Brand Identity & Design System — Orchestrator

Design — Step 1 of 2. Coordinates specialized agents to transform product artifacts into a complete brand identity and design system.

Core Question: "Does every visual decision trace back to who we are?"

Critical Gates — Read First

Do NOT choose colors or fonts before strategy. Visual-agent runs in parallel with strategy-agent but the orchestrator must verify coherence in the merge step. Visual choices without strategy justification get flagged by critic-agent.
Do NOT dispatch Layer 2 before Layer 1 completes. Token-architect-agent needs visual-agent output. Component-token-agent needs token-architect-agent output. The chain is strict.
Do NOT skip the critic's cross-element coherence check. Radius must map to archetype. Typography must match personality. Color must align with brand emotion. The critic checks the matrix that no individual agent can see.
Stale upstream data (>30 days) produces generic archetypes. Recommend re-running
```
icp-research
```
before proceeding if artifact dates are old.

Inputs Required

Product description or PRD (what the product does, who it serves)
Target audience profile (demographics, psychographics, context of use)
Competitive context (who else serves this audience, how they're positioned)

Output

```
.agents/design/brand-system.md
```
(brand identity, voice, visual system, design tokens)
Visual brand guideline artboards (if Paper MCP available)

Quality Gate

Before delivering, the critic agent verifies:

Every visual, verbal, and token decision traces back to strategy and archetype
Values have real tradeoffs (not generic "innovation, quality, integrity")
Voice chart has Do/Don't examples for every attribute
All semantic tokens have both light and dark mode values
Every token pair meets WCAG AA contrast (4.5:1 normal text, 3:1 large/UI)
Background/foreground convention used consistently (
```
bg-primary text-primary-foreground
```
)
One global
```
--radius
```
value — all components derive from it
Cross-element coherence: radius maps to archetype (see
```
references/token-templates.md
```
), type personality matches archetype (see
```
references/typography-psychology.md
```
), color emotion aligns with brand personality (see
```
references/color-emotion.md
```
), and imagery direction reflects the archetype's visual world. Flag any element that contradicts the others.
AI slop check: run
```
references/ai-slop-detection.md
```
checklist against all visual outputs — 0-1 items is clean, 2-3 needs review, 4+ needs regeneration

Chain Position

Previous: none | Next:

user-flow

Re-run triggers: After major product pivots, when entering new markets, after significant audience shifts, or annually for brand refresh.

Related skills (non-chain):

icp-research

(audience data for brand strategy),

content-create

(consumes voice guidelines),

humanize

(uses voice adjectives)

Skill Deference

Need audience research first? Run
```
icp-research
```
(from marketing-skills) — brand strategy without audience research produces generic archetypes.
Need user flows after brand? Run
```
user-flow
```
next — it consumes design tokens and component context.
Need marketing copy? Run
```
content-create
```
or
```
copywriting
```
— they consume voice guidelines.

Agent Manifest

Agent	Layer	File	Focus
Strategy Agent	1 (parallel)	`agents/strategy-agent.md`	Purpose, mission, vision, values, positioning, competitive landscape
Personality Agent	1 (parallel)	`agents/personality-agent.md`	Jungian archetype (70/30 blend), personality traits, emotional journey
Voice Agent	1 (parallel)	`agents/voice-agent.md`	Voice chart, tone spectrum, messaging architecture, on-brand examples
Visual Agent	1 (parallel)	`agents/visual-agent.md`	Logo, color system (OKLCH 60/30/10), typography, imagery
Token Architect Agent	2 (sequential)	`agents/token-architect-agent.md`	3-layer W3C token system, semantic map, radius-to-archetype
Component Token Agent	2 (sequential)	`agents/component-token-agent.md`	Button 6 variants, input specs, card specs, motion tokens
Accessibility Agent	2 (sequential)	`agents/accessibility-agent.md`	WCAG AA contrast, touch targets, dark mode audit, focus states
Critic Agent	2 (final)	`agents/critic-agent.md`	Cross-element coherence, token correctness, PASS/FAIL

Shared References (read by multiple agents)

```
references/brand-archetypes.md
```
— 12 Jungian archetypes with visual/verbal mappings
```
references/brand-voice.md
```
— Voice frameworks, tone dimensions, messaging architecture
```
references/visual-identity.md
```
— Logo systems, imagery, iconography, graphic elements
```
references/color-emotion.md
```
— Color psychology, OKLCH values, audience palettes
```
references/typography-psychology.md
```
— Font personality mappings and pairing rules
```
references/token-architecture.md
```
— Three-layer token system, semantic token map
```
references/token-templates.md
```
— Primitive scales, radius-archetype mapping, mapping example
```
references/component-tokens.md
```
— Component token map, button/input/card specs, motion tokens
```
references/component-patterns.md
```
— Extended UI component patterns with token consumption maps
```
references/implementation-rules.md
```
— Accessibility baseline, dark mode rules, brand applications
```
references/artboard-generation.md
```
— Paper MCP artboard specs and workflow
```
references/paper-artboard-templates.md
```
— Paper MCP HTML/CSS templates
```
references/ai-slop-detection.md
```
— AI-generated design anti-patterns checklist

Routing Logic

Mode Selection

Ask: "Full brand system or quick brand for MVP?"

Route A: Quick Brand (MVP)

When: MVP, early-stage, need to ship fast with basic brand foundations.

1. Pre-dispatch: Gather context (Step 0)
2. LAYER 1 — Dispatch IN PARALLEL:
   - strategy-agent (purpose, values, positioning)
   - visual-agent (color + typography only — logo deferred)
3. Dispatch: critic-agent (coherence check — strategy-to-visual only)
4. If FAIL → re-dispatch named agent(s) with feedback (max 2 cycles)
5. Deliver Quick Brand artifact

Quick Brand scope: Purpose/mission/vision, core values, positioning, primary color + neutrals, display + body font, basic type hierarchy. Defers: archetype analysis, voice/tone system, messaging architecture, full visual identity, token architecture, component tokens, accessibility audit, dark mode, artboards.

Quick Brand output includes a note: "Run full brand-system when ready to build the design system."

Route B: Full Brand System

When: Established product, full rebrand, comprehensive guidelines needed.

1. Pre-dispatch: Gather context (Step 0)
2. LAYER 1 — Dispatch IN PARALLEL:
   - strategy-agent
   - personality-agent
   - voice-agent
   - visual-agent
3. MERGE: Assemble Layer 1 outputs into brand identity sections
4. LAYER 2 — Dispatch SEQUENTIALLY:
   - token-architect-agent (receives visual-agent + personality-agent output)
   - component-token-agent (receives token-architect-agent output)
   - accessibility-agent (receives token-architect + component-token outputs)
5. Dispatch: critic-agent (receives complete brand system)
6. If FAIL → re-dispatch named agent(s) with feedback (max 2 cycles)
7. Artboard generation (Step 9 — if Paper MCP available)
8. Deliver artifact

Step 0: Pre-Dispatch Context Gathering

Product Context Check

Check for

.agents/product-context.md

and

.agents/mkt/icp-research.md

. If

date

fields are older than 30 days, warn the user and recommend re-running upstream skills.

Required Inputs — Interview If Missing

Product description or PRD
Target audience profile
Competitive context

Strongly Recommended

Existing brand assets (logos, colors, fonts, past guidelines)
Founder/team values and origin story
Key differentiators

Helpful

Admired brands (aspirational and anti-aspirational)
Market positioning intent (premium, accessible, disruptive, trusted)

Optional Artifacts

Artifact	Source	Benefit
`.agents/product-context.md`	icp-research (from `hungv47/marketing-skills` )	Product positioning, audience, and voice adjectives — grounds brand strategy in audience research
`.agents/mkt/icp-research.md`	icp-research (from `hungv47/marketing-skills` )	Audience personas, pain profiles, and VoC quotes — brand strategy without audience research produces generic archetypes

Strongly recommended: Run

icp-research

(from marketing-skills) first if audience research hasn't been done.

Context to Pass to All Agents

Product: description, audience, competitive landscape
Existing assets: any logos, colors, fonts, guidelines to preserve or evolve
Positioning intent: premium, accessible, disruptive, trusted
Upstream artifacts: excerpts from product-context.md and icp-research.md if available

Missing product details are not guessable — interview for them.

Dispatch Protocol

How to spawn a sub-agent

Read the agent instruction file — include its FULL content in the Agent prompt
Append the context (product, audience, competitive landscape, existing assets) after the instructions
Resolve file paths to absolute: replace relative paths with absolute paths rooted at this skill's directory
Pass upstream artifacts by content: the orchestrator reads
```
.agents/
```
files FIRST, then includes relevant excerpts in context. Sub-agents should NOT read artifact files directly.
If feedback exists (from critic FAIL), append with header "## Critic Feedback — Address Every Point"

Conventions

Source citation: When stating facts about brand psychology, color theory, or archetype effectiveness, cite the source. If from a web search, include the URL. If a fact cannot be attributed, flag it as
```
[UNVERIFIED]
```
.
Context loaded: When producing the artifact, include which upstream artifacts were read and their versions/dates in the artifact body. This creates an audit trail for downstream skills.

Single-agent fallback

If multi-agent dispatch is unavailable, execute each agent's instructions sequentially in-context:

Layer 1: define strategy, select archetype, write voice chart, design visual identity
Layer 2: build token architecture, map component tokens, audit accessibility
Final: evaluate with critic rubric, check cross-element coherence

Layer 1: Parallel Foundation

Spawn IN PARALLEL:

Agent	Instruction File	Pass These Inputs	Reference Files
Strategy Agent	`agents/strategy-agent.md`	brief (product + audience + competitors)	—
Personality Agent	`agents/personality-agent.md`	brief (product + audience)	`references/brand-archetypes.md`
Voice Agent	`agents/voice-agent.md`	brief (product + audience)	`references/brand-voice.md`
Visual Agent	`agents/visual-agent.md`	brief (product + audience + existing assets)	`references/color-emotion.md` , `references/typography-psychology.md` , `references/visual-identity.md`

Wait for all to complete. Their outputs feed the merge step and Layer 2.

Merge Step

Assemble Layer 1 outputs into the artifact template:

Section	Owner Agent
Part I: Strategy (purpose, values, positioning, landscape)	Strategy Agent
Part II: Personality (archetype, traits, emotional journey)	Personality Agent
Part II: Voice & Messaging (voice chart, tone, messaging, examples)	Voice Agent
Part III: Visual Identity (logo, color, typography, imagery)	Visual Agent

Coherence check before Layer 2: Verify that the archetype selected by personality-agent aligns with the visual choices made by visual-agent. If they contradict (e.g., Caregiver archetype with sharp/aggressive typography), resolve before dispatching Layer 2.

Layer 2: Sequential Chain

Dispatch ONE AT A TIME, IN ORDER:

Step	Agent	Instruction File	Receives
1	Token Architect Agent	`agents/token-architect-agent.md`	Visual-agent output (colors, fonts) + personality-agent output (archetype for radius)
2	Component Token Agent	`agents/component-token-agent.md`	Token-architect-agent output (semantic token map)
3	Accessibility Agent	`agents/accessibility-agent.md`	Token-architect + component-token outputs
4	Critic Agent	`agents/critic-agent.md`	Complete assembled brand system

Critic Gate

PASS: Deliver the artifact. Proceed to artboard generation (Step 9) if Paper MCP available.
FAIL: Re-dispatch named agent(s) with critic feedback. Max 2 rewrite cycles. After 2 failures, deliver with critic annotations and flag to user.

Step 9: Visual Artboard Generation (Paper MCP)

Render brand guidelines as 5 presentation-ready artboards if Paper MCP is available. Reference

references/artboard-generation.md

for complete specs, workflow, and prerequisites.

After generating artboards, run the AI slop detection checklist (

references/ai-slop-detection.md

). Artboards are the highest-risk output for AI default patterns.

Artboards: Color Palette | Typography System | Spacing & Tokens | UI Style Principles | Logo System

Skip this step if Paper MCP tools are unavailable.

Artifact Template

Save to

.agents/design/brand-system.md

On re-run: rename existing artifact to

brand-system.v[N].md

and create new with incremented version.

markdown

---
skill: brand-system
version: 1
date: {{today}}
status: draft
---

# Brand System: [Brand Name]

## Part I: Strategy
- Purpose, positioning, competitive landscape

## Part II: Personality
- Primary archetype, voice framework, messaging examples

## Part III: Visual Identity
- Logo, color palette (OKLCH + hex), typography, imagery direction

## Part IV: Design Tokens
- Primitive scales, semantic map, component tokens (see references/)

## Part V: Implementation
- Accessibility, dark mode, brand applications (see references/)

Worked Example (Condensed) — Route B: Full Brand System

Input: FinLit — a personal finance app for young professionals (22-30), positioned against intimidating banking apps.

Step 0: Pre-Dispatch

Product: personal finance app. Audience: young professionals 22-30. Competitors: traditional banking apps (Mint, bank mobile apps).

Layer 1: Parallel Foundation

All 4 agents dispatched in parallel:

Strategy agent returns: Purpose "make finance empowering, not shameful." Positioning: "the only finance app that feels like a supportive friend." Values: transparency over comfort, simplicity over completeness, progress over perfection.
Personality agent returns: Caregiver (70%) + Explorer (30%). Traits: encouraging but not patronizing, clear but not dumbed-down, warm but not saccharine.
Voice agent returns: Voice chart with 3 attributes (straight-talking, encouraging, honest). Tagline: "Money, minus the shame." Boilerplate in 4 lengths.
Visual agent returns: Primary warm teal
```
oklch(0.65 0.15 180)
```
/
```
#2cbaa0
```
. Neutral base: Stone. Display: Plus Jakarta Sans. Body: Inter. Radius: 0.5rem (Caregiver). Imagery: real people, natural light, warm tones.

Merge

Assembled into Parts I-III. Coherence check: Caregiver archetype aligns with warm teal (trust + growth), humanist-leaning typography (approachable), 0.5rem radius (soft). PASS — proceed to Layer 2.

Layer 2: Sequential Chain

Token architect returns: Stone 50-950 neutral scale, teal 50-950 primary scale,
```
--radius: 0.5rem
```
, 19 semantic tokens with light + dark values.
Component token returns: 6 button variants mapped to semantic tokens, input specs with blur validation, card specs, motion tokens (100-500ms).
Accessibility returns: All token pairs pass 4.5:1. Dark mode surface hierarchy (stone.950 → stone.900 → stone.800). Primary shifts to teal.400 in dark mode. Touch targets ≥44px.
Critic returns: PASS. Cross-element coherence verified. Radius matches Caregiver. Typography matches warmth. Color matches archetype. AI slop score: 1 item (clean).

Deliver

Artifact saved to

.agents/design/brand-system.md

Worked Example (Condensed) — Route A: Quick Brand

Input: TaskFlow — a new project management tool, pre-MVP, needs basic brand to start building.

Step 0: Pre-Dispatch

Product: project management tool. Audience: small team leads. Quick Brand selected.

Layer 1: Parallel (reduced)

Strategy agent returns: Purpose, values (clarity over complexity, speed over ceremony), positioning.
Visual agent returns: Primary blue
```
oklch(0.623 0.214 259)
```
/
```
#3b82f6
```
. Neutral: Slate. Display: Inter. Body: Inter.

Critic (reduced)

Checks strategy-to-visual coherence only. PASS.

Deliver

Artifact saved with note: "Run full brand-system when ready to build the design system."

Anti-Patterns

Aesthetics without strategy — Picking colors or fonts because they "look nice" without tracing back to archetype and positioning. INSTEAD: Every visual choice must have a strategy justification in the change log.

Generic values — "Innovation, quality, integrity" have no tradeoff; they guide nothing. INSTEAD: Use "X over Y" format where Y is a legitimate alternative: "transparency over comfort."

Archetype confusion — Selecting contradictory archetypes (Outlaw + Ruler, Hero + Innocent). INSTEAD: Primary and secondary should complement each other; the secondary adds nuance, not contradiction.

Voice without examples — "We're friendly" is meaningless without a concrete error message example. INSTEAD: Every voice attribute has a Do and Don't example from a real brand context.

Token soup — Creating 40+ semantic tokens when ~20 covers an entire component library. INSTEAD: Keep the semantic layer tight. If you're inventing

--subtle-muted-foreground-alt

, the system is too granular.

Skipping semantic layer — Components referencing primitives (

oklch(0.546...)

) instead of semantic tokens (

var(--primary)

). INSTEAD: Always reference semantic tokens. The three-layer chain is Primitive -> Semantic -> Component.

Mismatched bg/fg pairs —

bg-primary text-primary

is wrong; use

bg-primary text-primary-foreground

. INSTEAD: Every semantic color role is a pair. Base = background.

-foreground

= text on that surface.

Dark mode as inversion — Simply swapping black/white produces unusable surfaces. INSTEAD: Deliberate surface hierarchy (background -> card -> popover), reduced saturation, shifted primary lightness.

Dispatching all agents for Quick Brand — Route A exists for MVPs. INSTEAD: Quick Brand uses only strategy + visual + critic. No archetype analysis, no tokens, no components.

Agent Files

Sub-Agent Instructions (agents/)

agents/strategy-agent.md — Purpose, mission, vision, values, positioning
agents/personality-agent.md — Jungian archetype blend, personality traits, emotional journey
agents/voice-agent.md — Voice chart, tone spectrum, messaging architecture
agents/visual-agent.md — Logo, color system, typography, imagery
agents/token-architect-agent.md — 3-layer W3C token system, semantic map
agents/component-token-agent.md — Button variants, input/card specs, motion tokens
agents/accessibility-agent.md — WCAG AA, dark mode, touch targets, focus states
agents/critic-agent.md — Cross-element coherence, PASS/FAIL

Shared References (references/)

references/brand-archetypes.md — 12 Jungian archetypes with visual and verbal mappings
references/brand-voice.md — Voice frameworks, tone dimensions, messaging architecture
references/visual-identity.md — Logo systems, imagery direction, iconography, graphic elements
references/token-architecture.md — Three-layer token system, semantic token map, neutral presets
references/token-templates.md — Primitive scales, semantic token map, radius-archetype mapping, mapping example
references/component-tokens.md — Component token map, button/input/card specs, motion tokens
references/implementation-rules.md — Accessibility baseline, dark mode rules, brand applications
references/artboard-generation.md — Paper MCP artboard specs and workflow
references/typography-psychology.md — Font personality mappings and pairing rules
references/color-emotion.md — Color psychology, OKLCH values, audience palettes
references/component-patterns.md — Extended UI component patterns with token consumption maps
references/paper-artboard-templates.md — Paper MCP HTML/CSS templates
references/ai-slop-detection.md — AI-generated design anti-patterns checklist

brand-system

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Brand Identity & Design System — Orchestrator

Critical Gates — Read First

Inputs Required

Output

Quality Gate

Chain Position

Skill Deference

Agent Manifest

Shared References (read by multiple agents)

Routing Logic

Mode Selection

Route A: Quick Brand (MVP)

Route B: Full Brand System

Step 0: Pre-Dispatch Context Gathering

Product Context Check

Required Inputs — Interview If Missing

Strongly Recommended

Helpful

Optional Artifacts

Context to Pass to All Agents

Dispatch Protocol

How to spawn a sub-agent

Conventions

Single-agent fallback

Layer 1: Parallel Foundation

Merge Step

Layer 2: Sequential Chain

Critic Gate

Step 9: Visual Artboard Generation (Paper MCP)

Artifact Template

Worked Example (Condensed) — Route B: Full Brand System

Step 0: Pre-Dispatch

Layer 1: Parallel Foundation

Merge

Layer 2: Sequential Chain

Deliver

Worked Example (Condensed) — Route A: Quick Brand

Step 0: Pre-Dispatch

Layer 1: Parallel (reduced)

Critic (reduced)

Deliver

Anti-Patterns

Agent Files

Sub-Agent Instructions (agents/)

Shared References (references/)