Purpose
Turn a scattered brief or campaign context into a tight, decision-ready creative direction statement that gives every team member and vendor the same mental model of what to make and why. Eliminates the misalignment that produces off-brief work, endless revision rounds, and inconsistent execution across channels.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Write a creative direction statement from a campaign brief
- Align designers, copywriters, and producers on a single creative vision
- Brief an external agency, freelancer, or production vendor
- Set the tone, mood, and guardrails for a campaign or launch
- Translate a strategy or positioning doc into actionable creative direction
- Resolve conflicting interpretations of "what this campaign should feel like"
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Campaign or project: What is being made and for what purpose (launch, rebrand, seasonal push, always-on content)
- Brand context: The brand's personality, existing voice, and any non-negotiable identity elements
- Target audience: Who the work must resonate with, and their current relationship to the brand
- Core message or takeaway: The one thing the audience should think, feel, or do
- Channels/deliverables: Where this will run (social, film, OOH, packaging, web) and formats involved
- References or anti-references: Anything they love, want to emulate, or want to avoid
- Constraints: Budget, timeline, legal, or mandatory brand assets that shape what's possible
If references or constraints are missing, proceed with the strongest interpretation of the brand context and flag the assumption inline.
Instructions
Step 1: Extract the Central Idea
Distill the brief down to a single organizing thought that all creative decisions ladder up to.
- State it as one sentence — a creative platform, not a marketing objective (e.g., "Show that starting is the hardest part, and we remove it" — not "Increase sign-ups by 20%")
- The idea must be specific enough to reject work that doesn't fit, and open enough to produce many executions
- Pressure-test it: could two different designers produce recognizably related-but-distinct work from this idea? If not, tighten or broaden it
Step 2: Define Tone and Mood
Establish the emotional register the work should occupy.
- Tone: 3–4 adjectives describing the attitude (e.g., "confident, warm, quietly witty" — not "professional")
- Mood: The feeling the audience should have (e.g., "the relief of finally being understood")
- Tone sliders: Position the work on 3 tension axes relevant to the brand — for example: Playful ←→ Serious, Premium ←→ Accessible, Bold ←→ Understated. Mark where on each slider this campaign lands and why
Step 3: Set the Visual Direction
Give art direction enough to start without dictating every pixel.
- Composition and pacing: Density, whitespace, energy, movement
- Color and light: Palette intent and lighting mood (warm/cool, high-key/moody)
- Typography attitude: What the type should communicate before it's read
- Imagery style: Photography vs. illustration vs. motion, and the treatment (candid, styled, abstract)
- Reference anchors: 2–3 named touchpoints or a described visual world to calibrate against
Step 4: Set the Verbal Direction
Define how the work should sound in copy and voice.
- Voice principles: 2–3 rules for how the brand speaks in this campaign
- Vocabulary: Words and phrases that fit, and words to avoid
- Sentence rhythm: Short and punchy, conversational, declarative — with a one-line example headline that demonstrates it
Step 5: Write the Do's and Don'ts
Convert the direction into concrete guardrails so vendors self-correct without a review.
- Do's: 4–6 specific, actionable directives ("Lead with a human face in the first frame")
- Don'ts: 4–6 specific prohibitions tied to failure modes ("Don't use stock-photo handshakes or generic office scenes")
- Each item should be checkable — a reviewer could hold the work up against it and get a clear yes/no
Step 6: Write the North Star Line
Compose one memorable sentence that captures the entire direction — the line a producer repeats to a freelancer at 11pm to decide between two options. Make it quotable and unmistakably tied to this campaign, not a generic mantra.
Output Format
- Structure: Titled creative direction statement organized into labeled sections, scannable in under 90 seconds
- Length: 450–650 words
- Format: Structured document — short prose per section with bulleted directives; tone sliders and do's/don'ts as lists
- Sections: Central Idea → Tone & Mood (with sliders) → Visual Direction → Verbal Direction → Do's & Don'ts → North Star Line
- Tone: Decisive and vivid — the voice of a creative director briefing a room, not a strategist writing a memo. Opinionated, concrete, zero hedging.
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] The Central Idea is a single sentence stated as a creative platform, not a business metric
- [ ] Tone & Mood includes 3 named tension sliders with a stated position on each
- [ ] Do's and Don'ts each contain at least 4 items, and every item is checkable against real work
- [ ] Visual and Verbal directions each include a concrete example (reference anchor / sample headline)
- [ ] The North Star line is one sentence and specific to this campaign — not a reusable slogan
- [ ] Any missing input has been handled with a flagged assumption, not a bracket placeholder
Notes
- The most common failure is a Central Idea that's actually an objective — if it can't reject bad work, it isn't direction, it's a goal
- Tone sliders resolve more vendor disputes than adjectives alone, because they force a relative position instead of an abstract feeling
- Keep the statement short on purpose: a one-page direction that gets read beats a ten-page deck that doesn't
- When briefing external vendors, the Do's and Don'ts and North Star line do the most work — lead with them in verbal handoffs
How to use this skill
This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.
Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills