# Brand Strategy To Identity

> Use when creating or rebuilding a brand from business strategy through positioning, verbal identity, three visual territories, and an implementation-ready identity brief.

- Skill: `frankxai/brand-strategy-to-identity` (Agent Skill)
- Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add frankxai/brand-strategy-to-identity`
- Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/frankxai/brand-strategy-to-identity/raw
- Safety review: pending
- Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex
- Category: Marketing & Growth
- Author: frankxai (https://skillmd.com/u/frankxai)
- Updated: 2026-09-17
- Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/frankxai/brand-strategy-to-identity

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# Brand Strategy To Identity

Create identity from evidence, not taste adjectives. This workflow precedes logo, typography, color, imagery, motion, templates, and product implementation.

## Hard Stops

Do not create identity directions when any required input is missing:

- canonical product/repository and accountable owner;
- what the product does now, its business model, and its real offer;
- primary audience and the job or consequence that matters to them;
- market/category and the competitors or substitutes people actually compare;
- existing names, domains, trademarks, assets, decisions, licenses, and constraints;
- real proof that may appear near claims.

Do not imply that a domain search or agent research is legal trademark clearance. Naming and final identity promotion require named-human approval; qualified legal review owns clearance where material.

## Workflow

1. **Recover prior truth.** Search canonical repositories, Git history, product surfaces, shared drives/DAM indexes, design files, exported assets, and decision records. Classify each artifact as canonical, approved application, draft, experiment, generated source, or export.
2. **Write the situation.** State the product, business objective, recipient, recipient's current belief, desired belief/action, market tension, credible proof, and constraints.
3. **Map the category.** Document competitor codes in names, marks, typography, color, imagery, language, motion, and product behavior. Record sources and capture dates.
4. **Choose the difference.** Define one category position, one promise, three reasons to believe, one emotional consequence, and explicit anti-references. Reject claims that are not supported by product truth.
5. **Create the verbal core.** Write positioning, one-sentence definition, short/medium descriptions, message hierarchy, voice dimensions with paired extremes, proof style, naming grammar, CTA grammar, and forbidden language.
6. **Create exactly three territories.** Each territory must have a thesis, category tension, composition, type posture, color/material logic, imagery, iconography, motion posture, signature memory, anti-reference, and implementation risk.
7. **Visualize with evidence.** Each board cites source references and labels what is reference, licensed production material, captured product evidence, or generated exploration. Translate principles; do not clone assets or compositions.
8. **Compare before combining.** Score distinctiveness, credibility, audience fit, category legibility, extensibility, accessibility, production feasibility, rights risk, and ownability. Select one territory or restart; do not average three directions into generic compromise.
9. **Write the identity brief.** Hand off one selected system with decisions for logo, type, color, space, imagery, icons, motion, product behavior, templates, and governance.
10. **Record approval.** Store decision owner, selected artifact hash, reasons, rejected alternatives, open risks, and next review date.

## Required Deliverables

- `BRAND-BRIEF.md`: situation, audience, offer, market, proof, constraints.
- `POSITIONING.md`: category, promise, reasons to believe, differentiation, anti-references.
- `VOICE.md`: message hierarchy, voice dimensions, examples, forbidden language.
- `DIRECTIONS/`: three source-led visual territory artifacts and comparison matrix.
- `IDENTITY-BRIEF.md`: selected direction and implementation requirements.
- `SOURCES.md`: URLs/paths, owner, rights state, capture date, observed principle, intended use.
- `DECISION.md`: named decision owner, selection, rationale, risks, and status.

## Quality Gate

Block promotion when:

- the product or recipient could be swapped without changing the work;
- directions differ only by palette or font;
- references have no provenance or are copied literally;
- identity relies on an unverified story, fake proof, or category cliché;
- naming/legal or font/image rights are ambiguous;
- the selected system cannot extend from logo to product, content, motion, and templates;
- the maker is also the only verifier and approver.

## Handoff

After selection, use `logo-system`, `font-licensing-gate`, `typography-art-direction`, `brand-constitution`, and the applicable product/release skills. The strategy document remains authority over downstream style recommendations.