--- name: rampstackco/creative-brief-selector source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/rampstackco-creative-brief-selector@2/SKILL.md source_sha256: 5632705d3077 --- # Creative Brief Selector A starting-point selector for brand and microsite builds. Given a business spec (name, vertical, shape, one-line vibe, optional list of shipped demos), produces a creative brief grounded in three things: 1. An archetype position from `brand-archetype-system`, picked or composed to be deliberately distinct from the shipped demos. 2. A small set of live reference sites for that archetype-and-vertical combination, drawn from a curated bank plus optional per-build discovery. 3. A divergence check against the shipped demos that flags palette, voice, structural pattern, and section-shape overlap before the brief is handed off. The brief output is concrete tokens, not abstract families, including explicit section-shape choices (hero shape and footer shape) as first-class outputs alongside palette and voice. It is meant to be loaded by downstream build skills as the single creative artifact for the build. --- ## When to use - Starting any new brand or microsite build that should land in a specific aesthetic position. - The first build in a portfolio (no prior builds to diverge from yet, but the divergence schema can be seeded for the next one). - The second through nth build in a portfolio, where the risk of sibling output is real. - After a portfolio audit that surfaced sibling builds: this skill is the systemic fix for the pattern. - When a build's creative direction is being chosen between two adjacent archetypes and the call needs a reference-grounded reason. ## When NOT to use - The user wants pure aesthetic methodology guidance (use `creative-direction`). - The user has a finished archetype and a finished brief and is asking for execution (skip to the downstream build skills). - The user wants a logo or a finished identity (use `logo-design`, `brand-identity`). - The user wants to define voice for an existing brand (use `brand-voice`). - Defining brand strategy from zero positioning (use `brand-ideation` first, then return to this skill). --- ## How this composes with other skills This skill works upstream of build-time skills and parallel to the aesthetic methodology layer: - **`brand-archetype-system`** (upstream input). The archetype catalog this skill picks from. The skill names the archetype in the rendered brief; it does not redefine the archetype's defaults. - **`creative-direction`** (parallel input). The four-axis vocabulary the archetypes reference. If the consumer needs the full axis brief, run `creative-direction` first; this skill's brief consumes its outputs. - **`brand-identity`** (downstream). Once the brief is approved, brand-identity turns it into a finished identity system. - **`landing-page-copy`, `content-and-copy`, `art-direction`** (downstream). Every downstream skill that produces aesthetic output references this skill's brief. Direct verbatim copying of an archetype's default palette into a new brand is the failure mode this skill exists to prevent. The brief shifts the archetype's defaults toward the business spec's specifics. --- ## The framework: five steps, three rules, one hybrid bank 1. **Locate the design space.** Pick one to two candidate archetypes from `brand-archetype-system` that fit the vertical and shape. 2. **Run input-side divergence.** Read the shipped-demos signatures. Discard candidates that would land sibling to anything shipped. Record what was rejected and why. 3. **Pull references.** From the curated reference bank under `references/reference-bank/`, load the file(s) matching the chosen archetype-and-vertical. Augment with one to two discovered live references if the bank is sparse. Add discovered references back to the bank in the build PR. 4. **Adapt.** Shift the chosen archetype's defaults (palette, type, voice, layout, imagery direction) toward the business spec. The brief lands as concrete tokens, not abstract families. 5. **Render and verify.** Render the brief using the template in [`references/02-brief-template.md`](references/02-brief-template.md). Run output-side divergence. Output the brief plus the references list plus the divergence-check result. Full step-by-step in [`references/01-process.md`](references/01-process.md). The divergence schema and its three overlap rules are in [`references/03-divergence-check.md`](references/03-divergence-check.md). --- ## The hybrid references model A curated bank that grows with each build. Each file under `references/reference-bank/` covers one archetype-and-vertical combination and holds three to six live reference URLs, each with a one-line why and optional palette or type observations. The bank ships with three seed combinations covering western-boot maker, heritage barbershop, and balloon-ride experience. When a build draws from a sparse combination, the build is expected to commit the live references it discovered back to the bank as part of its build PR. The bank gets denser with use. --- ## The divergence schema Each shipped demo carries a signature with seven fields: - `slug` - `archetype` (the canonical archetype name from `brand-archetype-system`) - `dominant_hue_family` (the recognizable colour family, e.g. leather-bone-saddle, dawn-navy-coral, dark-linen-amber) - `voice_register` (e.g. story-forward third-person, atmospheric second-person, fitment-first technical) - `primary_structural_pattern` (e.g. shoppable-grid-product-forward, arc-timeline-hero, fitment-selector-then-rails) - `hero_shape` (e.g. dual-column-image-and-text, wide-photograph-with-band-below, full-bleed-image-with-overlay; canonical vocabulary in `references/05-section-shapes-vocabulary.md`) - `footer_shape` (e.g. single-line-strip, multi-column-sitemap, type-only-no-links; same vocabulary file) Overlap rules (full set in [`references/03-divergence-check.md`](references/03-divergence-check.md)): - Two demos share archetype AND share dominant_hue_family => **SIBLING (block)**. - Two demos share archetype AND share voice_register AND share primary_structural_pattern => **SIBLING (block)**. - Two demos share only dominant_hue_family across different archetypes => **WARN**. - The candidate's hero_shape matches the hero_shape of two or more shipped demos => **WARN**. - The candidate's hero_shape matches three or more shipped demos AND any share an archetype family => **BLOCK**. - The candidate's footer_shape matches three or more shipped demos => **WARN**. A worked example file of seven signatures lives at [`references/04-shipped-demos-signatures-example.md`](references/04-shipped-demos-signatures-example.md) for illustration; the live signatures file for any consuming project lives in that project, not in this skill. --- ## Trademark and attribution Archetypes are NAMED for aesthetic families, NOT for brands, following the convention of `brand-archetype-system`. Live reference sites are cited as exemplars using nominative attribution language: "exemplified by [URL]", "characteristic of", "in the register of". This is descriptive and nominative fair use territory, durable across brand redesigns. A brand that pivots its identity does not invalidate the archetype it once exemplified. --- ## If required data is unavailable This skill's output depends on data, measurements, or tool results it cannot generate on its own. When a required input, tool, or data source is unavailable or unverifiable, the sanctioned output is the deliverable with the gap stated: what was needed, what was actually obtained or verified, and which parts of the output are affected. Fabricating, estimating, or interpolating a required number to complete the deliverable is never sanctioned. A stated gap is a complete answer. --- ## Reference files - [`references/00-overview.md`](references/00-overview.md) - The case for the skill, the hybrid references model, the two-direction divergence, the trademark posture. - [`references/01-process.md`](references/01-process.md) - The five-step process, each step concrete enough to execute. - [`references/02-brief-template.md`](references/02-brief-template.md) - The fillable brief template with section-by-section guidance. - [`references/03-divergence-check.md`](references/03-divergence-check.md) - The signature schema and the overlap rules. - [`references/04-shipped-demos-signatures-example.md`](references/04-shipped-demos-signatures-example.md) - Worked example signatures file with seven demos. - [`references/05-section-shapes-vocabulary.md`](references/05-section-shapes-vocabulary.md) - Canonical open vocabulary of hero and footer section shapes plus archetype affinities. The curated reference bank lives in a `reference-bank/` subdirectory under `references/`. The bank ships with a README plus three seed archetype-and-vertical files: `premium-dtc-maker-western-boots.md`, `heritage-local-service-barbershop.md`, and `hospitality-experience-balloon-ride.md`. The bank's purpose and extension procedure are documented in its README; the seed files each carry three to four positive live references and one to two negative references for the chosen position. Load the bank file matching the build's archetype-and-vertical at step 3 of the process.