Select Brand Typography

You are helping a startup founder develop their brand typography system. This includes selecting typefaces, creating a typography hierarchy, and establishing usage guidelines that express brand personality through type.

Note: Typography is voice made visible. The right typefaces, used consistently, make a brand feel cohesive and intentional.

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

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

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

Visual Direction (required): @docs/00-BRAND/03-VISUAL/01-visual-direction.md

Color Palette (optional): @docs/00-BRAND/03-VISUAL/02-color-palette.md

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

Optional typography 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-typography-curator agent. Do not select typography 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 validate
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-typography-curator 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-typography-curator" and this prompt:

Develop the brand typography system. 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]

## 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]

## VISUAL DIRECTION

**Visual Adjectives**: [From visual-direction.md — the 3-5 visual words]
**Mood Board Direction**: [From visual-direction.md — overall aesthetic]
**Visual SMP**: [From visual-direction.md — single-minded proposition]

## AUDIENCE INSIGHTS

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

## COLOR PALETTE (if available)

**Primary Colors**: [From color-palette.md — for text color alignment]
**Text Colors**: [From color-palette.md — existing dark/light neutrals]

## PRACTICAL CONSTRAINTS

**Design Budget**: [From founder brief — budget for design]
**Existing Elements**: [From founder brief — any existing fonts]
**Typography Preferences/Avoids**: [From founder brief or $ARGUMENTS — constraints]
**Primary Touchpoints**: [From founder brief — web, print, app]
**Free Fonts Required?**: [From $ARGUMENTS or inferred from budget]

## 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: Analyze Brand Strategy
Extract from inputs:
- Personality → Traits that translate to type qualities
- Voice → How type should "sound"
- Archetype → Type mood and emotional foundation
- Positioning → Type style that claims this territory
- Visual Direction → Aesthetic alignment

### Phase 2: Establish Classification Direction
Apply Serif vs. Sans-Serif Decision Framework:
- Assess industry expectations
- Evaluate touchpoint distribution (digital vs. print)
- Consider brand positioning (traditional vs. modern)
- Make primary classification decision with rationale

### Phase 3: Build Modular Scale
Using modular scale principles:
- Define base size (16px for web)
- Select ratio based on personality and content type
- Calculate 6-8 distinct sizes
- Map to hierarchy levels (H1-H6, body, captions)
- Consider responsive adjustments

### Phase 4: Research and Select Typefaces
Apply Typeface Evaluation Criteria:
- Assess comprehensiveness, legibility, versatility
- Evaluate complementarity with brand elements
- Check distinctiveness vs. competitors
- Verify technical readiness (web fonts, licensing, variable font)

### Phase 5: Define Pairing Strategy
Apply Font Pairing Principles:
- Seek contrast through classification
- Ensure meaningful hierarchy distinction
- Look for shared characteristics (x-height, era)
- Test in real content contexts

### Phase 6: Build Typography System
Document complete hierarchy:
- All hierarchy levels with specifications
- Line height, tracking, line length guidelines
- Design tokens for implementation
- Usage guidelines (do's and don'ts)
- Cross-channel adaptations (web, print, email)
- Accessibility requirements

## TOOLS TO USE

- **Sequential Thinking MCP**: Match brand personality to type qualities, build modular scale systematically, evaluate typeface candidates against criteria
- **AskUserQuestion**: Understand typography constraints (free fonts needed? existing fonts?), validate classification direction, get feedback on typeface options
- **WebSearch**: Discover font pairing guides, typography resources (Google Fonts, Adobe Fonts), competitor typography, brand typography examples
- **WebFetch**: Read typography guides, font pairing articles, foundry pages — understand pairing rationale and access font specimen details

## OUTPUT REQUIREMENTS

Deliver the complete typography system using the Typography System Documentation Template from the `brand-typography-systems` skill. Must include:

1. **Executive Summary** (2-3 sentences on typefaces and personality expression)
2. **Strategic Foundation** (brand inputs, personality match, classification decision)
3. **Modular Scale** (base, ratio, calculated sizes, hierarchy mapping)
4. **Primary Typeface** (headlines — with source, rationale, evaluation, weights)
5. **Secondary Typeface** (body — with pairing rationale, readability notes)
6. **Tertiary Typeface** (optional — accent use only)
7. **Typography Hierarchy** (complete H1-H6, body, captions with specs)
8. **Typography Design Tokens** (CSS custom properties)
9. **Font Pairing Rationale** (how fonts work together)
10. **Web-Safe Fallbacks** (font stacks)
11. **Usage Guidelines** (do's and don'ts)
12. **Accessibility Verification** (sizes, contrast, dyslexia-friendly)
13. **Font Licensing Summary** (license types, sources, restrictions)
14. **Quick Reference Card** (essential specs)

After Agent Returns

Use AskUserQuestion to help founder review and validate:

"Here's your brand typography system. How would you like to proceed?"

• This typography feels right — let's proceed
• I'd like to explore different typeface options
• I want to refine specific elements (primary font, body font, hierarchy)
• I have questions about the recommendations
• Let's test the fonts in real mockups first
• I need to discuss with my team before finalizing

Guidelines

• Typography must express brand personality — start with personality, select to match
• Be specific — exact sizes, weights, spacing, not vague descriptions
• Consider budget constraints — free fonts (Google Fonts) vs. paid
• Ensure fonts work well together — contrast through classification
• Include web-safe fallbacks — for when fonts don't load
• Think in systems — typography that scales across all applications
• Prioritize readability — beautiful but illegible type fails
• Test accessibility — WCAG contrast, minimum sizes, dyslexia-friendly
• Document licensing — verify all use cases are covered

Output

After the founder approves the typography:

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

2. Save to docs/00-BRAND/03-VISUAL/03-typography.md with:

   • Executive summary
   • Strategic foundation
   • Modular scale
   • Primary and secondary typefaces
   • Complete hierarchy
   • Design tokens
   • Usage guidelines
   • Accessibility verification
   • Quick reference

3. Next step: "Visual phase complete! Run /00-BRAND:04-compile/01-compile-guidelines to create your final brand guidelines document."