Brief graphic

Design Brief — Orchestrator

<!-- BUDGET_EXCEPTION: Brief carries artifact-schema-as-contract that is load-bearing and cannot move to references/. 4 downstream routes × distinct renderer consumers + 14-field frontmatter + 8-dim Quality Gate + 6 Critical Gates (one per render-failure mode) are the contract surface tools read by name. ~400 tokens over standard cap is legitimate cost, matching evaluate-landing-page sibling. -->

Produce a graphic-design brief for a single visual asset — social posts, thumbnails, banners, OG cards, hero illustrations, OOH, ad creative. Emits an image-gen prompt or designer-handoff spec; does NOT render (not for user flow / wireframe — use map-user-flow). Capability metadata: routing.yaml. Agents + 4 downstream routes + 8-dim rubric: references/agent-manifest.md. Methodology: references/playbook.md.

Core question: Could a designer or image-gen tool execute this asset on-brand and on-platform without follow-up questions?

Critical Gates — load first

• Do NOT render. Brief only — spec + reference direction + image-gen prompt. Rendering happens downstream.
• Do NOT proceed without brand anchors. Missing brand/BRAND.md or brand/DESIGN.md → NEEDS_CONTEXT, recommend create-brand. Hard gate fires BEFORE Cold Start (survives --fast).
• Do NOT invent tokens, fonts, or motion specs. Every visual decision traces to DESIGN.md. Gap → flag, don't guess.
• Reference realized surfaces, not just tokens. Before writing reference direction, pull ≥1 realized surface (live page screenshot · shipped HTML · approved exploration · existing exemplar) and design the concept against it — tokens are the floor, the realized surface is the taste. No surface available → record the explicit token-only fallback line. Silent token-only design fails the rubric. Contract: references/_shared/realized-surface-grounding.md.
• Do NOT use stock-AI defaults. No purple-blue gradients, centered-on-white, faux-3D bevels, glassmorphism — unless DESIGN.md specifies. 13-pattern detector scores explicitly.
• Do NOT skip the brief approval gate. Brief is a candidate, not a delivery — user reviews before rendering.
• Platform spec mandatory. Every brief includes aspect ratio, safe zones, mobile readability, file format, file-size cap.

Quality Gate — 8 dimensions + AI-aesthetic check

Critic verifies. Full rubric + per-route scoring shifts + 13-pattern Generic-AI-Aesthetic Detector: references/visual-rubric.md and references/agent-manifest.md § 8-Dim Visual Rubric. Max 2 rewrite cycles per verdict.

• Brand fidelity + sacred-element respect — palette/type/motion trace to DESIGN.md; no proposed change to logo, anchor color, tagline unless brief authorizes
• Hierarchy + composition + typography + contrast — 1-sec focal point, intentional white space, pairing per DESIGN.md, WCAG AA (≥4.5:1 normal, ≥3:1 large)
• Platform fit — dimensions, safe zones, crop behavior, mobile thumb-stop readability, file format/size match the platform module
• CTA clarity (if applicable) + Generic-AI-Aesthetic (0-7 clean / 8-15 DONE_WITH_CONCERNS / 16+ auto-FAIL)
• Downstream handoff complete — image-gen prompt specific (lens/lighting/mood/era/composition/color cast), or designer spec covers placement + tokens, or vector spec specifies layout grid

Before Starting

Apply references/_shared/before-starting-check.md.

Artifact	Source	Required?
brand/BRAND.md	create-brand	REQUIRED (hard gate) — voice, archetype, sacred elements
brand/DESIGN.md	create-brand	REQUIRED (hard gate) — palette, type, surface, motion
brand/CREATIVE-DIRECTION.md	create-brand	Recommended — house art direction (mood, light, framing, motion); design against it, not just tokens
brand/ASSETS.md	create-brand B	Optional — auto-fill dimensions + checkbox tick
realized surface (live URL · shipped HTML · explorations/* · exemplar asset)	the live brand	Recommended — the executed taste to design against; see realized-surface-grounding
docs/forsvn/artifacts/marketing/brief-landing-page/[slug]/asset-slots/[slot-id].md	brief-landing-page	Optional — LP slot spec
docs/forsvn/artifacts/marketing/content/[slug].copy.md	write-copy	Optional — copy that renders IN the asset
docs/forsvn/artifacts/marketing/campaign-plan.md	plan-campaign	Optional — campaign context + ## Creative Direction (per-campaign art direction)
research/icp-research.md	research-icp	Optional — audience visual preferences

Pre-Dispatch + Mode

Canonical Pre-Dispatch: references/_shared/pre-dispatch-protocol.md. Dimensions: asset type · downstream route · brand ref (hard-gate auto) · copy/headline · constraints. Hard-gate semantics + Cold Start + Write-back + Step 0.5 Route Detection: references/procedures/pre-dispatch.md.

Mode (references/_shared/mode-resolver.md): budget: standard. --fast collapses Layer 1 → single pass, Layer 1.5 → 1 brief, skips Approval Gate 1 (the SELECTION pick — 3 concepts → 1; options-selection.md, tier B). Does NOT skip hard gate, Cold Start, Step 0.5, Approval Gate 2, critic, or AI-Aesthetic Detector. Session execution profile (single-vs-multi): inherit per references/_shared/execution-policy.md.

Routes + Downstream Handoff

Every brief carries a downstream_route tag — image-gen / vector-tool / designer-handoff / template-pack. Auto-detection by asset type: references/asset-types.md. Override with --route=.... Per-route renderers + dispatch graph: references/agent-manifest.md.

Artifact Contract

• Paths: docs/forsvn/artifacts/marketing/design-briefs/[slug].md (default; preserve-history → [slug].v[N].md; Gate-2 reject → [slug]-rejected.md; Gate-1 stop → [slug]-candidates.md).
• Lifecycle: pipeline — re-run on BRAND.md / DESIGN.md update, new ASSETS.md row, brief-landing-page slot request, campaign launch, render dissatisfaction.
• Frontmatter: skill, version, date, status, decision_state, review_tool, reviewed_at, reviewer, downstream_route, target_tool (when image-gen), asset_type, platform, dimensions, brand_anchors, sacred_respected.
• Consumed by: image-gen tools (Claude Design / Midjourney / Imagen / DALL·E / Ideogram / Veo / Suno) · vector tools (Pencil / Figma) · human designers · brief-landing-page (LP slot) · brand/ASSETS.md auto-tick (literal path match).
• Cross-stack contract: schema changes require atomic update of format-conventions.md § Frontmatter + § Body section order + § Downstream Handoff Block schemas.

Full template + per-route Downstream Handoff Block schemas + ASSETS.md auto-tick: references/format-conventions.md.

Anti-Patterns

references/anti-patterns.md — Process & Approval-Gate + Brand & Token + Cross-Cutting (Claude-Design-as-brand-input, hard-gate-bypass, frontmatter-drift, wrong-skill-for-intent). Re-read before any brief ships.

Durable Rules (protected)

<!-- SLOW_UPDATE_START --> <!-- No pinned rules yet. Populate via the slow-update workflow (see references/slow-update-fence.md). Each pinned rule must (a) be procedural not instance-specific, (b) be earned from a regression or critic-flagged failure, (c) cite the artifact / decision record that justified pinning. --> <!-- SLOW_UPDATE_END -->

Completion Status

• DONE — brief approved, critic PASS, artifact written.
• DONE_WITH_CONCERNS — approved with flagged issues in frontmatter (e.g. a brief drew a [verify]-flagged platform field that wasn't confirmed against a current source, or a per-vendor physical spec the operator hasn't confirmed).
• BLOCKED — user rejected at a gate, or external dependency missing.
• NEEDS_CONTEXT — BRAND.md or DESIGN.md missing.

Execution

At brief-binding, bind the image target tool (recorded as target_tool frontmatter on image-gen routes) — inherit tool_targets or ask once per references/_shared/tool-target.md; the image-gen prompt tunes to it, tool-agnostic stays the default. Offer the registry-gated fork (category image) — Brief-only: hand the approved brief to the renderer named by downstream_route (→ produce-asset → evaluate-asset); Assisted/Direct: render via a verified engine, you approve at the gate. See execution-fork.md; record execution_mode. On render dissatisfaction, re-invoke — pipeline lifecycle overwrites. When picking Assisted/Direct, batch-check the render surface first (all blockers at once + named fallback) — see capability-preflight.md.

Worked Example

End-to-end OG-image walkthrough (image-gen route, Layer 1 → 3 concepts, Gate 1 pick, Layer 2 prompt-craft, critic PASS, Gate 2, ASSETS.md auto-tick) + cycle-2 FAIL + --fast variant + Route C snippet: references/examples/brief-graphic-walkthrough.md. Additional asset-type examples: references/examples.md.