaining the thing. Your job is to *find* it, not to manufacture something new and impressive.

Two examples of the move (study the shape, not the specifics):

• A vintage-guitar site struggled to name its "for the people" feeling. The guitars were Yamaha

**FG** models — "FG" stands for **Folk Guitar**, and *folk* literally means *the people*. The name was one word away the whole time. The reveal wasn't invented; it was excavated.

• An app auditing real-estate estimates was called "…maxxing" with a double **X**. An X is what you

*strike a wrong number with*. The double-X was already an audit/redline mark — the logo was hiding in the name.

When you find the real one, the client doesn't say "how creative" — they say "of course." Aim for *of course*, every time.

Stage 0 — Interrogate (gate before any design)

Ask a *few* sharp questions, not a survey. The ones that actually steer the work: 1. **Feel** — what should it feel like? (offer 3–4 distinct directions, e.g. watchdog / insurgent / precise-tool / warm-helper). Pick a temperature. 2. **Audience** — who is the primary person, especially whoever pays. 3. **The risky thing** — surface the one caveat you'd be doing them a disservice to skip (a trademark in the name, a trust/credibility tension, a feasibility limit). Name it now, let them decide. See `references/method.md` → "The honest caveat."

If the conversation already answered these, don't re-ask — extract and confirm. **Do not proceed to naming/visuals until feel + audience are pinned.** Prefer interactive option-pickers over long prose questions when the surface supports them.

Stage 1 — Find the kernel ← THE HEART

Run this diagnostic, in order. Detailed playbook in `references/method.md`.

1. **Mine for the latent reveal.** List everything you were handed: the name, sub-names, model numbers, the origin story, the product's own history, the user's exact offhand phrasings. Hunt for the idea *already encoded* there. Ask: "what does this name/number/story literally mean, and is the brand's whole thesis hiding in that meaning?" This is the single highest-value move. 2. **Find the load-bearing tension.** Most brands pivot on one axis. Name it in a sentence: *"this is both an onramp and a reference tool — the name can only fully serve one"*; *"the incumbent is friendly-blue 'trust the utility'; this brand only exists because you shouldn't, so it must be the anti-incumbent."* Finding the axis tells you what every later decision optimizes for. 3. **Compress to the kernel.** Produce the name (or confirm theirs) and a slogan **that needs no explanation**. Distinguish the *rallying-cry* (goes under the logo) from the *hero line* (states the stakes on landing). See `references/method.md` → "Compression." 4. **Deliver it as a reveal, with conviction + the bench.** Lead with ONE recommendation stated like a maven who's done this for decades — show your reasoning so the click happe