/brand-guidelines

name: brand-guidelines
description: Define, codify, or update brand identity and connect it to design systems. Use when the user wants to create brand guidelines, define their brand, update brand identity, or when the user mentions "brand", "brand guidelines", "brand identity", "brand voice", or "brand compliance".

Brand Guidelines Generator

Create a self-contained brand guidelines skill through guided discovery. The generated skill lives at the user level and enforces brand identity across all future Claude Code sessions.

Workflow Overview

Execute these phases in strict order. Phase 0 is optional (skip if the user has no existing assets to share). Never skip Phases 1-4. Each phase builds on the previous.

| Phase | Name | Action | Output | |-------|------|--------|--------| | 0 | Context Ingestion | Collect + analyze existing business assets | Extracted brand signals + smart defaults for discovery | | 1 | Brand Discovery | Interactive questionnaire across 6 dimensions | User preferences for brand identity | | 2 | Synthesis & Preview | Format and present brand summary | User-confirmed brand identity spec | | 3 | Skill Generation | Generate user-level SKILL.md from template | `~/.claude/skills/{brand-slug}/SKILL.md` | | 4 | Optional DS Creation | Create design systems for unmapped asset types | Updated mapping table in brand skill |

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Phase 0: Context Ingestion (Optional)

Before starting discovery, ask the user if they have existing business assets to share. Existing context dramatically reduces the number of questions needed — the skill extracts what it can and only asks about what's missing or ambiguous.

**Opening prompt:** "Before we start defining your brand, do you have any existing assets I can learn from? These could be your website, newsletter archives, social media profiles, pitch decks, brand documents, images, or anything that represents your brand today. This is optional — we can build entirely from scratch too."

**Supported input types:**

| Input Type | How to Provide | What to Extract | |------------|---------------|-----------------| | Website URL | User provides a URL like `https://mybrand.com` | Use WebFetch to capture the page. Extract: brand name, tagline (from hero/header), mission/about copy, value proposition, tone signals from copywriting style, target audience signals, content categories (→ asset types). Follow internal links to About, Mission, and similar pages if present. | | Newsletter / blog posts | User provides URLs, files, or pastes content | Analyze writing style for voice and tone signals. Extract: recurring topics (→ value prop), how the author addresses readers (→ audience), vocabulary level (→ tone modifiers), sentence structure patterns. | | Documents | User provides file paths (PDF, MD, TXT, DOCX) | Read and analyze. Could be pitch decks, brand guides, one-pagers, course outlines, etc. Extract any brand identity data present. | | Images / logos | User provides file paths or pastes images | Read images visually. Extract: brand name from wordmarks, color palette signals, visual style/mood, existing design system hints. | | Social media profiles | User provides profile URLs | Use WebFetch to capture. Extract: bio (→ tagline/mission), content themes, posting style (→ voice), follower description (→ audience), platform mix (→ asset types). | | Existing brand skill | User points to a previous SKILL.md | Read it as a starting point for updates. Pre-fill all dimensions from existing data. | | Skip | User has no assets to share | Proceed directly to Phase 1 with no smart defaults. |

**Analysis protocol:**

For each provided asset, extract and categorize signals into the 6 discovery dimensions:

| Dimension | What to Look For | |-----------|-----------------| | 1. Brand name & tagline | Literal brand name, slogans, header text, social bios | | 2. Mission & value prop | About pages, mission statements, "what we do" sections, pitch deck opening slides | | 3. Voice & tone traits | Copywriting style — formal vs. casual, assertive vs. supportive, humorous vs. serious | | 4. Tone modifiers | Sentence length patterns, vocabulary level, use of jargon, narrative vs. direct style | | 5. Target audiences | Who the content addresses ("you" references), testimonials, case studies, subscriber descriptions | | 6. Asset types | What visual content exists (thumbnails, social posts, headers, slides, etc.) |

**After analysis, present a summary:**

> "Here's what I extracted from your assets: > > - **Brand name:** {name} | **Tagline:** {tagline or "none found"} > - **Mission signals:** {1-2 sentence summary of what the brand appears to be about} > - **Voice signals:** {detected traits, e.g., "Reads as friendly and expert — conversational but backs up claims"} > - **Tone signals:** {detected modifiers, e.g., "Short punchy sentences, casual vocabulary, avoids jargon"} > - **Audience signals:** {who the content seems to target} > - **Asset types spotted:** {list of visual content types found} > > I'll use these as starting points during discovery. You'll have full control to confirm, adjust, or override everything."

Store the complete analysis as `context_analysis` with per-dimension confidence levels:

• **High confidence** — clear, unambiguous signal (e.g., brand name from a logo, explicit mission statement)
• **Medium confidence** — strong signal but inferred (e.g., voice traits from writing style analysis)
• **Low confidence** — weak or mixed signals (e.g., audience guessed from content topics)

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Phase 1: Brand Discovery

Guide the user through structured questions to define their brand identity. Use the AskUserQuestion tool to present options. Ask questions **one dimension at a time** to keep the conversation focused.

Load the full question bank from [references/discovery-framework.md](references/discovery-framework.md).

**Rules:**

• Ask dimensions in order (they build on each other)
• One dimension per AskUserQuestion call — do not batch a