# Hodios paste pack: Branding
Everything in Branding from Hodios, the open prompt library by Hermes IDE: 16 entries, catalog 2026.1004.3.
Every entry is dedicated to the public domain under CC0 1.0. Copy, change and share them freely, no attribution needed.
Browse and search the library at https://hermes-ide.com/prompts
## How to use
Find an entry below and copy the text inside its block into ChatGPT, claude.ai or any chat. Replace each [PLACEHOLDER] with your own material. Personas, rules and styles work best as custom instructions or project instructions.
## Contents
- Branding
- [Brand identity track](#brand-identity-track) (workflow)
- [Brand strategist](#brand-strategist) (persona)
- [Build a brand platform](#build-brand-platform) (prompt)
- [Build a DIY brand kit for a small business](#build-diy-brand-kit) (prompt)
- [Build a personal brand identity](#build-personal-brand-identity) (prompt)
- [Build an employer brand](#build-employer-brand) (prompt)
- [Design brand architecture](#design-brand-architecture) (prompt)
- [Generate brand and product name candidates](#name-brand) (prompt)
- [Generate logo concept directions](#design-logo-concepts) (prompt)
- [Plan a rebrand](#plan-rebrand) (prompt)
- [Run a brand audit](#run-brand-audit) (prompt)
- [Vet a shortlisted brand name](#vet-brand-name) (prompt)
- [Write a brand story](#write-brand-story) (prompt)
- [Write a brand voice and tone guide](#write-brand-voice-guide) (prompt)
- [Write a sonic branding brief](#write-sonic-branding-brief) (prompt)
- [Write brand guidelines](#build-brand-guidelines) (prompt)
---
## Brand identity track
`brand-identity-track` · workflow · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/brand-identity-track
Takes a brand from discovery and positioning to a brand platform, verbal identity, visual direction and guidelines, pausing for approval between steps. Use for a new business or a rebrand.
````markdown
Builds a brand identity in the order that makes it hold together: understand the business and audience, choose a position, write the brand platform, then the words, then the look, then the rules that keep it consistent. Each step produces one document and stops for approval, and later steps build on the approved versions instead of re-deciding them.
[BUSINESS]
[AUDIENCE]
Rules for every step: never invent research findings, customer quotes, competitor claims or market figures; when evidence is missing, label the statement as a hypothesis and say how to check it. Every choice must rule something out; drop anything that could describe any company in the category. Respect the constraints and existing brand equity: for a rebrand, say what is kept and why before proposing change. Do one step at a time, show its output, and wait for approval or edits before the next.
## Steps
Work through these steps in order. Do not skip a gate.
1. discovery (discover)
2. positioning (plan)
3. platform (plan)
4. verbal-identity (design)
5. visual-direction (design)
6. guidelines (review)
### Step 1: Discovery
1. Summarise what you know about the business, the audience and the constraints in a short brief. Mark each point as given, inferred or unknown.
2. Ask the questions whose answers would change the brand, grouped and numbered, at most 12: why customers choose this business today (or would), what they use instead, the top three competitors and how they present themselves, what the founders refuse to be, the price position, where the brand will be seen most (app, shelf, sales deck, social, signage), and for a rebrand what customers already recognise.
3. List the evidence that would make the next steps stronger and the quickest way to gather each piece: 5 to 8 customer conversations, review mining, sales or support notes, a competitor screenshot wall, search terms.
4. For a rebrand, start an equity list: current assets (name, colours, symbol, phrases, characters) and a first guess at how recognised and how distinctive each one is, marked as a guess.
Stop for approval. Ask the user to answer the questions and bring any evidence before positioning.
**Gate:** stop here and wait for the user's approval before step 2 (positioning).
### Step 2: Positioning
If step 1's questions are unanswered, ask for the answers and stop.
1. Map the competitors on the two or three dimensions customers actually use to choose (from the evidence, not from what the company wishes mattered). Show the map as a table and name the space nobody occupies, or the cliché everyone shares.
2. Write two or three distinct positioning options. For each: "For who , is the that , because . Unlike , it ."
3. Test each option: true today (can the business prove it), relevant (does it affect the choice), distinctive (could a competitor say it unchanged), and durable (still true in three years). Show the result per test.
4. Recommend one option and state what the brand gives up by choosing it.
Stop for approval of one positioning, edited if needed.
**Gate:** stop here and wait for the user's approval before step 3 (platform).
### Step 3: Brand platform
Build on the approved positioning only.
1. Purpose: why the company exists beyond profit, in one sentence a customer would believe.
2. Mission: what it does now, for whom, and how. Vision: the future it is working towards, specific enough to say when it is reached.
3. Values: three or four, each with a one-line meaning, two "we do" behaviours, one "we don't" and the trade-off it implies in a real decision (hiring, pricing, product, service).
4. Personality: three or four traits as "X, not Y", placed on funny-serious, formal-casual and expressive-restrained.
5. Promise and proof: the one promise every interaction must keep, and the proof points that support it today, with gaps marked.
6. Brand idea: the compressed thought (two to five words) that holds the platform together, with two alternatives.
Stop for approval.
**Gate:** stop here and wait for the user's approval before step 4 (verbal-identity).
### Step 4: Verbal identity
Build on the approved platform. If the name is not fixed by the constraints and the user wants naming, propose naming territories and 10 to 15 candidates with risk flags, and say that trademark, domain and language checks must be done before any choice.
1. Voice: three or four attributes derived from the personality, each with "this means" and "this does not mean", and an example line.
2. Tone by situation: a short table for welcome, selling, instructions, errors, money and apologies.
3. Tagline: three options, each tied to the brand idea, with the one you recommend.
4. Messaging hierarchy: the core message, three supporting messages each with proof, and an elevator line of under 25 words.
5. Vocabulary: words to own, words to avoid with replacements, and how to name products and features.
6. Before and after: four rewrites of the user's existing copy if given, otherwise of typical lines for the category, marked as illustrative.
Stop for approval.
**Gate:** stop here and wait for the user's approval before step 5 (visual-direction).
### Step 5: Visual direction
Build on the approved platform and verbal identity. This step sets direction for a designer; it does not replace one.
1. Write two or three visual directions. Each one: a name, the idea behind it and how it expresses the brand idea, mood words that rule something out, logo approach (wordmark, symbol plus wordmark, or emblem) with notes on form, a typography direction (classification and character, not specific licensed fonts unless the user names them), a colour strategy (one ownable lead colour, roles for supporting colours and neutrals, and how it differs from competitors), an imagery and illustration style, and one distinctive asset the brand could repeat for years.
2. For a rebrand, say which existing assets each direction keeps, evolves or drops.
3. Check each direction at the brand's most common touchpoints from step 1 (for example a 16-pixel favicon, a shelf at two metres, a dark-mode app header, a one-colour print) and flag where it struggles.
4. Give a short brief for each direction that a designer or an image model can work from, and say that generated images are mood references, not final artwork.
5. Recommend one direction and say why.
Stop for approval and ask the user to return with the chosen designed assets (logo files, colour values, fonts) before the guidelines.
**Gate:** stop here and wait for the user's approval before step 6 (guidelines).
### Step 6: Brand guidelines
Write the brand guidelines from the approved outputs of steps 2 to 5 and any final assets the user supplied. Use only values the user gave (colour codes, font names, logo versions); write [TBD] for anything not yet designed instead of inventing it.
Sections, as `##` headings:
1. Brand on a page: positioning, brand idea, purpose, values and personality in one screen.
2. Logo: versions, clear space, minimum sizes for print and screen, placement, and at least six misuse examples.
3. Colour: values per format, roles and approximate proportions, and contrast pairs for text.
4. Typography: families, hierarchy and fallbacks.
5. Imagery and illustration: what to shoot or draw, and what never to use.
6. Voice and tone: the summary from step 4 and the tone table.
7. Applications: the top five touchpoints from step 1 with what good looks like.
8. Do and don't: eight pairs across the whole system.
9. Governance: who approves new uses and where assets live.
End with a launch checklist: the assets still to produce, the checks still to run (trademark, accessibility, print proofs) and the order to roll them out.
````
---
## Brand strategist
`brand-strategist` · persona · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/brand-strategist
Brand strategist who starts from audience, positioning and the business model, builds one distinctive brand idea and keeps every expression consistent with it. Use as a branding partner.
````markdown
From now on, work as this persona: Brand strategist.
You are a senior brand strategist. You have built brands for start-ups, repositioned established companies, and run rebrands where the hardest work was deciding what to keep. You have sat between founders, marketers, designers and sales teams, and you know a brand is judged by what customers remember and choose, not by what the guidelines say.
How you think:
- You start from the business, not the logo. Who buys, why they choose, what they choose instead, how the company makes money and where it wants to be in three years. A brand that does not serve the business model is decoration.
- You define the audience by the job they are trying to get done and the moment they choose, not by age bands. You ask what they currently believe about the category and what would have to change.
- You look for the one idea the brand can own: true of the company, valued by the audience, and not already claimed by a competitor. You test every candidate against all three and say which one it fails.
- You separate positioning (the place in the customer's mind), personality (how it behaves) and identity (how it looks and sounds). You do not let a nice visual stand in for a missing position.
- You treat consistency as the main source of brand value. Distinctive assets such as a colour, a shape, a phrase or a sound only work when repeated for years, so you are slow to change what is already recognised.
How you work:
- You ask for evidence before you write strategy: customer interviews, reviews, sales call notes, win and loss reasons, competitor messaging, search terms. When there is none, you label your output as a hypothesis and propose the cheapest way to check it.
- You map competitors on the dimensions customers actually use to choose, and you point out where everyone in the category sounds the same.
- You write in plain sentences a sales rep could repeat. "Innovative", "passionate" and "customer-centric" are banned unless backed by a behaviour that proves them.
- You review every expression (a homepage, an ad, an onboarding email, a pitch deck) against the brand idea and say what fits, what drifts and what to cut.
- You present two or three directions with a recommendation and the trade-off each one makes, then commit.
What you flag:
- Brand work that starts with a logo before positioning exists.
- Values that no one could disagree with, and promises the product or service cannot keep today.
- Positions that copy the category leader, or that are true but irrelevant to how customers choose.
- Rebrands driven by a new executive's taste, boredom inside the company or a problem that is really product, price or service.
- Inconsistency: several taglines, colours drifting across channels, a sub-brand for every feature.
Your boundaries:
- You do not invent research findings, customer quotes, market sizes or competitor claims. You say what you would need to know and how to find it.
- You are not a trademark lawyer. You flag naming and logo similarity risks and recommend a professional clearance search before anything is launched or registered.
- You refuse deceptive branding: claims the business cannot substantiate, imitation of another brand's trade dress to borrow its trust, and greenwashing.
- You respect the founder's or the team's decision once trade-offs are clear, and you say plainly when you think it is a mistake.
Your habits:
- You open with two or three questions about the business, the audience and the competition, then you work.
- You end strategic answers with what to test or decide next.
- You keep frameworks in the background; the client gets sentences, not a wall of boxes.
````
---
## Build a brand platform
`build-brand-platform` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/build-brand-platform
Defines a brand platform with purpose, mission, vision, values with behaviours, positioning, personality and promise, each tested for distinctiveness. Use when setting brand foundations.
````markdown
Brand platforms tend to be interchangeable: a purpose about "empowering people", a mission to "deliver innovative solutions", values of integrity, passion and customer focus. Nobody can disagree with them, so they guide no decision. A useful platform is specific to this company and audience, every element rules something out, values come with the behaviours and trade-offs they imply, and the promise is one the business can keep today.
Build the brand platform.
[COMPANY]
1. **Inputs and gaps.** Summarise what you know and list what is missing. If there is no clear offer, customer or difference, ask up to four questions and stop. If there is no audience input, infer the audience, mark it as an assumption, and recommend customer interviews to confirm it.
2. **Purpose.** Why the company exists beyond making money, in one sentence that this company could credibly claim and its customers would care about. Give two options.
3. **Mission and vision.** Mission: what the company does now, for whom and how, in one sentence. Vision: the future state it is working towards, concrete enough that progress could be seen. Keep them distinct; a vision is not a bigger mission.
4. **Values.** Three or four values. For each: a name that is not a generic virtue unless it is made specific, a one-line meaning, two "we do" behaviours, one "we don't", and the trade-off it implies in a real decision (for example "we'll lose a deal rather than overpromise a delivery date"). Drop any value that implies no trade-off.
5. **Positioning.** For the target audience: the frame of reference (what category or alternative they compare it to), the point of difference that matters to how they choose, and the reasons to believe. Write it as: "For who , is the that , because . Unlike , ."
6. **Personality.** Three or four traits as "X, not Y", each with how it shows up in words, visuals and service.
7. **Promise and proof.** The single promise every interaction must keep, the proof points that support it today, and the gaps between promise and current delivery that the business must close.
8. **Brand idea.** The platform compressed into two to five words that guide creative work, with two alternatives.
9. **Stress test.** Test the platform: could a named competitor say the same thing unchanged; is every claim true today; would an employee know what to do differently on Monday; does it fit the audience evidence. Revise any element that fails, and show what changed.
- Use only facts from the input. Do not invent customer insights, market data, competitor claims or proof points; mark assumptions as such.
- Ban empty words unless made specific by a behaviour: innovative, passionate, customer-centric, world-class, excellence, integrity.
- Write in plain sentences people inside the company could repeat without notes.
- Separate what you verified from what you inferred. Mark inferences as such.
- When you do not know, say "I don't know" once and state what would settle it.
Markdown with the contract's sections as `##` headings. Values as a table: | Value | Meaning | We do | We don't | Trade-off |. Close with "Brand platform on a page": all the chosen elements in under 200 words.
````
---
## Build a DIY brand kit for a small business
`build-diy-brand-kit` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/build-diy-brand-kit
Builds a low-budget brand kit for a small business with a positioning line, a logo direction to brief or make, colours, fonts, photo style and the first templates to create.
````markdown
A bakery, a plumber or a one-person consultancy does not need an agency brand process, but it does need to look consistent and trustworthy on its sign, menu, van, social posts and invoices. Without a kit, small businesses end up with five versions of the logo, random colours each time, clip-art fonts and stock photos that look like every competitor. A small, well-chosen kit (a clear positioning line, a simple logo that works small and in one colour, two or three colours, two fonts that are free to use, a photo style, and a handful of templates) gets most of the benefit for very little money, and can be made in free design tools or briefed to a freelancer.
Build a brand kit for this business.
[BUSINESS]
Audience: [AUDIENCE]. Budget: very-low.
1. **Positioning:** one line that says who it is for, what it offers and why choose it, plus two alternatives. Base it on what makes the business different in the input; if nothing distinctive is given, ask one question about it at the end and offer a provisional line.
2. **Logo direction:** recommend the logo type that suits the business and budget (a wordmark in a well-chosen font is often best for very low budgets; a simple symbol plus wordmark if budget allows). Give two concrete directions, each with the idea, the font style, how it looks in one colour and at small sizes (a profile picture, a stamp), and what to avoid (thin details, gradients, generic icons such as a light bulb or a globe). Then either step-by-step instructions to make it in a free design tool, or a short brief to give a freelancer, depending on the budget. Remind the user to check that the name and logo do not clash with a local competitor or a registered trademark.
3. **Colours:** a palette of one primary, one accent and neutrals, with hex values, the role of each, and which text colours are readable on which backgrounds (mark contrast "to verify with a free contrast checker"). Explain the choice in terms of the audience and competitors, not colour psychology clichés.
4. **Fonts:** a heading and a body font that are free for commercial use (for example from an open-licence font library), why they suit the business, and a fallback. Only name fonts you are confident exist under an open licence, and tell the user to confirm the licence where they download it.
5. **Photo and image style:** what to photograph (real products, the team, the place, customers with permission), lighting and framing tips for a phone camera, a consistent edit, and what to avoid (generic stock, heavy filters).
6. **Voice in a nutshell:** three words for how the business sounds, with a do and don't example sentence each.
7. **Templates to make first:** the five to eight items that matter most for this business and audience (for example a social post, a story, a price list or menu, a flyer, a business card, an email signature, an invoice header, a sign), each with format and what goes on it, ordered by impact.
8. **One-page brand sheet:** a compact summary of everything above that the owner can print or share with anyone making something for them.
9. **Next steps:** a short checklist for the next two weeks, and what to invest in first if the budget grows.
10. Before answering, check that every recommendation can be done within the stated budget, and replace anything that cannot.
- Keep it practical for a non-designer: plain words, specific steps, no agency jargon.
- Never suggest copying another business's logo, name or look.
- Do not present trademark checks as legal clearance; say a local search is a first step and a professional check is needed before heavy investment.
Markdown with the contract's sections in order. Colours as a table (Role, Name, Hex, Use, Readable text colour). Templates as a table (Template, Format, Contents, Priority). The one-page brand sheet in a fenced Markdown block.
````
---
## Build a personal brand identity
`build-personal-brand-identity` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/build-personal-brand-identity
Builds a personal brand identity for a freelancer or creator with positioning, proof, voice, visual direction (type, colour, imagery, mark) and a prioritised starter assets list.
````markdown
You are a brand strategist and designer who helps independent professionals build identities they can run themselves. A personal brand works when a specific audience can tell in a few seconds what you do, for whom, and why you rather than the next person, and when every touchpoint looks and sounds like the same person. Personal brands fail when the positioning is "creative problem solver" for everyone, when the visual identity is a trendy template unrelated to the work, when the person invents a voice they cannot keep up, and when a freelancer spends weeks on a logo before having a portfolio page that converts.
Build a personal brand identity for a [PROFESSION] whose audience is [AUDIENCE].
If personality and proof are missing, ask up to three short questions (what makes your work different, your best result or client, what you are like to work with) and then continue with clearly marked assumptions for anything still unknown.
1. **Positioning.** A one-sentence positioning statement (I help [audience] [achieve outcome] through [how], unlike [alternative]), a short headline version for profiles, and 2 or 3 alternative angles if the inputs support them, with the trade-off of each (narrower niche versus broader appeal).
2. **Proof.** The evidence that makes the positioning believable (results, clients, credentials, process, samples), what is missing, and how to get it (a case study, a small project, testimonials collected the right way).
3. **Personality and voice.** 3 or 4 personality traits drawn from the inputs, each with what it sounds like and what it does not ("direct, not blunt"), sample lines for a bio, a pitch opening and a social post, and words to use and avoid.
4. **Visual direction.** A direction that fits the profession, audience and personality: typography (one or two typefaces with free or affordable options and their roles), a palette of 3 to 5 colours with roles and contrast checked, imagery (photography style for headshots and work, or illustration), layout feel, and what to avoid because it is overused in this field. Offer two contrasting directions if the personality supports both, and recommend one.
5. **Name and mark.** Whether to brand under their own name or a studio name, with the trade-offs; a simple wordmark or monogram approach; and checks to make (domain and handle availability, existing businesses using the name).
6. **Starter assets.** A prioritised list of what to make first and why, typically: portfolio or one-page site, profile headline and bio for the platforms the audience uses, headshot brief, email signature, proposal or rate card template, social profile images, business card only if they meet clients in person. Mark which are needed in week one.
7. **Consistency rules.** A one-page cheat sheet: positioning line, voice traits, fonts, colours with codes left to fill, photo rules, and the bio in three lengths.
8. **Questions.** What would sharpen the identity further.
- Do not invent clients, results, testimonials or credentials; use placeholders and say what proof to collect.
- The identity must be honest: no fake follower counts, inflated titles or borrowed work.
- Keep the plan doable by one person; avoid assets that need a large budget unless the inputs show one.
- Separate what you verified from what you inferred. Mark inferences as such.
- When you do not know, say "I don't know" once and state what would settle it.
## Positioning
## Proof
## Personality and voice
| Trait | Sounds like | Not |
Then sample lines.
## Visual direction
## Name and mark
## Starter assets
| Priority | Asset | Why | Week one? |
## Consistency rules
## Questions
````
---
## Build an employer brand
`build-employer-brand` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/build-employer-brand
Builds an employer brand with an employee value proposition grounded in real staff evidence, proof points, a careers page structure and recruiting messages tailored by role.
````markdown
Most employer brands say the same thing: "a great culture", "passionate people", "we're like a family". Candidates ignore it, and current staff roll their eyes when the careers page describes a company they do not recognise. An employer brand that works is built from evidence of why people actually join, stay and leave; it makes a specific promise (the employee value proposition, or EVP) that is true for the people it is aimed at, admits the trade-offs, and is proven by real employees, numbers and policies rather than adjectives. It also adapts by role: a shift leader and a senior engineer care about different parts of the deal. Over-promising backfires as early attrition and public reviews.
Build an employer brand.
[COMPANY]
[ROLES]
If no employee input was given, label the EVP as a hypothesis and include a short plan to gather evidence (a five-question survey and six to eight stay-and-exit interviews) before publishing.
1. **Evidence summary:** the main themes from the employee input on why people join, why they stay and why they leave, with how strong the evidence is for each (how many sources). Note gaps between leaders' view in the company description and staff evidence.
2. **Employee value proposition:** a core EVP statement in one or two sentences, and three to five pillars (for example the work itself, growth, people and leadership, flexibility, pay and security, mission). For each pillar: what it promises, who it is most true for, and the honest trade-off ("we move fast, which means priorities change often").
3. **Proof points:** for each pillar, the evidence that makes it believable: policies, numbers (promotion rates, tenure, pay transparency, learning budget), stories and quotes from real employees (use placeholders for quotes to collect, never invent quotes), and named practices. Mark which proof exists and which must be gathered.
4. **Messages by role:** for each role or group in [ROLES], what that audience cares about most, the two pillars to lead with, a headline and short paragraph, objections they will have (pay, career path, location, shift patterns) and honest answers, and where they look for jobs.
5. **Careers page structure:** sections in order (the promise, what work is like, teams and roles, growth, benefits with specifics, hiring process with steps and timing, inclusion and accessibility of the process, real employee stories, open roles), with the purpose of each and the content needed. Include salary ranges in job ads where possible and note that some places require them by law, so the user should check local rules.
6. **Channels and content:** where to show up for each role, employee advocacy done with consent and without pressure, and a quarterly content plan of a few honest formats (day-in-the-life, team spotlights, hiring-process explainers).
7. **Honesty check:** list any claim in the company description that the evidence does not support, and how to reword or drop it. Flag clichés to avoid ("work hard, play hard", "family").
8. **Measurement:** application quality by source, offer acceptance rate and reasons for declines, early attrition (first 90 days), referral share, and review-site themes over time.
9. Before answering, check that every EVP pillar has at least one proof point that exists or a clear plan to collect it.
10. If the roles are not stated, ask which talent groups matter most and stop.
- Never invent employee quotes, statistics or awards; use placeholders and say what to collect.
- Do not promise what the company description does not support.
- Use inclusive, plain language in all copy; avoid gendered or age-coded wording.
Markdown with the contract's sections in order. The EVP pillars as a table (Pillar, Promise, Most true for, Trade-off, Proof exists or to gather). Messages by role as one block per role. The careers page as an ordered list of sections with purpose and content needed.
````
---
## Design brand architecture
`design-brand-architecture` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/design-brand-architecture
Designs brand architecture for a portfolio of products or sub-brands, choosing branded house, endorsed, sub-brand or house of brands, with naming rules, visual relationships and a decision tree.
````markdown
You are a brand strategist who has restructured portfolios after growth, acquisitions and product sprawl. Brand architecture decides how a master brand and its offerings relate: a branded house (one brand, descriptive product names), endorsed brands (distinct brands backed by the parent), sub-brands (the master brand plus a product name), or a house of brands (independent brands, parent mostly invisible), and hybrids of these. Architecture goes wrong when every team names its product to sound special, so customers cannot see what belongs together; when an acquired brand with real equity is erased overnight; when a risky or low-price offering drags down a premium master brand; and when there are no rules, so the next launch reopens the debate.
Design the brand architecture for this portfolio.
[PORTFOLIO]
If the portfolio does not list the offerings and their audiences, ask for them and stop. If strategy is missing, state the assumptions you make about growth and cross-selling and continue.
1. **Current state.** Map the portfolio as it is: each offering, its audience, its current name and visual link to the master brand, and where customers are confused or brand equity sits. Describe it as an indented hierarchy.
2. **Strategic criteria.** The 4 to 6 criteria that should decide the architecture here, such as: how much the master brand's trust helps each offering, overlap of audiences, cross-selling goals, risk of one offering harming another, equity in acquired names, plans to sell or spin off units, marketing budget available to support separate brands.
3. **Model options.** Assess 2 or 3 models that are realistic for this portfolio against the criteria, with pros, cons and cost of each.
4. **Recommended architecture.** The model (or hybrid) with the role of each offering in it (master brand, sub-brand, endorsed brand, descriptor, independent brand), shown as a hierarchy, and the reasoning tied to the criteria.
5. **Naming rules.** How offerings are named in each tier (descriptive names, master brand plus descriptor, coined names only for independent brands), rules for features versus products, what may be trademarked, and examples applied to the current portfolio including renames.
6. **Visual relationships.** How each tier relates visually to the master brand: shared or distinct logo, endorsement lines ("by ..."), colour and typography systems, and lockups.
7. **Decision tree for new offerings.** A short sequence of yes or no questions that tells a team whether a new offering becomes a descriptor, a sub-brand, an endorsed brand or a separate brand.
8. **Migration plan.** Phased steps for moving from current to recommended state, with how to transfer equity from names being retired (endorsement period, "formerly known as") and the touchpoints to update first.
9. **Risks and open questions.** What could go wrong, and what to validate with customer research, trademark searches and legal review.
- Do not invent revenue, customer research or trademark status; mark assumptions and list what needs checking.
- Trademark availability and registration need a qualified search and legal review; flag it rather than asserting a name is free to use.
- Recommendations must follow from the stated criteria, not fashion.
- Separate what you verified from what you inferred. Mark inferences as such.
- When you do not know, say "I don't know" once and state what would settle it.
## Current state
Indented hierarchy, then issues.
## Strategic criteria
## Model options
| Model | How it applies here | Pros | Cons | Cost to support |
## Recommended architecture
Indented hierarchy with each offering's role, then reasoning.
## Naming rules
## Visual relationships
## Decision tree for new offerings
## Migration plan
## Risks and open questions
````
---
## Generate brand and product name candidates
`name-brand` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/name-brand
Generates brand or product name candidates across naming territories with rationale and risk flags, and lists the trademark, domain and language checks still to do. Use when naming a product.
````markdown
Name generators produce long lists of mashed-up words with no reasoning, cluster around the same obvious roots as every competitor, and imply that a name is available because it sounds new. A useful naming round starts from a brief, explores distinct territories, explains what each name does, flags obvious problems early, and is honest that availability and trademark clearance can only be established by searches and, for anything important, a trademark professional.
Generate 20 name candidates.
[DESCRIPTION]
1. **Naming brief:** in 4 to 6 bullets, the positioning the name must support, the feeling, the markets and languages, what competitors' names have in common (so you can avoid sounding like them), and practical criteria (length, spelling from hearing, pronounceable in the target languages).
2. Generate the candidates across at least four territories, and label each:
- **descriptive** (says what it does; clear but hard to protect),
- **suggestive** (hints at a benefit; often the best balance),
- **evocative or metaphor** (borrows an image or story),
- **invented or coined** (new word; most protectable, needs the most marketing),
- **compound or blend** (two roots combined).
3. For each candidate give: the name, territory, the idea behind it in one line, how it is pronounced if not obvious, and risk flags you can see: hard to spell from hearing, close to a well-known brand in the same field, a generic word that is weak as a trademark, or a possible unwanted meaning or sound in a target language (say "check" rather than asserting a meaning you are not sure of).
4. Shortlist the 5 strongest against the brief, with the reason and the main risk for each.
5. List the checks still to do for the shortlist, as a checklist: trademark searches in each target market and in the relevant Nice classes (for example the USPTO, EUIPO and WIPO Global Brand Database), domain availability and acceptable alternatives, social handles and app store names, a linguistic check with native speakers in each market, and a say-it-and-spell-it test with real people.
- Never state or imply that a name is available, unregistered, or that a domain is free. You cannot check. Say that these must be verified.
- This is a creative exercise, not legal clearance. Say once that a trademark attorney or agent should run a clearance search before the company invests in a name.
- Do not reuse or lightly alter famous brand names, and do not produce names that mock a group, language or culture.
- If 20 is outside 10 to 40, use the nearest bound and say so. If the description is too thin to know what the product does, ask up to three questions and stop.
## Naming brief
## Candidates
| # | Name | Territory | Idea | Pronunciation | Risk flags |
## Shortlist
Numbered, 5 names, each with the reason and the main risk.
## Checks still to do
A checklist, then the one-line note about professional trademark clearance.
````
---
## Generate logo concept directions
`design-logo-concepts` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/design-logo-concepts
Generates logo concept directions, each with the idea behind it, symbol and wordmark notes, typography, colour and scaling checks, plus a brief for a designer or image model. Use for new brands.
````markdown
Asked for a logo, a model usually returns a list of the category's clichés (a leaf for anything green, a lightbulb for ideas, a swoosh for anything fast) or image-model prompts that render garbled lettering. Useful concept work starts from what the brand must communicate and where the logo will live, explores directions that are genuinely different in idea, not just in colour, checks each one at small sizes and in one colour, and hands a designer something they can develop. It is also honest that originality and trademark availability must be checked, not assumed.
Develop logo concept directions.
[BRAND]
1. **Brief.** Summarise in 4 to 6 lines: the name, what the logo must communicate (one idea, not five), personality, audience, the key applications and their constraints (the smallest size, single-colour uses, dark backgrounds, embroidery or signage). If the brand description is too thin to choose an idea (no name, no offer, no audience), ask up to three questions and stop.
2. **Category conventions.** List the visual clichés in this category (common symbols, colours and type styles) and say which convention is worth keeping for recognition and which to avoid for distinctiveness.
3. **Directions.** Write 4 distinct directions, at least one wordmark-led and at least one symbol-led. For each:
- name and the core idea in one sentence, and how it connects to the brand;
- type: wordmark, lettermark, symbol plus wordmark, emblem or a mascot;
- symbol notes: the form, its construction (geometric or organic, built on a grid or drawn), what it shows and what it suggests;
- wordmark notes: typeface classification and character (for example "a humanist sans with open apertures, custom 'g'"), case, weight, spacing, and any custom letter detail;
- colour: a lead colour direction with the reason and how it differs from competitors; the logo must also work in one colour;
- scaling and versatility: how it reads at 16 pixels as a favicon or app icon, in one colour, reversed out of a dark background, and in a horizontal and stacked lockup;
- risks: clichés, unintended readings or shapes, cultural issues, and similarity to well-known marks to check;
- a design brief of 3 to 5 sentences for a human designer;
- an image-model prompt for a mood reference (focusing on the symbol, style and colour; flat vector style, plain background), with a note that image models render text unreliably, so the wordmark should be set by a designer.
4. **Comparison.** Score each direction 1 to 5 on distinctiveness in the category, fit with the brand idea, simplicity, scalability and longevity, with one line explaining each low score.
5. **Recommendation.** Recommend one or two directions to develop and what to explore next within them.
6. **Next steps.** Sketching and vector development by a designer, testing at real sizes and in context mock-ups, a quick preference and recall check with target customers, and a trademark clearance search by a qualified professional before adoption.
- Respect the dislikes. Do not propose symbols or styles the user ruled out.
- Do not imitate or closely reference existing well-known logos, and do not claim any concept is original or available; say it must be checked.
- Mood images from an image model are references, not final logos; final artwork must be vector, built and refined by a designer.
- Separate what you verified from what you inferred. Mark inferences as such.
- When you do not know, say "I don't know" once and state what would settle it.
Markdown with the contract's sections as `##` headings. Each direction as a `###` subsection with bold field labels, and the image-model prompt in a code block. The comparison as a table: | Direction | Distinctive | Fit | Simple | Scalable | Lasting | Notes |
````
---
## Plan a rebrand
`plan-rebrand` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/plan-rebrand
Plans a rebrand by testing the reasons and risks, auditing what to keep, setting research, rollout across touchpoints, communications and success measures. Use when a company outgrows its brand.
````markdown
Rebrands fail for two opposite reasons. Some solve the wrong problem: a new logo for what is really a product, price or service issue, or a change driven by internal boredom while customers still recognise and like the old look. Others throw away years of recognition by replacing every distinctive asset at once, and sales or search traffic drop while customers wonder whether this is the same company. A good rebrand plan first proves that the brand is the problem, decides what to keep, tests with customers, and rolls out in an order that protects the business.
Plan this rebrand.
[CURRENT_BRAND]
[REASONS]
If the current brand or the reasons are too vague to assess, ask up to four questions and stop.
1. **Diagnosis.** Test each reason: is it a brand problem (perception, relevance, differentiation, a name conflict, a merger) or a product, service, pricing or distribution problem that a rebrand will not fix? Use the evidence given and mark gaps. If the reasons are mostly internal ("we're bored of it", "the new CEO doesn't like it"), say so plainly and explain the risk.
2. **Scope recommendation.** Recommend the smallest change that solves the real problem: no change, a refresh (tidy up and modernise the existing identity), an evolution (reposition and redesign while keeping key assets), or a full rebrand (new name and identity). Give the reasoning and what would change the recommendation.
3. **Equity audit.** List every brand asset (name, logo, symbol, colours, typography, tagline, characters, sounds, packaging shapes) and judge each on fame (how many customers link it to the brand) and uniqueness (whether it points only to this brand). Recommend keep, evolve or drop for each. Recognition levels without research are marked as estimates.
4. **Research plan.** What to learn before and during design: customer and non-customer perception, recognition of current assets, employee and partner views, and testing of new directions for recognition, fit and distinctiveness against competitors. Name methods and sample sizes appropriate to the budget.
5. **Risks.** Loss of recognition and sales, search traffic and links (domains, redirects), legal (trademark clearance in every market and class, domain and social handles, existing contracts), cost overruns, internal resistance, public backlash, and inconsistent half-finished rollout. Give a mitigation for each.
6. **Rollout plan.** A touchpoint inventory (digital, product, packaging, signage, vehicles, uniforms, documents, legal entities, app stores, partners), each prioritised by visibility and cost, and a choice between a single launch date and a phased rollout, with what must be ready on day one. Include the asset handover to teams and agencies, and decommissioning old materials.
7. **Communications.** Employees first (why, what changes, what does not, and their role), then key customers and partners, then the public. The story of why the change matters to customers, an FAQ, and how to handle questions about cost or the old brand.
8. **Success measures.** Baselines to capture before launch (awareness, recognition, consideration, brand search volume, conversion, sentiment, employee understanding) and targets with dates; a check at 3, 6 and 12 months.
9. **Timeline and budget drivers.** Phases with typical durations and the decisions that drive cost most (name change or not, number of physical touchpoints, markets).
- Do not invent research results, recognition levels, costs or legal conclusions. Mark estimates and recommend professional trademark clearance and legal review where needed.
- Default to keeping recognised assets; justify every drop.
- Be candid if a rebrand is the wrong answer.
- Separate what you verified from what you inferred. Mark inferences as such.
- When you do not know, say "I don't know" once and state what would settle it.
Markdown with the contract's sections as `##` headings. Equity audit as a table: | Asset | Fame (est.) | Uniqueness (est.) | Recommendation | Reason |. Risks as a table: | Risk | Likelihood | Impact | Mitigation |. Rollout as a table: | Touchpoint | Priority | Day-one? | Owner (role) | Notes |.
````
---
## Run a brand audit
`run-brand-audit` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/run-brand-audit
Audits a brand across its touchpoints for positioning, message, voice and visual consistency, scores each touchpoint against the brand's own standards and ranks fixes by impact and effort.
````markdown
You are a brand strategist who runs audits for companies before a refresh, after growth or a merger, or when marketing "feels off". An audit compares what the brand says it is with what people actually meet at every touchpoint. Audits go wrong when they become a list of the auditor's taste, when they check logo usage but ignore whether the message is consistent, when they only look at marketing and skip the invoices, support replies and job ads customers and candidates also see, and when they end with fifty equal-weight issues and no order of work.
Audit this brand across the touchpoints provided.
[BRAND]
[TOUCHPOINTS]
If the intended positioning or audience is missing, ask for it and stop; without it there is nothing to audit against. If there are no written guidelines, derive a provisional baseline from the strongest touchpoint and the stated positioning, and say so.
1. **Audit baseline.** The standards you audit against: positioning (for whom, what, why different), key messages, voice traits, and visual identity rules (logo, colour, type, imagery, layout). Mark which come from the guidelines and which you inferred.
2. **Touchpoint scorecard.** Score each touchpoint 1 to 5 on four dimensions: positioning and message (does it say the brand's thing to the right audience), voice (do the words sound like the brand), visual identity (logo, colour, type, imagery used correctly), and experience quality (clarity, accessibility, broken or outdated elements). One line of evidence per score; quote text where you can.
3. **Findings by dimension.** For each dimension, the patterns across touchpoints (not single slips): what is consistent and should be protected, what drifts and where, and contradictions between touchpoints (for example premium positioning on the website and discount-heavy social ads).
4. **Positioning gap.** The difference between the intended brand and the brand a customer would describe after meeting these touchpoints, in two short paragraphs.
5. **Prioritised fixes.** 6 to 12 fixes ranked by impact on how customers perceive the brand and by effort. For each: the problem, the touchpoints affected, the fix, a rough effort level, and an owner type (marketing, design, product, support, HR). Mark quick wins. Note fixes that point to missing guidelines or tools (for example templates) rather than one-off corrections.
6. **Not assessed.** Touchpoints or evidence missing from the input that matter for this kind of brand (for example customer perception research, competitor comparison, in-store experience), and how to gather them.
- Judge against the brand's stated standards and positioning, not personal taste; label any taste-based note as such.
- Do not invent customer perceptions, research results or metrics; when a judgement is yours, say so.
- Quote or describe the evidence for every score; do not score touchpoints you were not shown.
- Separate what you verified from what you inferred. Mark inferences as such.
- When you do not know, say "I don't know" once and state what would settle it.
## Audit baseline
## Touchpoint scorecard
| Touchpoint | Positioning and message | Voice | Visual identity | Experience | Evidence |
## Findings by dimension
### Positioning and message
### Voice
### Visual identity
### Experience quality
## Positioning gap
## Prioritised fixes
| # | Problem | Touchpoints | Fix | Effort | Owner | Quick win |
## Not assessed
````
---
## Vet a shortlisted brand name
`vet-brand-name` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/vet-brand-name
Vets shortlisted brand names for meaning in key languages, pronunciation, domain and handle checks, trademark search steps and confusion risks, and says when to involve a trademark lawyer.
````markdown
Teams fall in love with a name and then discover it means something rude in a key market, is impossible to spell from hearing it, has no usable domain or handle, or sits next to an existing trademark in their class. Each of those is cheaper to find before a logo and launch than after. A language model can do useful first-pass screening (meanings and associations, pronunciation, spelling, descriptiveness, obvious conflicts with well-known brands) and can lay out exactly how to run the searches. It cannot see live trademark registers or domain availability, cannot know every unregistered local use, and cannot give a legal clearance opinion; that is a trademark lawyer's job, and it is worth paying for before heavy investment.
Vet these names for use in [CATEGORY].
[NAMES]
[MARKETS]
1. **Scope and limits:** say once, briefly, what this screen covers and that it is not trademark clearance or a legal opinion.
2. **Name-by-name screen:** for each name, a short profile: construction (descriptive, suggestive, arbitrary, coined), what it suggests for [CATEGORY], and an initial read on distinctiveness. Explain that descriptive names are harder to protect and generic terms cannot be protected at all.
3. **Linguistic and cultural check:** for each language in [MARKETS], possible meanings, slang, unfortunate sound-alikes, and cultural associations. Mark each finding with your confidence (high, medium, low), and recommend checking with native speakers for any language where you are not confident, especially for slang and regional variants.
4. **Pronunciation and spelling:** how speakers of each market are likely to say it, whether people can spell it after hearing it, ambiguity in voice search and word of mouth, and characters or accents that cause problems in URLs or keyboards.
5. **Digital and business-name checks:** the domain extensions and social handles to check for each market, app store listings if the product is an app, and the company or business-name register in each market; how to check them (registrar searches, the platforms and stores themselves, the official company register); and fallbacks (a prefix or suffix, a different extension). Do not state whether a domain, handle or company name is available; you cannot see live data.
6. **Trademark search steps:** the relevant goods and services classes for [CATEGORY] under the Nice Classification (name the likely classes and say they should be confirmed), and the registers to search for each market (for example the national office, the regional register where one exists such as the EU trade mark register, and the international register for marks designated through the Madrid system), plus free search tools that cover several offices at once, such as WIPO's Global Brand Database and TMview. Explain how to search for identical and similar marks (sound-alikes, spelling variants, translations) in the relevant classes, and that common-law or unregistered use can also matter in some countries.
7. **Confusion and reputation risks:** obvious similarity to well-known brands in or near the category that you know of, existing companies or products with the same or similar names that you are aware of (marked as "to verify"), and negative associations (news events, controversies) to search for.
8. **Shortlist ranking:** rank the names on linguistic safety, memorability and spelling, distinctiveness, and likely search effort, with a one-line reason each, and say which to take to a lawyer first.
9. **Next steps with counsel:** what to bring to a trademark lawyer (the names, the markets, the category and classes, launch dates, preliminary search results), and the decisions that need their opinion (clearance, filing strategy, priority).
10. Before answering, re-read every linguistic claim: remove any that you cannot support and lower confidence where you are unsure.
11. If the markets or category are missing, ask for them and stop.
- Never state that a name is "clear", "available" or "safe to register"; describe risks and the checks that remain.
- Do not invent existing trademarks or companies; mention only those you are confident exist, and mark them for verification.
- You give general information, not professional advice. You are not a doctor, therapist, lawyer, accountant or financial adviser, and you do not replace one.
- Say so once, briefly, near the start: what you can help with here and what needs a qualified professional.
- Do not diagnose, prescribe, give dosages, predict a legal outcome, or recommend a specific investment, tax position or legal action for this person.
- When the situation is serious, urgent, high-stakes or specific to their circumstances, say which kind of professional to see and what to bring to that appointment.
- If anything suggests immediate danger to health or safety, tell them to contact local emergency services now, before anything else.
- Rules, prices and laws differ by country and change over time. Name the assumption you are making and tell them to check it locally.
- Keep the legal content general and point to qualified counsel for decisions.
- Separate what you verified from what you inferred. Mark inferences as such.
- When you do not know, say "I don't know" once and state what would settle it.
Markdown with the contract's sections in order. The linguistic check as a table (Name, Language, Finding, Confidence, Action). The ranking as a table (Rank, Name, Linguistic, Memorability, Distinctiveness, Search effort, Reason). Search steps as a checklist per market.
````
---
## Write a brand story
`write-brand-story` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/write-brand-story
Writes the narrative a company retells everywhere, from the shift in the customer's world and the old way it breaks to the belief and proof, with spoken and audience cuts. Use to align pitches.
````markdown
A brand story is not an About page. It is the source narrative that founders pitch with, salespeople open calls with, recruiters use to explain why the work matters, and every web page and deck draws from. In most companies it does not exist, so each person tells a different version, usually a company biography ("Founded in 2019 by two friends with a passion for innovation...") that makes the company the hero and could belong to anyone.
A story that travels has a fixed spine: a real change in the customer's world, the old way of coping that this change breaks, a belief about what should replace it, the better state the customer can reach, how the company gets them there, and proof. The founder's origin is supporting evidence of why this company can tell it, not the plot. Every version, spoken or written, keeps the same spine and the same facts.
Write the brand story.
[COMPANY]
Audiences to write cuts for: customers, prospective employees, investors and partners
1. **Check the input first.** If it does not say who the customer is, what problem they have, or what the company does differently, ask up to three questions and stop.
2. **Story spine.** One or two lines per part, using only facts given:
- **The shift:** a change in the customer's world that is already happening and that the customer would recognise (a cost rising, a rule changing, a habit spreading, a tool becoming normal). If the input names none, propose up to two candidates, each marked "(hypothesis - confirm)".
- **The old way and why it now fails:** how customers cope today, and what the shift does to them if they keep coping that way. Describe the old way, not a named competitor.
- **The belief:** the company's point of view on how things should be, phrased so a reasonable competitor might disagree.
- **The better state:** what the customer's work or life looks like once the problem is handled, described without mentioning the product.
- **How we get them there:** two or three concrete things the company does differently, each tied to one obstacle from the old way.
- **Proof:** the evidence for each of those, from the input.
- **Origin (if a founder story was given):** the single moment that shows why this company understands the problem, told as a turning point, not a biography.
3. **Spine check.** Test the spine and fix it before writing versions: the customer, not the company, is the hero; the shift is true and checkable; the belief is one somebody could disagree with; each "how" answers an obstacle; and a direct competitor could not tell this story unchanged. Report each test as pass or fixed, with a one-line reason.
4. **One-liner.** One sentence under 25 words that names the shift or the belief, not just the product category.
5. **Spoken version.** About 75 words (30 seconds aloud) for a founder or salesperson opening a conversation: short sentences, no lists, no figures the speaker could not remember.
6. **Narrative.** The canonical written story in 250 to 350 words, following the spine in order, with concrete details (a real moment, a real number) where the input supplies them. This is the source text that pages, decks and scripts draw from.
7. **Audience versions.** For each audience listed, 60 to 100 words that keep the spine and change only the emphasis: customers care about the better state and proof; prospective employees about the belief and the work it takes; investors and partners about the size of the shift and why this company is placed to win. No fact may differ between versions.
8. **Proof.** List every claim the story makes and its proof. Any claim without proof in the input is marked [proof needed] in every version and listed here with what would substantiate it.
9. **Usage notes.** The two or three lines that should be repeated word for word everywhere, where each version belongs (pitch, sales call, careers page, press, About page), what to stop saying, and the events that should trigger a rewrite (a new market, a pivot, proof that contradicts the story).
- Do not invent facts: no made-up founding dates, customers, numbers, awards, quotes or anecdotes. Use [placeholders] for missing details. If asked to make up an origin story or testimonials to be presented as true, decline and offer an honest alternative (a story led by the customer and the shift, or a clearly fictional brand character).
- Do not name or disparage competitors unless the user supplied a factual comparison; the antagonist is the old way, not a company.
- Avoid clichés unless the input proves them with a behaviour: "passion", "innovative", "world-class", "on a mission to revolutionise", "we're like a family", "started in a garage".
- Write in plain, concrete language, and match the brand's voice if the input describes it.
- Separate what you verified from what you inferred. Mark inferences as such.
- When you do not know, say "I don't know" once and state what would settle it.
Markdown with the contract's sections as `##` headings.
- Story spine: a labelled list, one entry per part.
- Spine check: a table | Test | Result | Note |.
- One-liner, Spoken version and Narrative: prose, each followed by its word count in brackets.
- Audience versions: one `###` per audience.
- Proof: a table | Claim | Proof given | Proof needed |.
- Usage notes: a short list.
````
---
## Write a brand voice and tone guide
`write-brand-voice-guide` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/write-brand-voice-guide
Writes a voice and tone guide with voice attributes, tone shifts by situation, vocabulary, mechanics, dos and don'ts, and before-and-after rewrites. Use when defining how a brand writes.
````markdown
Most voice guides list adjectives every brand claims ("friendly, innovative, human") and give writers nothing to act on. A usable guide makes choices that exclude something ("confident, not cocky"), shows how the voice stays constant while the tone shifts with the situation (a celebration versus a failed payment), and teaches through rewrites a writer can copy.
Write a voice and tone guide for this brand.
[BRAND]
1. If samples were given, analyse them first: what the strongest samples do (sentence length, person, formality, humour, jargon) and where samples are inconsistent. Base the guide on the samples marked good, and cite them.
2. **Voice summary:** 2 to 3 sentences on who the brand sounds like, written in that voice.
3. **Voice attributes:** 3 or 4 attributes, each written as "X, not Y" with a one-line definition, a "this means" and a "this does not mean" list, and a short example. Place the voice on four dimensions (funny to serious, formal to casual, respectful to irreverent, enthusiastic to matter-of-fact) and say where it sits on each.
4. **Tone by situation:** a table covering at least onboarding or welcome, marketing and launch, product instructions, errors and failures, billing and money, apologies or outages, and sensitive moments (bereavement, security incidents, cancellations). For each: the reader's likely state of mind, how the tone shifts, and an example line.
5. **Vocabulary:** words and phrases we use, words we avoid (with the replacement), how to name the product and its features, and jargon rules.
6. **Mechanics:** person (we or you), contractions, sentence and title case, punctuation choices (serial comma, exclamation marks), emoji, numbers and dates, and inclusive language basics.
7. **Before and after:** 5 to 8 rewrites across different situations, each with a one-line reason tied to an attribute. Use real samples where given.
8. **Checklist:** 6 to 8 yes-or-no questions a writer can run before publishing.
- Every attribute must rule something out. Drop any attribute that could describe any brand.
- Do not make up brand facts, products or claims. If the brand description is too thin to choose attributes (no audience, no values), ask up to three questions and stop.
- Write the guide itself in the voice it describes, except for the tables, which stay plain.
- Humour never appears in errors, money problems or sensitive situations.
Markdown with the contract's sections as `##` headings, in order. Tables for tone by situation and vocabulary. Before-and-after pairs as "Before:" and "After:" lines with the reason below.
````
---
## Write a sonic branding brief
`write-sonic-branding-brief` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/write-sonic-branding-brief
Writes a sonic branding brief for an audio logo, hold music or product sounds, with brand attributes translated into sound, use cases, references described in words and evaluation criteria.
````markdown
Sonic branding (an audio logo, a brand theme, product and interface sounds, hold music, voice) is commissioned less often than visual identity, so briefs tend to be vague ("make it catchy and modern") or reduced to "sounds like this famous jingle", which invites imitation and legal trouble. A strong brief translates brand attributes into musical and acoustic terms (tempo, rhythm, harmony, timbre, instrumentation, register, dynamics), lists every place the sound must work and its technical limits (a phone line's narrow band, a phone speaker, two seconds at the end of an ad, a notification that must not annoy on the hundredth play), describes references in words rather than by naming tracks to copy, and sets how the options will be judged, including testing with listeners.
Write a sonic branding brief.
[BRAND]
[USES]
1. **Background and objective:** the brand in two or three sentences, why sound now, and what success looks like (recognition, consistency across touchpoints, product usability, emotional tone).
2. **Brand in sound:** translate three to five brand attributes into sonic direction. For each attribute, describe what it sounds like and what it must not sound like, in terms of tempo, rhythm, melodic contour (rising, resolving), harmony (major, modal, open intervals), timbre and instrumentation (acoustic, synthetic, organic textures), register, dynamics and production style. For example, "warm and trustworthy: mid-register, rounded timbres, resolved cadence; not bright, plucky or overly cheerful".
3. **Use cases and specs:** a table of every use in [USES] with duration, playback context and device (phone speaker, earbuds, phone line, TV, store PA), loudness and frequency limits (phone lines carry a narrow band, so the motif must survive it), whether it loops, how often a user hears it, and whether it carries meaning (success, error, alert). Note accessibility: sounds that carry information need a visual or haptic equivalent, and product sounds must respect system mute and volume settings.
4. **References in words:** describe the qualities wanted using categories and described characteristics (for example "a short, four-note motif that resolves upward, played on a warm mallet instrument, with a soft attack"), not specific copyrighted works to imitate. If the brand input names tracks to copy, explain why the brief describes qualities instead.
5. **Deliverables:** the audio logo in lengths and variations (full, short, sting), a brand theme or bed if needed, product or UI sound set, hold music arrangement, stems and file formats, loudness-normalised masters, and a usage guide. Scale to the budget.
6. **Constraints and mandatories:** originality and a declaration that the work is not derived from existing music, cleared samples only, ownership and licensing of the final work, cultural checks for each market (meanings of certain intervals, instruments or motifs), and existing brand assets to respect.
7. **Evaluation criteria:** how to judge options: fit with each attribute, distinctiveness from competitors, memorability after one or two plays, how well the motif survives a phone line and a laptop speaker, flexibility across uses, and annoyance over repetition. Include a simple listener test plan (association with brand attributes, recall after a delay, repetition tolerance for product sounds).
8. **Process and timeline:** phases (discovery, exploration routes, refinement, production, guidelines) with review points and who signs off.
9. Before answering, check that every use in [USES] appears in the specs table and that each attribute has both a "sounds like" and a "does not sound like".
10. If the brand description is too thin to derive attributes (no positioning, audience or personality), ask for those and stop.
- Never ask the composer to imitate a specific copyrighted work, artist or existing jingle.
- Do not claim universal meanings for musical features; describe common associations and recommend testing with the audience.
- Write for a composer or sound designer as the reader: specific, musical, and free of marketing filler.
Markdown with the contract's sections in order. Brand in sound as a table (Attribute, Sounds like, Does not sound like). Use cases as a table (Use, Duration, Device and context, Frequency heard, Meaning, Technical limits). Evaluation criteria as a scored rubric table.
````
---
## Write brand guidelines
`build-brand-guidelines` · prompt · Branding · https://hermes-ide.com/prompts/build-brand-guidelines
Writes brand guidelines covering logo use, colour, typography, imagery, voice, applications and do and don't examples as a structured document. Use when a team formalises its brand.
````markdown
Brand guidelines often end up as a 90-page PDF that nobody opens: beautiful mood pages, vague rules ("use the logo with care"), colour values missing for print, no guidance for the documents people actually make, and nothing about who to ask. Guidelines get used when they answer the questions a busy marketer, salesperson, agency or developer has at the moment of making something: which logo, which colour code, which font, how much space, and what not to do, with examples.
Write brand guidelines from these assets.
[BRAND_ASSETS]
1. **Inventory first.** List what was supplied and what is missing for complete guidelines (for example CMYK values, a one-colour logo, font licences for web use, a dark-background logo). Missing items appear in the document as [TBD] with what is needed. If almost nothing was supplied (no logo description, no colours, no fonts), ask for the assets and stop.
2. **Brand on a page.** Positioning, purpose, personality and brand idea in a few lines, from the material given; if no platform exists, say so and keep this section to what is known.
3. **Logo.** Each version (primary, secondary or stacked, symbol only, one-colour, reversed) and when to use it; clear space defined by a unit of the logo itself (for example the height of a letter); minimum sizes for print (mm) and screen (px); placement rules; backgrounds allowed; co-branding with partners; and at least eight misuses (stretching, recolouring, adding effects, rotating, outlining, placing on busy images, rearranging elements, recreating the wordmark in another font).
4. **Colour.** Primary, secondary and neutral colours with every format supplied (HEX, RGB, CMYK, Pantone), their roles and rough proportions in a typical layout, approved text and background pairs with WCAG 2 contrast ratios computed from the HEX values (4.5:1 for body text, 3:1 for large text and graphics; show the ratio to one decimal place, and write "to check" for any pair you could not compute rather than estimating), and colours for data visualisation if relevant.
5. **Typography.** Typefaces with weights, roles and hierarchy (headline, subhead, body, caption), sizes and line spacing as relative rules, fallback or system fonts for documents and email, and the licence note for each use (desktop, web, app).
6. **Imagery.** Photography style (subjects, light, composition, diversity and authenticity, what never to use), illustration style, and icon style, each with how to brief a photographer or illustrator.
7. **Graphic elements.** Patterns, shapes, frames, grids and how they combine with type and imagery.
8. **Voice and tone.** From the voice input: a short summary, attributes as "X, not Y", tone by situation and four before-and-after examples. Without voice input, list the decisions still to make and point to a dedicated voice guide.
9. **Applications.** Rules and a described example for the brand's most common touchpoints (choose from the assets and the users: website, social posts, presentation, email signature, business card, packaging, signage, merchandise, job ads).
10. **Accessibility.** Minimum contrast for text and graphics, minimum text sizes, alt-text habits, and not relying on colour alone.
11. **Do and don't.** Eight to twelve pairs across the whole system, each a concrete example.
12. **Governance and assets.** Who owns the brand and approves exceptions, where the master files live, the file formats to use for each purpose (vector for print, PNG or SVG for screen), naming conventions, and how the guidelines are updated and versioned.
- Never invent colour values, font names, logo versions or rules for assets you were not given. Use [TBD].
- Rules must be specific and checkable: a number, a named version, or an example, never "use carefully".
- Keep it as short as the brand's complexity allows. A small business needs a few pages, not a book.
Markdown with the contract's sections as `##` headings, preceded by a short "Asset inventory" list of what was supplied and what is TBD. Colour as a table: | Name | Role | HEX | RGB | CMYK | Pantone |. Approved pairs as a table: | Text | Background | Contrast | Use |. Do and don't as a two-column table.
````