taste-brand-identity

taste-brand-identity

A logo is a memory aid, not a drawing. This skill makes sure the identity survives a favicon and a billboard.

1. THE CONCEPT (Before Any Drawing)

1. One idea, two words: the mark reduces to a single association ("north + needle", "record + flower"). If you can't say it in two words, the concept isn't there yet.
2. Literal is the last resort: a generic icon of the product category (spark, rocket, chat bubble, gear) is what every other mark does. Reach for the abstract idea behind the product.
3. Test at 16px before loving it: the mark must read as a favicon first. If the concept needs 3 colors or fine detail to live, it fails the test.
4. Two colors, hard ceiling: one ink + one accent (or monochrome). A mark that needs its gradient to exist is not a mark.

2. WORDMARK TYPOGRAPHY (The Half Nobody Checks)

• Prefer modifying a strong existing face over inventing a font: letterspacing (−0.03em), case, a punctuation detail (. in "skittie.dev"), or one cutout/glyph swap.
• One typographic move per wordmark: track tight OR case change OR a single altered glyph. Two moves = a novelty logo.
• Test the wordmark in: caps, sentence case, and at 12px. If it doesn't survive small, tighten or accept a secondary lockup.
• Never letterspace lowercase (it breaks the word shape). Never stretch type (use the real condensed family).

3. THE LOCKUP (Mark + Wordmark, Formalized)

• Build on a construction grid: mark and wordmark on shared optical centers, clear space = height of the mark's smallest element (or 1/4 the mark width) on all sides.
• Three lockups, defined once: horizontal (mark + wordmark), stacked (mark above wordmark), compact (mark + short wordmark, for small spaces).
• Minimum sizes: mark ≥ 16px (favicon), ≥ 24px (in-app), ≥ 12px wordmark in compact lockups only.
• Banned lockup crimes: shadowed marks, gradient marks, outlined marks at small sizes, mark alone without the brand name on the first view.

4. COLOR APPLICATION

• The identity lives in ink + one accent (from the palette the page uses). A reversed (light-on-dark) variant is required — define both.
• Accent distribution: the accent is a signal (links, one button, active states, the logo's accent detail) — never a background fill.
• Provide a "monochrome only" fallback: every brand asset exists in 100% ink as a default.
• If the logo is a wordmark, its color rule is: same ink as headings — never a rainbow of per-section colors.

5. THE DELIVERABLE SET (Ship All of These)

1. Primary lockup — SVG, currentColor-compatible.
2. Favicon — 32px and 180px (apple-touch): the mark alone, centered, its own square tile.
3. og-image — 1200×630 canvas: mark or wordmark top-left or centered, one accent detail, clear space ≥ 80px margins; this is the most-viewed brand asset on the internet — never let it be a screenshot of the site.
4. One-page brand sheet — mark, wordmark, clear space diagram, min sizes, palette (with tokens), type pair, do/don't rows. This becomes the agent's own brand guideline file.

6. DO / DON'T (The Fast Filter)

Do	Don't
Simplify until one element remains	Add a stroke, shadow, and gradient "for depth"
Test at 16px, 48px, 400px	Design only at 400px and pray
One typographic move	Custom-draw letters that fight the font
Provide the reversed variant	Ship only the version that works on white
Make the og-image deliberately	Let socials crop a screenshot

7. CHECKLIST (Fail the Identity If…)

• The concept can't be stated in two words.
• More than two colors (plus neutrals).
• Any gradient, shadow, or outline needed for legibility.
• The mark at 16px is ambiguous with the competition's.
• No reversed variant exists.
• No clear-space/min-size rule defined.
• The og-image is missing or is a page screenshot.