magnus919_agent-skills/brand-designer/references/artifact-hierarchy.md

Artifact Hierarchy

Every artifact the brand-designer skill produces, organized by audience, format, depth, and relationship.

Quick Reference

Tier 0: Brand Card         →   Stakeholders, Press, Partners       (image + one-pager)
Tier 1: Strategy Memo      →   Leadership, Marketing               (narrative)
Tier 2: Visual Identity    →   Designers, Developers               (structured spec)
Tier 3: Voice & Messaging  →   Writers, Content, Support           (guidelines)
Tier 4: Application        →   Producers, Agencies                 (rules + examples)
Tier 5: Governance         →   Brand Owners, Legal                 (framework)
Tier 6: Asset Inventory    →   Everyone                            (index)
       └── Compiled Brand Book (Tiers 1-6 combined)                (comprehensive reference)

Artifact Descriptions

Brand Card (Tier 0)

Field	Value
What it is	A single-page visual and textual summary of the brand's identity. The "elevator pitch."
Audience	Stakeholders, executives, press, partners, new hires
Format	(a) Markdown one-pager via templates/brand-card.md, (b) Generated image via scripts/generate brand-card
Depth	Condensed — selects key elements from other tiers, does not exhaust
Dependency	Sources from Strategy, Visual Identity, and Voice. Requires those to exist first (or be filled alongside).
When to produce	Always — even pre-revenue startups benefit from a brand card
Image variant	`generate brand-card --layout portrait

Strategy Memo (Tier 1)

Field	Value
What it is	The "why" behind the brand. Positioning, personality, audience, competitive landscape.
Audience	Leadership, marketing team, agency briefs
Format	Markdown template via templates/strategy.md
Depth	Narrative — 3-5 pages of structured prose
Dependency	None (foundational)
When to produce	Growing brands (10+ people) or any brand working with agencies

Visual Identity Spec (Tier 2)

Field	Value
What it is	The "how it looks." Complete documentation of logo system, color, typography, iconography, imagery.
Audience	Designers, developers, content creators, agencies
Format	Markdown template via templates/visual-id.md
Depth	Exhaustive — tables, values in multiple color spaces, type scale, do/don't examples
Dependency	Informed by Strategy Memo (positioning drives visual decisions)
When to produce	Growing brands producing external materials
Image variants	generate swatch (palette visualization), generate logo-bg (logo on different backgrounds), generate mockup (application examples)

Voice & Messaging Spec (Tier 3)

Field	Value
What it is	The "how it sounds." Voice attributes, tone matrix, vocabulary, copy examples.
Audience	Writers, content marketers, customer support, product designers
Format	Markdown template via templates/voice.md
Depth	Moderate — enough rules to be practical, with plenty of examples
Dependency	Informed by Strategy Memo (personality drives voice)
When to produce	Growing brands with >1 person writing for the brand
Image variants	generate moodboard [--theme <name>] — visual mood board aligned to voice

Application Guidelines (Tier 4)

Field	Value
What it is	The "where it goes." Rules for digital, print, social, signage, co-branding.
Audience	Producers, agencies, marketing operations
Format	Markdown template via templates/application.md
Depth	Moderate — channel-by-channel with file format matrix
Dependency	Depends on Visual Identity Spec (colors, type, logo are referenced)
When to produce	Brands appearing on 3+ channels
Image variants	`generate mockup --type stationery

Governance Framework (Tier 5)

Field	Value
What it is	The "how we keep it consistent." Versioning, ownership, review cadence, exception process.
Audience	Brand owners, stewards, legal, marketing ops
Format	Markdown template via templates/governance.md
Depth	Moderate — framework documents, content light
Dependency	None (parallel to other tiers)
When to produce	Scaling brands (50+ people) or any brand with multiple contributors

Asset Inventory (Tier 6)

Field	Value
What it is	A structured index of every brand asset with format metadata, path, usage context.
Audience	Everyone who needs to find a brand file
Format	Markdown template via templates/asset-inventory.md
Depth	Tabular — rows of files with columns for format, path, usage, owner
Dependency	Depends on all other tiers being defined (assets are created from specs)
When to produce	Brands with >50 asset files

Compiled Brand Book (All Tiers)

Field	Value
What it is	All spec documents assembled into a single unified reference, in canonical order.
Audience	Agencies, new hires, external partners — anyone who needs the complete picture
Format	(a) Compiled markdown via brand-book compile --artifact full, (b) HTML with optional CSS
Depth	Comprehensive — all sections, all detail
Dependency	Requires all other tiers to exist
When to produce	Agency handoff, enterprise distribution, press kit

Production Flow

User fills templates (Phase 2)
        │
        ▼
brand-book validate (Step 3.3)
    checks: required fields, color spaces, cross-references
        │
        ▼
brand-book compile --artifact brand-card
        │                            │
        ▼                            ▼
   Markdown one-pager          generate brand-card
                                    │
                                    ▼
                                Brand card image
                                
brand-book compile --artifact full
        │
        ▼
    Compiled brand book (markdown or HTML)

Who Needs What

Role	Artifacts They Use
CEO / Founder	Brand card, strategy memo
Designer	Visual identity spec, asset inventory, brand card
Developer	Visual identity spec (colors, type), asset inventory
Writer / Marketer	Voice spec, brand card, application guidelines
Agency Partner	Compiled brand book, asset inventory
Press / Media	Brand card image, compiled brand book
New Hire	Brand card (first), compiled brand book (week one)
Legal / Ops	Governance framework, co-branding rules