You know the framework now. The shape is the same as Cycle 1, but the standard is higher and the scaffolding is thinner. There is still no kickoff. The client completes the Discovery Workbook before the cycle opens, so it is in your hands on Monday of Week 7. Your lead responds to your self-critique rather than initiating it. Vague strategy gets sent back, not coached through.
Before presenting strategy, write out your answers to the three core questions (value, difference, loss) and defend them to yourself before you bring them to your lead. If you cannot write it clearly, you have not found it yet.
Rhythm to memorize: Studio sync with your Interactive and Motion teammates every Monday. Vlog every Wednesday. Office hours and critiques on Friday.
Cycle 2 timeline: Cycle 2 work runs Mon Sep 7 through Sun Oct 18. Closing Experience and public showcase Sat Oct 17.
The client filled out the Discovery Workbook before the cycle opened. Read it through on Monday. You know what to look for now: surprises, contradictions, gaps, places where the client's self-perception diverges from the evidence.
Branding-Skills / ac-branding-discoveryYou have done this before. Industry, competitors, market context. Sharper, faster, more confident than Cycle 1. Identify the white space without waiting on confirmation.
Visit competitor websites, social media, and public materials. Study visual presence (logo, color, typography, photography) and verbal presence (tone, messaging). Identify the white space faster and with more confidence than Cycle 1.
Ask Claude to use the discovery insights skill to turn the workbook and your research into a Discovery Insights document. Use it as a working document to think through and bounce ideas off. In Cycle 2 you should be challenging its conclusions, not just reading them.
Branding-Skills / ac-branding-discoveryRequired weekly, every Wednesday. What is different about a paying engagement? What did you sharpen in your research approach from Cycle 1?
If you would like time with your mentor this week, book one of the available office-hours slots. In Cycle 2 you decide when you need the outside eyes.
The team meets Monday with both the completed Discovery Workbook and your Week 7 research. Faster, more focused review than Cycle 1. You know what to look for: surprises, contradictions, gaps, places where the client's self-perception diverges from the evidence.
Branding-Skills / ac-branding-discoveryBefore presenting anything, answer the three core strategy questions in writing: value, difference, loss. If you cannot write it clearly, you have not found it yet. This is new in Cycle 2. Do this before you go to your lead.
Same thinking exercise as Cycle 1. What are the gaps? What makes this organization unique? Your answers should be sharper, more specific, and more defensible than Cycle 1.
Same manual process as Cycle 1, sharper thinking. Fill in the Strategy & Positioning template yourself: the gaps, the positioning, the brand elements, and the audience, each backed by your research. The standard is higher, so every section should read like it was written by someone who has done this before.
Claude reviews the presentation critically. Is every claim grounded in real research? Is the positioning defensible? Any weak assertions? You should be catching more of these yourself by now, but the audit is still a safety net.
The Wednesday vlog is your mid-week checkpoint. Record it, send it to your lead, and report where the strategy stands. Your lead reviews and responds asynchronously. Sharpen before Friday.
Friday QC review. Your lead asks fewer questions this time. You should be anticipating them and answering proactively. If you are not, that is the coaching note.
Strategy approved and locked. Move immediately into exploration. No waiting. The constraint of the timeline is part of the training.
Explore color on your own, or use Khroma as a starting point. Color decisions driven by strategy. You have done this before. Move faster and with more intention. Know what you are looking for before you open the tool. Generate multiple distinct directions, not variations on one idea.
Google Font pairings that serve the strategy; Fontjoy can be a good starting point. Your typographic instincts should be sharper from Cycle 1. Evaluate pairings against brand personality with more confidence.
Mid-week sync with your Interactive and Motion teammates. Make sure the creative direction is unified before convergence. You are the brand director. Coherence is your responsibility.
Document the exploration. How is your divergence different in Cycle 2?
Send your divergent color, type, and logo explorations to your studio Slack channel and share them with your team. Your role is to articulate why each direction is different, not to pre-converge.
Close the week with office hours. Bring your explorations and your open questions before you converge next week.
Your studio of brand, interactive, and motion meets every Monday. This week, brand communicates where the brand is at, what is working, and where things are going. Your teammates' work depends on your direction, so keep them current.
Evaluate your explorations against the strategy first, then against brand first principles and design first principles, using the first-principles prompt documents. In Cycle 2 you should be running this evaluation without being prompted. It is how you decide what is good.
Primary logo, secondary mark, icon, and lockup variations. Full suite, all scales, all contexts. Cycle 2 standard: this should look portfolio-grade, not student-grade.
Narrow the color system to the direction that serves the strategy: primary, secondary, accent, and neutral tones. Rationale documented and traceable to strategy.
Lock your font selections. The typography should reinforce the brand personality defined in the strategy.
Before presenting to your lead, critique your own work using the visual first principles framework. What is the hierarchy? Is the contrast intentional? What is repeating, and why? Write your self-critique down. Your lead responds to your analysis, not just your work.
Share where you are at and how things are going. What got cut and why?
Close the week with office hours. Bring the converged direction and your written self-critique.
Color palette and type locked at the end of Week 10. Hand them to your web and motion teammates so implementation happens together. Update them on where things are going and flag anything that has changed with the final direction.
Put the brand onto things the client could actually use: print pieces, patches, hats, merch. Work from the brand guidelines as you go. Cycle 2 standard: your creative vision extended into practical use, not just best practices followed.
Full guidelines: logo usage, color specs, typography standards, spacing, layout, do/don't examples. Professional-grade.
Branding-Skills / ac-branding-guidelinesYour Wednesday vlog doubles as the visual system presentation to your orientation lead. You self-critique first; your lead responds to your analysis, not just the work. If you missed something in your own critique, that is the coaching note. Your lead runs quality control against AlabamaCreates standards from here.
Full rehearsal. This time you should anticipate the hard questions before they are asked.
Book a time to present the full brand to the client next week. Get it on the calendar before the weekend so delivery week starts with the finish line fixed.
Last Monday sync of the program. If anything has changed with the final brand, make sure your web and motion teammates have everything they need to finish their deliverables.
Build the presentation deck. Tell the story of the brand system. The "why" behind every decision.
Branding-Skills / ac-brand-presentationPresent the full brand system on video. It is a recorded walkthrough that will be sent to the client. You lead entirely. Own it the way you would own the room: confident, grounded in strategy, ready for the questions the client will ask after watching.
Use the ac-brand-logo-production skill. EPS source logos + brand colors in, organized file package out. The AlabamaCreates team handles the handoff to the client from here.
ac-brand-logo-productionStart preparing your case study presentation for the public showcase on Sat Oct 17. Two engagements, the growth in your thinking, the live brand systems. The showcase is your monetization springboard.
Same format as Cycle 1. One page. Compare to your Cycle 1 reflection: is there growth in how you think, not just what you produce?
Final cycle vlog. Document the delivery and the arc from Week 1 to here.