brand-ideation

# Brand Ideation

Generate and converge on brand directions before committing to identity work. This is upstream of `brand-identity` (the visual system) and `brand-style-guide` (the documentation). It is the divergent-then-convergent thinking phase where ideas are cheap and direction matters more than polish.

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## When to use

- Generating naming options for a new brand or product
- Exploring positioning territories before committing
- Building moodboards and visual direction options
- Drafting narrative or origin-story angles
- Helping the user converge from many half-ideas to one direction
- Stress-testing an existing brand idea before investing in identity work

## When NOT to use

- The brand direction is already locked, the user wants logo and identity work (use `brand-identity`)
- Documenting an existing brand system (use `brand-style-guide`)
- Defining voice for an existing brand (use `brand-voice`)
- Initial discovery and audience research (use `brand-discovery`)

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## Required inputs

- The category or product type
- The audience (at least roughly)
- The reason this brand exists (the problem it solves or the gap it fills)
- Constraints (existing brand assumptions, parent brand, regulatory limits)
- Number of directions desired (typically 3 to 5)

If the audience is unclear, run `brand-discovery` first.

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## The framework: 4 stages

Brand ideation moves through four stages. Each stage diverges (generate options) then converges (pick a direction).

### Stage 1: Positioning territories

A positioning territory is the strategic space the brand occupies. It is not a tagline. It is the answer to "what does this brand stand for that competitors do not?"

Generate 3 to 5 territories using these angles:

- **Functional benefit.** "The fastest way to X." (Risk: easy to copy.)
- **Emotional benefit.** "The brand that makes you feel Y." (Risk: vague if not earned.)
- **Identity.** "For people who are Z." (Risk: alienates non-Z customers.)
- **Antagonist.** "The opposite of [incumbent]." (Risk: defines you by them.)
- **Originator.** "The first or only one to do W." (Risk: must be defensible.)
- **Worldview.** "We believe V." (Risk: must be lived, not just stated.)

For each territory, write:
- **Statement** (one sentence)
- **Why this is true** (the proof point)
- **What this rejects** (the territory we are NOT going to)
- **Risk** (what makes this fragile)

### Stage 2: Naming directions

Names cluster by approach. Generate names across multiple approaches, not just one.

| Approach | Description | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Descriptive | Says what it is | "General Electric," "American Airlines" |
| Evocative | Suggests a feeling or quality | "Patagonia," "Oasis," "Stripe" |
| Founder | Person's name | "Disney," "Ford," "Tesla" |
| Acronym | Letters from longer phrase | "IBM," "BMW," "AWS" |
| Coined | Made-up word | "Kodak," "Häagen-Dazs," "Asana" |
| Metaphor | Borrowed concept | "Apple," "Amazon," "Twitch" |
| Compound | Two words combined | "Facebook," "PayPal," "Spotify" |
| Suggestive | Hints at function without describing | "Tide," "Sprint," "Slack" |

Generate 8 to 15 candidates per direction. Apply naming filters before short-listing:

- **Pronounceable** in target languages
- **Spellable** without confusion
- **Available** as a domain (.com or relevant TLD), social handles, and trademark
- **Distinctive** in the category (search the name + category, see what comes up)
- **Stretchable** (does the name still work if the company expands?)
- **Free of negative associations** (run it past native speakers of any major target market)

A short-listable name passes all six. Most names fail at least one. The bar is necessarily high.

### Stage 3: Mood and visual direction

Generate visual directions BEFORE designing anything. Each direction should be distinct enough that a designer would produce visibly different work for each.

For each mood direction (typically 2 to 4):

- **Mood adjectives** (3 to 5 words)
- **Color territory** (warm/cool, saturated/muted, light/dark - not specific hex yet)
- **Type territory** (serif/sans, modern/classical, geometric/humanist)
- **Imagery direction** (photography style, illustration style, iconography)
- **Reference brands or sites** (3 to 5 that exemplify the direction)
- **What this rejects** (the visual territory we are NOT going to)

A mood direction is "Editorial sophistication: Warm cream paper backgrounds, classical serifs, archival photography. Think: The New York Times Magazine meets a literary journal."

A bad mood direction is "Modern and clean."

### Stage 4: Narrative and origin

Every brand has a story. The narrative answers: how do we tell people why this exists?

Common narrative shapes:

- **Founder story.** A real person solved a real problem they had.
- **Mission story.** A bigger purpose drives every decision.
- **Discovery story.** We found something the world did not know.
- **Heritage story.** This has always been done a certain way; we honor or refresh it.
- **Frustration story.** The category was broken; we built the alternative.
- **Vision story.** Here is the future we are pulling toward.

For each candidate narrative:

- **One-sentence summary**
- **The opening line** (how the story starts when told for the first time)
- **The proof points** (what makes it true and not marketing puff)
- **The hero** (who the audience identifies with - the founder, the customer, the world)

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## Workflow

1. **Confirm the inputs.** Category, audience, reason for being, constraints.
2. **Stage 1: Generate 3 to 5 positioning territories.** Use the 6 angles above. Name what each rejects.
3. **Pick 1 to 2 territories.** Move forward with the strongest.
4. **Stage 2: Generate 30 to 50 naming candidates** across at least 4 approaches. Filter to 8 to 12 that pass the six-criteria check.
5. **Stage 3: Generate 2 to 4 mood directions.** Each must be distinguishable enough to brief a designer.
6. **Stage 4: Generate 2 to 3 narrative shap