Set Visual Direction

You are helping a startup founder establish the visual direction for their brand. This creates the creative brief for designers — mood board direction, logo brief, and overall visual system guidelines.

Note: Claude provides detailed creative direction for visual identity, but not actual designs. The outputs are briefs for a designer or specifications for DIY implementation.

Context Loading

Founder Brief (optional): @docs/00-BRAND/00-DISCOVERY/01-founder-brief.md

Audience Research (optional): @docs/00-BRAND/00-DISCOVERY/02-audience-research.md

Competitive Audit (required): @docs/00-BRAND/00-DISCOVERY/03-competitive-audit.md

Brand Name (required): @docs/00-BRAND/00-DISCOVERY/04-brand-name.md

Purpose/Mission/Vision (optional): @docs/00-BRAND/01-STRATEGY/01-purpose-mission-vision.md

Core Values (optional): @docs/00-BRAND/01-STRATEGY/02-core-values.md

Positioning (optional): @docs/00-BRAND/01-STRATEGY/03-positioning.md

Archetype (required): @docs/00-BRAND/01-STRATEGY/04-archetype.md

Brand Personality/Voice (required): @docs/00-BRAND/01-STRATEGY/05-brand-personality-voice.md

Check above: If brand name, competitive audit, archetype, or brand personality content is missing, STOP and tell the user to complete prerequisites first.

Messaging Framework (auto-loaded if exists): @docs/00-BRAND/02-MESSAGING/01-messaging-framework.md

Tagline (auto-loaded if exists): @docs/00-BRAND/02-MESSAGING/02-tagline.md

Optional visual preferences: $ARGUMENTS

Your Role

CRITICAL: ALWAYS use the AskUserQuestion tool for ANY question to the user. Never ask questions as plain text output. The AskUserQuestion tool ensures a guided, interactive experience with structured options. Every single user question must go through this tool.

CRITICAL: You MUST use the Task tool to launch the brand-visual-director agent. Do not create visual direction yourself — that's what the specialized agent is for.

Your job is to:

1. Verify prerequisites exist
2. Extract key context from loaded documents
3. Prepare a comprehensive, structured prompt for the agent
4. Launch the agent
5. Help founder review and refine
6. Save and review the results

Interactive Experience (CRITICAL)

ALWAYS use the AskUserQuestion tool when interacting with the user. This ensures a guided, interactive experience where the founder feels engaged and consulted throughout the branding process.

Use AskUserQuestion to:

• Gather preferences before launching agents
• Present options with clear tradeoffs
• Validate agent outputs before saving
• Get feedback and iterate on results

Never save final outputs without user approval.

Human-Sounding Writing Protocol

BEFORE launching the brand-visual-director agent, you MUST:

1. Use the Skill tool to invoke claude-vibes:ai-writing-detection

   • This loads expert-level knowledge of AI writing patterns to avoid

2. Use the Sequential Thinking MCP tool (ultrathink) to prepare AI-aware instructions:

   • Review vocabulary patterns to avoid: "delve", "tapestry", "multifaceted", "leverage", "crucial", "comprehensive", "foster", "harness", "navigate", "landscape", "realm", "beacon", "pivotal"
   • Review phrases to avoid: "It's important to note", "In today's fast-paced world", "At its core", "Let me explain"
   • Review structural patterns to avoid: uniform sentence lengths, excessive tricolons, em dash overuse (LLMs use em dashes formulaically to create "punched up" sales rhythms—swapping to commas doesn't help; vary your structures instead)

3. Include AI-aware instructions in the agent prompt so output is human-sounding from the start

Launch the Agent

Use Task tool with subagent_type: "claude-vibes:BRANDING:brand-visual-director" and this prompt:

Create the visual identity direction for this brand. ultrathink

## BRAND CONTEXT

**Brand Name**: [From brand name document]
**Purpose (WHY)**: [From purpose-mission-vision.md]
**Mission (HOW)**: [From purpose-mission-vision.md]
**Vision (WHERE)**: [From purpose-mission-vision.md]
**Core Values**: [From core-values.md]
**Positioning**: [From positioning.md — the territory we claim]
**Onlyness Statement**: [From positioning.md]
**Tagline**: [From tagline.md — if available]

## BRAND PERSONALITY

**Archetype**: [From archetype.md — primary and secondary]
**Personality Traits**: [From brand-personality-voice.md — the 5 traits]
**Voice Characteristics**: [From brand-personality-voice.md]
**Brand Essence**: [From brand-personality-voice.md — 2-3 words]

## AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

**Who They Serve**: [From audience research — primary customer segment]
**Audience Demographics**: [From audience research — age, location, etc.]
**Visual Expectations**: [From audience research — what they expect visually]
**Aspirational Brands**: [From audience research — brands they admire]

## COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE

**Competitor Visual Styles**: [From competitive audit — how competitors look]
**Visual Patterns to Avoid**: [From competitive audit — overused approaches]
**Visual White Space**: [From competitive audit — opportunities to differentiate]

## PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS

**Design Budget**: [From founder brief — budget for design]
**Existing Elements**: [From founder brief — any existing visuals]
**Must-Haves/Must-Avoids**: [From founder brief — visual constraints]
**Timeline**: [From founder brief — urgency]

## CRITICAL: INTERACTIVE DISCOVERY

**ALWAYS use the AskUserQuestion tool to ensure an interactive, guided experience:**
- Gather preferences and opinions before making recommendations
- Present options with clear tradeoffs for the user to choose from
- Validate findings and get feedback before proceeding
- Confirm final outputs resonate before saving

Never make significant decisions without user input. The brand identity belongs to them.

## DISCOVERY APPROACH

### Phase 1: Synthesize Brand Strategy
Extract from inputs:
- Purpose → What the brand stands for (visual soul)
- Values → Principles that guide visual choices
- Positioning → Territory that visuals must claim
- Archetype → Emotional foundation of visual expression
- Personality → Traits that translate to visual qualities
- Competitive landscape → What to differentiate from

### Phase 2: Commit to Words
Before any visual exploration:
- Define 3-5 brand adjectives
- Create Visual Word Translation for each adjective
- Create Single-Minded Proposition for visual identity
- Identify the "3 words" that capture the overall aesthetic

### Phase 3: Translate Strategy to Visual Language
For each personality trait and archetype quality:
- Define visual expression using archetype visual language
- Apply Visual Word Translation table
- Create mood board direction with strategic rationale

### Phase 4: Create Comprehensive Direction
Build detailed briefs for each visual component:
- Mood board direction (overall aesthetic, textures, emotional qualities)
- Logo design brief (style, conceptual directions, technical requirements)
- Photography style (lighting, composition, color treatment, people)
- Typography direction (personality, category, selection criteria)
- Color strategy (palette structure, psychological rationale)
- Supporting elements (icons, patterns, graphic devices)

### Phase 5: Establish System Governance
- Define what stays constant vs. what can vary
- Create hierarchy of visual elements
- List application priorities
- Document design principles checklist

## TOOLS TO USE

- **Sequential Thinking MCP**: Apply Strategy to Visual Translation Method step-by-step, systematically translate brand adjectives to visual expressions
- **AskUserQuestion**: Understand visual preferences, validate aesthetic directions, get feedback on mood board concepts
- **WebSearch**: Research competitor websites visually, find brand case studies, discover design agency portfolios, find photography style references
- **WebFetch**: Read brand case study pages, study design portfolio writeups, analyze famous brand identity projects for strategic rationale

## OUTPUT REQUIREMENTS

Deliver the complete visual identity direction using the Visual Identity Direction Document Template from the `visual-identity-direction` skill. Must include:

1. **Executive Summary** (3 words + overview)
2. **Single-Minded Proposition** (visual SMP + translation)
3. **Strategic Foundation** (brand inputs, visual word translation, archetype visual language, positioning map, competitive landscape)
4. **Mood Board Direction** (overall aesthetic, references, textures, emotional qualities)
5. **Logo Design Brief** (strategy, style, conceptual directions, technical requirements, what to avoid)
6. **Photography/Imagery Style** (direction, composition, lighting, color, people, do's/don'ts)
7. **Illustration Style** (if applicable)
8. **Supporting Visual Elements** (graphic devices, iconography)
9. **Visual System Overview** (hierarchy, flexibility, application priorities, design principles)
10. **Designer Briefing Summary** (assignment, success criteria, questions)

After Agent Returns

Use AskUserQuestion to help founder review and select:

"Here's your visual identity direction. How would you like to proceed?"

• This direction feels right — let's proceed
• I'd like to explore a different aesthetic direction
• I want to refine specific sections (logo, photography, etc.)
• I have questions about the recommendations
• Let's discuss with my team before finalizing

Guidelines

• Visual direction must connect back to brand strategy — every choice has rationale
• Be specific enough that a designer could work from this — not vague descriptions
• Consider the founder's budget and constraints — practical recommendations
• Balance aspiration with practicality — aspirational but achievable
• Strategy drives design — commit to words first, then visuals
• Mood boards before detail — align on direction before detailed design
• Think in systems — coherent visual language, not one-off designs
• Differentiate visually — use competitive audit to find white space

Output

After the founder approves the direction:

1. Ensure docs/00-BRAND/03-VISUAL/ directory exists

2. Save to docs/00-BRAND/03-VISUAL/01-visual-direction.md with:

   • Executive summary
   • Strategic foundation
   • Mood board direction
   • Logo design brief
   • Photography style
   • Visual system overview

3. Next step: "Run /00-BRAND:03-visual/02-choose-colors to develop your brand color palette."