Creative Brief Generator

Generate structured creative briefs for the Tiger Data design team. Briefs include messaging direction, visual guidance, brand guardrails with actual specs (hex codes, fonts, logo rules), and platform-specific deliverable dimensions.

When to Use

This skill activates when the user asks to:

Create a creative brief or design brief
Specify what assets are needed for a campaign
Request visual direction for a project
Generate deliverable specs for the design team

Workflow

Step 0: Pre-flight check

Read REFERENCES.md from the plugin root and run the pre-flight check described there. Call list_marketing_references() to verify Tiger Den is reachable. If it fails or the tool is not found, STOP — do not continue. Follow the error handling in REFERENCES.md.

Also fetch the No Fly List before doing any work:

get_marketing_reference(slug: "no-fly-list")

This is a list of customers who cannot be publicly referenced. Load these names as a hard constraint: never include any No Fly List customer in any output — not as named examples, proof points, customer quotes, case study references, or any other mention. If the user requests content featuring or referencing a No Fly List customer, stop and inform them that this customer cannot be publicly referenced. If a No Fly List name appears in source material you are working from, omit it from all outputs.

Step 1: Gather Context

Fetch these Tiger Den references:

brand-voice-guide — for messaging tone and WABL principle
brand-guidelines — for visual specs (colors, typography, logo, diagram style)
product-marketing-context — for positioning and persona context

Step 2: Collect Inputs from the User

Required:

Campaign/project name — what is this for?
Objective — what should the creative accomplish?

Optional (prompt if not provided):

Target audience — which persona or segment? (defaults to primary ICP from product-marketing-context)
Deliverables needed — which asset types? (defaults to standard set based on campaign type)
Key message — primary message or CTA
Channels — where will these assets appear?

If the user provides minimal input, ask one clarifying question at most, then proceed with reasonable defaults rather than blocking.

Step 2.5: Check for existing brief in Tiger Den

Follow the Step A protocol in references/briefs-integration.md (from the plugin root):

Generate source_run_id and source_run_at.
Search for an existing brief using the campaign/project name and brief_type: "creative".
If a match is found, ask the user whether to update it or create a new one.
Carry the brief_id forward if updating.

Step 3: Generate the Creative Brief

Output a structured brief with these sections:

1. Overview

Campaign/project name
Date
Objective (1-2 sentences)
Target audience with persona context from product-marketing-context
Key message (one message only — per WABL principle)

2. Messaging Direction

Primary message — what the creative should communicate
Supporting points (2-3 max)
Tone guidance — pull relevant tone from brand-voice-guide based on content type
Words/phrases to use (from product-marketing-context "words to use")
Words/phrases to avoid (from product-marketing-context "words to avoid" + brand-voice-guide absolute rules)

3. Visual Direction

Mood/aesthetic — describe the visual feeling, referencing brand-guidelines personality (Bold, Technical, Approachable, Energetic)
Color recommendations — specific hex codes from brand-guidelines, with usage notes
- Which color for primary elements
- Which for accents
- Which for backgrounds
- Include the actual usage rules (e.g., "Electric Yellow #F5FF80 for CTA backgrounds — never as text on light backgrounds")
Typography recommendations — Geist Sans weights and sizes for the asset type
Illustration style guidance if applicable (hand-drawn sticker aesthetic, thick outlines, flat fills)
Photography direction if applicable (authentic, technical, high contrast)

4. Brand Guardrails

Pull directly from brand-guidelines:

Logo usage: which variant, minimum size, clear space rules
Color palette: list all approved colors with hex codes
Typography: Geist Sans + Geist Mono only, with weight guidance
Do's and Don'ts: at least 3 of each, specific to this campaign type
Accessibility: minimum contrast ratios (4.5:1 body, 3:1 large text)

5. Deliverable Specifications

For each asset needed, include:

Platform/placement
Asset type (hero image, social post, email header, etc.)
Dimensions (pixels)
Aspect ratio
Copy overlay requirements (max characters, placement)
CTA text
File format (PNG, JPG, SVG)
File naming convention

Use the platform specs from references/platform-specs.md for standard dimensions. If the user specified channels, only include those. If not, include the standard set: LinkedIn, X/Twitter, email header, blog hero, OG image.

6. Timeline & Process

Suggested review checkpoints
Note that the brief should be attached to an Asana task (reference asana-project-scaffolder if available)

Step 4: Output Format

Default output: structured markdown with clear section headers
If the user requests a document: generate as .docx using the docx skill conventions
Keep the brief to 1-2 pages — apply WABL aggressively. If a section doesn't add value for THIS specific brief, omit it.

Quality Checklist

Before outputting, verify:

Brand colors reference actual hex codes, not vague descriptions
Typography references Geist Sans/Mono by name with specific weights
Deliverable dimensions are correct for each platform (see references/platform-specs.md)
Messaging follows brand-voice-guide: no em dashes, one clear message, active voice
Brief is actionable — a designer who has never seen this campaign could execute from it
WABL applied — every section earns its place

Tiger Den brief persistence

After the quality checklist passes and the brief is output, follow the Step B protocol in references/briefs-integration.md (from the plugin root) to save the brief.

Field mapping

Map the creative brief output sections to structured_fields as follows:

Output section	structured_fields key
Campaign/project name	`overview.campaign_name`
Objective	`overview.objective`
Target audience	`overview.target_audience`
Key message	`overview.key_message`
Primary message	`messaging.primary_message`
Supporting points	`messaging.supporting_points`
Tone guidance	`messaging.tone`
Words/phrases to use	`messaging.words_to_use`
Words/phrases to avoid	`messaging.words_to_avoid`
Mood/aesthetic	`visual_direction.mood`
Color recommendations	`visual_direction.colors`
Typography recommendations	`visual_direction.typography`
Illustration style	`visual_direction.illustration_style`
Photography direction	`visual_direction.photography_direction`
Logo usage	`brand_guardrails.logo_usage`
Color palette	`brand_guardrails.color_palette`
Typography	`brand_guardrails.typography`
Do's	`brand_guardrails.dos`
Don'ts	`brand_guardrails.donts`
Accessibility notes	`brand_guardrails.accessibility_notes`
Per-deliverable specs	`deliverables[]` (one object per asset)
Review checkpoints	`timeline.review_checkpoints`
Timeline notes	`timeline.notes`

creative-brief-generator