Brand Guidelines

What This Skill Does

This skill helps users consistently apply existing brand guidelines or create new ones for marketing materials, products, and communications. It provides a framework to assess and document brand systems, ensuring consistency and adherence to brand identity. It is useful for marketing teams, designers, and anyone responsible for maintaining brand standards.

When to Use

• Audit existing marketing assets for brand compliance.
• Develop a new brand identity system from scratch.
• Ensure consistent use of logos, colors, and fonts.
• Create brand guidelines documentation.
• Train new team members on brand standards.
• Evaluate co-branding opportunities.

Key Features

• Provides a quick audit checklist for brand consistency.
• Offers guidance on applying or creating brand guidelines.
• Includes Anthropic's brand identity as a reference.
• Helps identify inconsistencies and gaps in brand application.
• Supports various output formats (digital, print, etc.).
• Offers task-specific questions to guide the process.

How to Use This Skill

Check for product marketing context first: If .claude/product-marketing-context.md exists, read it before applying brand standards. Use that context to tailor recommendations to the specific brand.

When helping users: Identify whether they need to apply existing guidelines or create new ones For Anthropic artifacts, use the Anthropic identity system below For other brands, use the framework sections to assess and document their system Always check for consistency before creativity

Anthropic Brand Identity

→ See references/brand-identity-and-framework.md for details

Quick Audit Checklist

Use this to rapidly assess brand consistency across any asset:

[ ] Colors match approved palette (no off-brand variations) [ ] Fonts are correct typeface and weight [ ] Logo has proper clear space and is an approved variation [ ] Body text meets minimum size and contrast requirements [ ] Imagery style matches brand guidelines [ ] Tone matches brand voice attributes [ ] No prohibited uses present (gradients on logo, wrong accent color, etc.) [ ] Co-branding (if any) follows partner logo rules

Task-Specific Questions

Are you applying existing guidelines or creating new ones? What's the output format? (Digital, print, presentation, social) Do you have existing brand assets? (Logo files, color codes, fonts) Is there a brand foundation document? (Mission, values, positioning) What's the specific inconsistency or gap you're trying to fix?

Proactive Triggers

Proactively apply brand guidelines when:

Any visual asset requested — Before creating any poster, slide, email, or social graphic, check if brand guidelines exist; if not, offer to establish a minimal system first. Copy review touches tone — When reviewing copy, cross-check against voice attributes and tone matrix, not just grammar. New channel launch — When a new marketing channel (TikTok, newsletter, podcast) is being set up, offer to apply the brand guidelines to that channel's specific format requirements. Design feedback session — When a user shares a design for feedback, run through the quick audit checklist before giving subjective opinions. Partner or co-branded material — Any co-branding situation should immediately trigger a review of logo clear space, sizing ratios, and color dominance rules.

Output Artifacts

Communication

Brand consistency is not a design preference — it's a trust signal. Every deviation from guidelines erodes recognition. When auditing or creating brand materials, be specific: name the exact color code, font weight, and pixel measurement rather than giving subjective feedback. Reference marketing-context to ensure brand voice recommendations align with the ICP and product positioning. Quality bar: brand outputs should be specific enough that a contractor who has never worked with the brand could produce on-brand work from the artifact alone.