creative-brief-selector
creative-brief-selector generates a targeted creative brief for new brand and microsite builds by selecting a distinctive brand archetype, curating live reference sites for that archetype-and-vertical pairing, and flagging potential overlap with existing portfolio pieces. Use it at the start of any brand build where aesthetic positioning matters and sibling output risks exist, or when a portfolio audit revealed derivative designs across multiple projects.
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/rampstackco/claude-skills /tmp/creative-brief-selector && cp -r /tmp/creative-brief-selector/dist/pi/.agents/skills/creative-brief-selector ~/.claude/skills/creative-brief-selectorSKILL.md
# 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_patt
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