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From design-machines
Design Machines business strategy, product positioning, catalog system, Assembly architecture, partnerships, revenue model, brand language, and design system (color palette, GT Standard typography, token architecture). Use when working on DM business planning, product naming, pricing, client conversations, partnership coordination, marketing copy, catalog entries, visual identity, color decisions, or any strategic decision about Design Machines OÜ. Also use when preparing for client calls, writing proposals, discussing competition among co-op governance tools, making pricing decisions, choosing colors or type for DM properties, or when context about Travis Gertz's positioning and target market is needed. Trigger this skill even for casual mentions of DM pricing, naming decisions, the DM catalog, partner names (Chris, Mario, Ben, Rachel), specific co-op clients (TACO, Solid State), grant funding questions, DM color palette, GT Standard font, purple-800, gold-400, scheme classes, or any reference to the conversion funnel between Live Wires and Assembly. If the user mentions anything about Design Machines as a business — finances, runway, positioning, partnerships, brand, design system, colors, go-to-market — this skill has the context.
npx claudepluginhub design-machines-studio/depot --plugin design-machinesHow this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/design-machines:strategyThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Business strategy and product intelligence for Design Machines OÜ. Company details (registration, location, tax structure) are stored in ai-memory — search for "Design Machines OÜ".
Creates p5.js generative art with seeded randomness, noise fields, and interactive parameter exploration. Use for algorithmic art, flow fields, or particle systems.
Share bugs, ideas, or general feedback.
Business strategy and product intelligence for Design Machines OÜ. Company details (registration, location, tax structure) are stored in ai-memory — search for "Design Machines OÜ".
Design Machines exists to democratize the workplace. We use design, systems thinking, and operations to make it easy to start and run democratic organizations like worker-owned cooperatives.
Governance is the part of running a co-op that nobody wants to do. It's boring. It's confusing. And if you mess it up, you're not really a co-op anymore. I build systems that make governance simple. Even enjoyable. So people can focus on the work they actually started the co-op to do.
For small worker cooperatives struggling with governance, Assembly is a bespoke operations system that makes running a co-op simple and even enjoyable. Unlike spreadsheets, generic business tools, or expensive enterprise solutions, I build purpose-built systems informed by years of actually running a worker co-op.
Worker co-ops outlast conventional businesses.
UK: 76% five-year survival vs ~42% for all new companies (Co-operatives UK). France: 80–90% three-year worker co-op survival vs ~66% conventional (CG Scop / Review of Industrial Organisation 2015). Italy: 87% three-year survival for worker-buyout co-ops vs 48% all Italian businesses (CECOP/CICOPA).
The standard pitch to co-ops assumes fragility. The data inverts the frame. Assembly is infrastructure that compounds an existing competitive advantage, not a life-support system.
Full citations live at references/survival-reframe.md. Verified URLs for external use are at plugins/design-machines/skills/audience/references/survival-reframe-citations.md.
Design Machines' moat is two things working together.
First, integration across the six governance fixtures (decisions, meetings, members, equity, compliance, documentation) in one system of record. No competitor does all six.
Second, bylaws stop being paperwork. Assembly enforces statutory requirements (the AGM 15-month rule, the 14-day director-change filing) and bylaw-or-process requirements (the 2/3-of-votes-cast special-resolution threshold encoded in your rules; quorum thresholds set per the Rules of Association; blocks in consent decision-making require a written reason; new-member approval per each co-op's bylaws). Every other tool treats bylaws as reference docs.
Landing lines: "Your bylaws stop being paperwork." · "The rules run the system." · "Governance you can't accidentally break." Full positioning at references/two-moats.md. Audience-specific pitch versions at plugins/design-machines/skills/audience/references/developer-federation-pitch.md and coop-pitch.md.
| Code | Name | Type | Status | What It Does |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DM-005 | Assembly | Works | Prototype | Bespoke governance OS for worker co-ops |
| DM-003 | Live Wires | Works | Beta | Typography-first CSS framework for editorial web |
| — | Nimber | Works | Legacy/Future | Rate setting & estimation for agencies |
Assembly is the flagship. Live Wires is secondary but strategically important as the top of the conversion funnel. Nimber is future consideration.
Assembly (product line)
├── Baseplate — core application starter (every co-op starts here)
├── Fixtures — modules that bolt on
│ ├── Governance (meetings, resolutions, proposals, decisions)
│ ├── Members (directory, roles, onboarding, lifecycle)
│ ├── Equity (shares, ICAs, patronage, redemption)
│ ├── Compensation (factor-based salary framework)
│ └── Documentation (SOPs, manuals, knowledge base)
└── [Client Name] — whatever the co-op calls theirs
└── Each co-op names their own install
Naming logic:
Tech stack: Go backend + Datastar (real-time SSE) + Live Wires CSS + SQLite (modular) + Templ templates
"The CSS framework built for content-heavy websites, where typography comes first, class names make sense to editors, and prototypes evolve into production code."
Key differentiators vs Tailwind: semantic classes, typography-first, no utility soup, CMS-friendly naming.
Designer uses Live Wires → encounters labor/AI content → learns about co-ops → becomes Assembly client. Products catch at craft level, co-op work catches at values level.
Inspired by Factory Records' FAC numbering. Everything is a release. A CSS framework sits next to a conference talk sits next to a governance system.
| Code | Name | Category | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| DM-000 | "Design Machines" essay | /PRESS | Origin · 2015 |
| DM-001 | Design Machines OÜ | Company | Active · 2024 |
| DM-002 | "AI or Bust(ed)" | /FLOOR | Dot All 2024 |
| DM-003 | Live Wires | /WORKS | Beta |
| DM-004 | The Northern Star | /PLATE | Demo site |
| DM-005 | Assembly | /WORKS | Prototype |
| Marker | Meaning | Covers | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| /WORKS | Products & tools | Frameworks, applications, calculators | Factory works (ironworks, steelworks) |
| /PLATE | Templates & starters | Starter kits, themes, components | Printing plates (reusable forms) |
| /PRESS | Publications | Essays, guides, books, courses | The printing press; "the press" |
| /FLOOR | Talks & events | Conference talks, workshops, podcasts | The shop floor; "you have the floor" |
Markers are optional. DM-003 works alone. DM-003/WORKS adds clarity. Number is canonical.
People who:
| Segment | Priority | Entry Point |
|---|---|---|
| Existing worker co-ops | Primary | Co-op developers, federations |
| New co-ops | High | Co-op incubation pipelines |
| Platform cooperatives | Underserved | Tech-literate, better funded |
| Conversion market | Long-term | Live Wires → labor content → co-ops |
Large established co-ops with own systems. Co-ops with no budget and no path to funding. Traditional businesses wanting a website.
Admin debt functions like technical debt for governance. Bylaws drift from how the co-op actually works. Equity spreadsheets only one person understands. Decisions get relitigated because nobody can find the last one. The Tuesday-morning member can't act without "asking Sarah." Admin debt sits squarely inside the DM factory/labor/publishing triangle because debt is materialist. Assembly's diagnosis: admin debt is a measurable, fixable thing — the same way you wouldn't run a production system on a spreadsheet, you shouldn't run a co-op on one.
Assembly projects cover Discovery + Design, Implementation, and Training phases with optional maintenance retainers. Pricing details are stored in ai-memory — search for "Assembly" or check ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/revenue.md.
Co-op direct payment, federation grants, credit union community development funds, co-op matching funds. Partner network knows the funding landscape.
Current financial targets, runway, and burn rate are stored in ai-memory — search for "Design Machines OÜ".
| Layer | What |
|---|---|
| Financial Foundation | Bookkeeping, cash flow, pricing tools for co-ops |
| Governance Interface | Decisions, members, equity, democracy UX (Assembly) |
| Real-time Collaboration | Live state sync, SSE for voting and dashboards |
| Design System | Typography-first CSS, editorial design (Live Wires) |
Current partner details and pipeline status are stored in ai-memory. Search for partner names or "Design Machines" relationships. See ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/partnerships.md for partner archetypes and ecosystem structure.
Active pipeline details (specific clients, meeting dates, status) are stored in ai-memory. See ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/pipeline.md for distribution channels and pilot criteria.
plugins/council/skills/governance/references/plain-language-glossary.md.Every name and piece of marketing must feel like it belongs to at least one of three worlds:
Factories (how things are made) + Labor (who makes them and under what conditions) + Publishing (how ideas spread)
Before naming anything: Can I picture this in a factory, a union hall, or a print shop? If yes, it fits. If it sounds like a SaaS landing page, start over.
Factory & Industrial: Anvil · Bellows · Forge · Gauge · Jig · Lathe · Loom · Press · Proof · Spindle · Voltage · Workbench
Labor & Democracy: Ballot · Charter · Dispatch · Guild · Ledger · Local · Mandate · Muster · Quorum · Roll Call · Steward · Union Hall
Publishing & Editorial: Broadsheet · Byline · Chapbook · Colophon · Folio · Galley · Imprint · Leaflet · Masthead · Newsprint · Typeset · Woodcut
Primary audience is co-op developers, federations, and incubators (USFWC, CWCF, DAWI / Democracy at Work Institute, Cooperation Works!, Cooperatives Europe). They recommend Assembly to dozens of member co-ops each. The federation is the channel; the co-ops are the members. Assembly is what their consulting engagement leaves behind.
What this audience cares about: pipeline economics (compressing TA work from months to days), curriculum embedding, client retention, federation-recognized co-branded artifacts, sectoral density. What they fear: software that competes with their consulting revenue, per-seat pricing that punishes adding member co-ops, tools whose politics are illegible. Pitch Assembly as augmenting TA work, not replacing it; pitch federation-tier pricing that gets cheaper-per-co-op; lead with the politics.
Full pitch material lives in the audience skill (plugins/design-machines/skills/audience/references/developer-federation-pitch.md).
The Tuesday-morning member; the small-to-mid co-op (5-30 members) that knows what governance is supposed to feel like and is currently making it work despite their tools, not because of them. Pitch material at plugins/design-machines/skills/audience/references/coop-pitch.md.
Lead with internal operations, not public-facing design.
Why:
Channels:
This Live Wires-led funnel is deprioritized for now in favor of the channel-first federation play above. Live Wires stays in the catalog and stays useful as the top-of-funnel for designers who eventually become Assembly clients; it just is not the lead motion any more.
Design Machines uses a unified visual identity across all products: GT Standard typeface (variable, Grilli Type), a 7-family color palette (Purple, Red, Orange, Gold, Green, Blue, Iron) built in OKLCH, and a three-layer token architecture (primitives > semantic tokens > scheme classes). Brand anchors: Purple-800 #220d46, Gold-400 #ffcb09, Red-500 #ed1d26.
Full palette, token maps, scheme inventory, product assignments, and accessibility guidelines are in references/design-system.md.
What co-ops actually use today: Spreadsheets, Google Docs, Notion (if technical), generic tools (Monday, Asana), paper, nothing at all, expensive custom solutions ($50K+).
The real competition: Cobbled-together free tools plus hope.
Design Machines operates as a system of interdependent feedback loops. When making strategic decisions — pricing, prioritization, partnerships, product scope, time allocation — check which loops a decision feeds or starves.
Four reinforcing loops (compound growth — feed these):
| Loop | Name | Mechanism | Current State |
|---|---|---|---|
| R1 | Product-Adoption | Assembly improves → co-ops run better → success stories → more co-ops adopt → revenue + feedback → Assembly improves | Not yet turning. TACO prototype is the first turn of the crank. |
| R2 | Solidarity Ecosystem | Solid State incubates → creates demand for governance tools → Assembly gets pilots → governance health validates incubation → pipeline grows | Active but pre-revenue. Relationships strong, no money flowing yet. |
| R3 | Propaganda | Co-ops succeed using Assembly → visible proof co-ops work → more people consider conversion → larger sector → more demand | Dormant. Needs R1's first turn before it can start. |
| R4 | Knowledge | Systems thinking library → informs governance design patterns → better loops encoded in Assembly → pilot data → deeper understanding | Active. RAG library indexed, research informing product design. |
Two balancing loops (constraints — manage these):
| Loop | Name | Mechanism | Current State |
|---|---|---|---|
| B1 | Investment Window | Personal savings depleting monthly. No external income. Window determines how many turns R1 gets. Check ai-memory entity "Design Machines OÜ" for current burn rate, runway, and grant status. | Amber. Controlled investment, not crisis. |
| B2 | Complexity vs Adoption | Governance requirements demand features → complexity increases → adoption friction. Countered by design principles: compliance as byproduct, let formality emerge, be easier than the workaround. | Managed. Design principles are the lever. |
Three systems archetypes from the DM library (Senge, Meadows, Kelly) that apply directly. Flag these during strategic decisions:
Eroding Goals (Meadows): Financial pressure gradually lowers ambition. The danger isn't stopping Assembly work — it's "just taking one freelance project" that becomes the new normal, and Assembly development slows to a crawl. The goal erodes so gradually you don't notice. Test: "Am I making this decision because it serves the mission, or because it reduces financial anxiety?"
Growth and Underinvestment (Senge): Investing in infrastructure before the growth signal is real. Don't over-engineer the baseplate before TACO is live and giving real feedback. Extract abstractions from what you've learned, not from what you assume. Test: "Has a real pilot validated this need, or am I building for a future that doesn't exist yet?"
Shifting the Burden (Senge/Meadows): The symptomatic solution (freelance income) undermines the fundamental solution (Assembly revenue). Every hour on freelance is an hour not shipping the prototype that generates its own revenue. Test: "Does this income source compete with or complement Assembly development time?"
All loops wait on R1's first complete turn. The sequencing:
Sprint time allocation during this phase: 80% TACO prototype, 10% pipeline warmth, 10% build-process content.
From highest to lowest leverage:
Key texts informing this analysis — searchable via rag_search:
| Book | Author | Key Contribution |
|---|---|---|
| Thinking in Systems | Donella Meadows | Leverage points hierarchy, stocks and flows, archetype recognition |
| The Fifth Discipline | Peter Senge | Systems archetypes (Growth and Underinvestment, Shifting the Burden, Eroding Goals), mental models, team learning |
| Owning Our Future | Marjorie Kelly | Generative vs extractive ownership, feedback loops in cooperative design, Mission-Controlled Governance |
| Introduction to General Systems Thinking | Gerald Weinberg | Foundational systems theory, observation and partitioning |
| Systems Thinking Tools | Daniel Kim / Pegasus | Practical toolkit — causal loop diagrams, behavior over time, management flight simulators. Includes Forrester's "System Dynamics and the Lessons of 35 Years" |
When making a strategic decision, search the RAG with the relevant archetype or concept name. The library has deep material on all of these.
Reference files contain stable structural knowledge: pricing tiers, engagement phases, brand language rules, catalog architecture, partner archetypes. These rarely change.
ai-memory contains dynamic state: current pipeline status, active financial runway, specific meeting dates, recent decisions, relationship updates. Search for entity names like "Design Machines OÜ", "Assembly", partner names, or client names.
When in doubt: check the reference file first (faster, always available), then ai-memory for current state.
| Skill | Plugin | When to Load |
|---|---|---|
| audience | design-machines | External communication, pitching, federation outreach, competitive analysis (this skill is internal business decisions; audience is everything aimed outward) |
| voice | ghostwriter | Writing any DM content, copy, or communications |
| social-media | ghostwriter | Platform-specific content distribution |
| governance | council | Co-op domain knowledge for client conversations |
| decolonial-language | council | Terminology positions (patronage refunds not dividends; surpluses not profits; member capital not equity) referenced from the strategy skill's positioning sections |
| development | assembly | Technical Assembly architecture discussions |
| livewires | live-wires | Live Wires framework positioning and technical details |
Load specific reference files based on needs:
| Topic | Reference File | When to Load |
|---|---|---|
| DM Catalog system | ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/catalog.md | Naming new products, catalog entries |
| Assembly architecture | ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/assembly.md | Technical discussions, scoping |
| Partnerships | ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/partnerships.md | Partner coordination, pipeline |
| Revenue model | ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/revenue.md | Pricing, proposals, financial planning |
| Brand language | ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/brand-language.md | Naming, copy, marketing |
| Design system | ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/design-system.md | Colors, typography, tokens, schemes, product assignments |
| Pipeline & pilots | ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/pipeline.md | Client conversations, preparation |
| Survival reframe | ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/survival-reframe.md | Citable survival statistics with sources; positioning from strength, not rescue |
| Two moats | ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/references/two-moats.md | Integration + enforcement positioning with concrete BC Act enforcement examples |