Branding Discover

---
name: branding-discover
description: Research the landscape for a brand — the business, existing brand assets, competitor brands, audience and market gaps — into a discovery brief. Use when the user is creating or reworking a brand and first needs to understand the current brand, competitors and audience. Not for open-ended research or checking content against guidelines; see /research-discover or /branding-audit.
metadata:
  argument-hint: "[project] [--skip-checks]"
  workflow: branding
  phase: 1
  artifact: 01-discover.md
---

# Discover

Research the brand landscape for "$ARGUMENTS". Gather insights about the business, audience, competitors, and market to inform brand strategy.

**Arguments.** `$ARGUMENTS` may contain the project name and optional flags. Take the first token as `<project>` and treat `--skip-checks` as a flag; never include flags in file paths. All paths below use `<project>`. If `--skip-checks` is present, skip the prerequisite check and, **before writing any artifact**, append one line to `.singularskills/log.jsonl`: `{"ts":"<ISO timestamp>","skill":"branding-discover","workflow":"branding","phase":1,"project":"<project>","event":"skipped","artifact":"01-discover.md","note":"<reason or \"none given\">"}`.

## Prerequisites

**Part of a workflow.** This skill is phase 1 (Discover) of the Brand Identity Process workflow (`branding`); cross-domain workflows run it too. First check `.singularskills/log.jsonl` for an open run for this project: a `run-started` line with `"project":"<project>"` and no later `run-finished` line for the same `workflow` and `project`. If one exists, the conductor is running you: continue here. Otherwise, if the user asked to start, run, continue or resume a process or workflow rather than this one step, do not continue here: invoke the `workflow` skill with the workflow the user asked for, or `branding` when they named none, followed by `<project>`; it runs this phase in order, asks before it writes and records the run. Otherwise, unless the user named this skill, ask one question, since this is the first phase of its workflow: "Just this step, or the whole Brand Identity Process workflow?" End your turn and wait; on the whole workflow, hand off the same way; on just this step, continue here.

**Recall.** Before you ask the user anything, look for what this repository already holds about `<project>`: if a tool is available whose description says it searches or maps this repository (a memory or repo-map server such as `repo_map` or `entities`), query it for `<project>` and this phase's subject and read what it returns, keeping only results from this repository; in every case also list `.singularskills/*/<project>/` and read the **Decisions** and **Open questions** of any artifact there, and the lines of `.singularskills/log.jsonl` whose `project` is `<project>`. After the frontmatter and title, add a `## Recalled` section of at most ten lines naming what you found and where (path or tool), or the single line `Nothing recalled: no earlier artifacts, log lines or memory results for <project>.` Ask the user only what this did not answer. The trail's shape is described in `references/memory/trail.md`, bundled with this skill.

Before you start work, append this line to `.singularskills/log.jsonl` (create the folder and file if missing): `{"ts":"<ISO timestamp>","skill":"branding-discover","workflow":"branding","phase":1,"project":"<project>","event":"started","artifact":"01-discover.md","note":""}`.

None — this is the first phase.

## Process

1. **Ask the user key discovery questions:**
   - What does the business do? What problem does it solve?
   - Who is the target audience? (demographics, psychographics)
   - Who are the main competitors?
   - What makes this business different?
   - Are there existing brand elements to audit? (logo, colors, messaging)
   - What is the brand's aspiration? Where should it be in 3-5 years?

2. **If existing brand assets exist:**
   - Ask the user to place assets in `.singularskills/branding/<project>/assets/` (logo/, fonts/, imagery/)
   - Review and document what exists
   - Assess current brand strengths and weaknesses

3. **Competitive brand analysis:**
   - Use WebSearch to research competitor brands
   - Document their positioning, visual identity, and messaging
   - Identify gaps and opportunities for differentiation

4. **Audience research:**
   - Use WebSearch to understand the target audience's preferences, behaviors, and expectations
   - Document audience personas with needs and pain points

5. **Write the artifact** to `.singularskills/branding/<project>/01-discover.md` with sections:
   - **Business Overview** — what the business does, its goals
   - **Existing Brand Audit** — current assets, strengths, weaknesses (if applicable)
   - **Competitive Landscape** — competitor brand analysis
   - **Target Audience** — personas, needs, expectations
   - **Market Insights** — trends, opportunities, gaps
   - **Key Takeaways** — most important findings for the Strategy phase

## Output

The discovery brief written to `.singularskills/branding/<project>/01-discover.md`. Present a summary to the user highlighting:
- Key audience insights
- Competitive positioning gaps
- Biggest brand opportunity identified

**Record the run.** After you have written the artifact, append this line to `.singularskills/log.jsonl` (the `started` line of Prerequisites, with `"event":"finished"`): `{"ts":"<ISO timestamp>","skill":"branding-discover","workflow":"branding","phase":1,"project":"<project>","event":"finished","artifact":"01-discover.md","note":""}`.

Open the artifact with this frontmatter (`agent` is the agent you run in, or `unknown`; `gate` is `none`, as this phase has no gate):

```yaml
---
skill: branding-discover
workflow: branding
phase: 1
project: <project>
started: <ISO timestamp>
finished: <ISO timestamp>
agent: <the agent you run in, or "unknown">
gate: none
---
```

End the artifact with `## Decisions` and `## Open questions`, in this shape:

```markdown
## Decisions
- <what was chosen> — <why> — <what was rejected>

## Open questions
- <what the next phase or a reviewer must settle>
```