---
name: oneirloom-brand-identity
description: Design a coherent brand visual identity across marks, typography, color, graphic language, real applications, and a usable guideline book. Use for a full VI system or a defined identity extension; distinguish a concept brand board from delivered master assets and applications.
---

# Design a brand visual identity

Read the [shared interaction contract](../oneirloom/references/interaction-contract.md) before the first substantive response unless its unchanged content is already available. For person prompts, including new images and grid panels, read [person defaults and proportions](../oneirloom/references/person-prompts.md).

Build recognition across the brand's actual uses. This method adds system decisions to the shared [graphic-design process](../oneirloom-style-design/SKILL.md). Follow its Understand, Observe, and Design stages before choosing tools. The shared interaction contract supplies output and continuity rules; local templates supply specific recipes.

## Understand the brand and delivery scope

Establish the exact brand name and languages, purpose, known audience, positioning, personality, and real applications. Separate supplied facts from proposed visual interpretations. Carry approved marks, characters, colors, and existing usage rules as fixed inputs unless the user requests a change. Do not rename the brand, invent business claims, or expand its character canon.

Distinguish a concept board, an identity specification, a defined extension, and a full delivered VI system. For a full system, use [VI deliverables](references/vi-deliverables.md) to select foundations, applications, manual contents, and actual files that fit the context. If priorities are unknown, propose representative applications and label them as a proposal. Do not turn every possible sign, uniform, or vehicle into mandatory scope.

Ask only for facts that block dependent work. An unknown exact name blocks a final wordmark, while existing character and application analysis may continue. A missing export tool blocks its file format, not the remaining design.

## Observe identity assets and reference families

Inspect the actual approved assets, then the selected style references, before relying on template prose. Read the family across applications: mark form, type weight and hierarchy, color roles, spacing, repetition, auxiliary graphics, image treatment, and print or digital context. Identify the relations that make different pieces recognizable together. One attractive poster supplies evidence about one application.

For material references, distinguish the page or object material, the image medium, and the overall ink or digital finish. Preserve a defining relationship across applications where it makes sense; do not infer an unseen printing process. Keep visible source facts, estimated proportions, user meanings, and design interpretations distinct. Source brands supply principles, not permission to copy their marks, named palettes, or claims.

## Design and apply the system

Read the [template index](templates/index.md) when a concrete recipe fits. With no match, compose from this method. Templates remain adjustable relationships, not fixed masks or numeric geometry.

Resolve the mark and lockup inventory, color roles, typography, auxiliary graphics, and relevant image or material treatment as one foundation. Derive clear space, small-size variants, and spacing from the actual mark and uses. Test that foundation in the selected applications, refine the system where those uses expose a failure, then record the resolved rules in the guideline book. Do not require a fixed number of concepts or new approval checkpoints.

Use the existing medium and model methods only when the selected production needs them. Route an actual icon family to [icon design](../oneirloom-icon-design/SKILL.md) and requested expressive character extensions to [expression stickers](../oneirloom-expression-stickers/SKILL.md). Supply their fixed identity rules and application context. Use [character sheets](../oneirloom-character-sheet/SKILL.md) when a character needs identity or view continuity. These extensions are not prerequisites for every VI project.

## Produce and review the agreed deliverable

Choose native design, code, image generation, or compositing after the system decisions, respecting the user's tools and constraints. A generated brand board can explore appearance. It cannot establish editable vector masters, correct lettering, font rights, print colors, or separate application files.

For prompt-only requests, provide a usable system brief and the complete prompts needed for the selected assets. Follow the shared interaction contract's prompt rules unless the user specifies otherwise. A whole VI system may need several asset prompts and assembly instructions. Do not compress that work into one global image prompt or call the brief a completed VI.

For finished work, review recognition and meaning across the family first, then each application at its intended size. Inspect exact names, mark versions, legibility, color roles, text hierarchy, meaningful character features, and the requested material finish. Compare source fidelity separately from compliance with the submitted prompt or production brief. A locally correct logo placement does not prove the family works.

Deliver actual master assets, completed application artwork, the guideline book, and previews within the agreed scope. State which files were opened and inspected, which specifications remain unverified, and whether the user has accepted the work. A full-VI completion claim requires the agreed foundations, applications, manual, and actual files. Report a partial result when one of those remains missing; continue all reachable work.

The [source notes](references/sources.md) record researched principles and access limits. The starter templates have no associated generated images or end-to-end VI generation evidence.