How I built my entire brand with Claude
Colors, fonts, logo system, voice. A real 12 page brand book, and the exact prompt I used to make it.
I consider myself a creative, but I’ve never been great with graphic design or the artistic side of things. What I am good at is formulating what I want.
That’s the best thing about creating a brand foundation through Claude. It can define your entire brand exactly how you want it, and it even comes up with suggestions you may not have thought about that you’re able to incorporate.
Overall it’s a 12 page PDF that outlines what your business or personal brand looks and sounds like. It’s the kind of document an agency would have charged several thousand dollars for not too long ago. I built mine in an afternoon, and I use it every single day. 🌊
What you actually get
This is the actual brand foundation Claude built for my business.
The output is a designed PDF, 12 pages laid out like a real brand book. It covers:
Brand essence. The high level positioning and the values that encompass your brand.
Color. Every shade with hex codes, plus examples of how to use the colors laid out for you.
Typography. Two fonts that are typically available through Google Fonts, CapCut and Canva, with mockups showing what they look like used together.
Logo system. Suggestions on what a logo could look like for your brand, in various colors and forms.
Imagery. Photo setups, so you can visualize the types of shots and colors to use. This one is helpful for an Instagram grid or a website.
Voice. How you sound, what you use, and what to avoid.
In application. The whole system mocked up on what looks like a website layout, to give you an idea of how everything comes together.
First, build an inspiration folder
My inspiration folder. Screenshots of brands, sites, and feeds.
This is actually the fun part. You make a folder, and it’s basically your mood board.
I like to use screenshot of brands, websites, or Instagrams. Go on Pinterest, make a Pinterest board, screenshot the whole grid, and add all of those into your inspiration folder. ☀️
Then drop in the prompt and attach the folder
Once you’ve finished the folder copy and paste the prompt I shared below, and attach the inspiration folder in that same chat. It’s very important to make sure the inspiration folder is attached.
Make sure you’re using Claude Code or Cowork on a desktop, so it can build the PDF on your machine.
Answer the questions
Claude will read everything, and then it asks you up to five questions before it builds anything. This is the part where you can add in all the specifics unique to how you envision your brand.
Claude will then show you options. It gives you text options and color palette options, and you choose which direction to go. Then it builds the full 12 page document. 🏄
Change anything you don’t like
This is the part most people don’t realize they can do. If you don’t like a certain color or a certain font, just tell Claude. Maybe give it a reason.
For example, there was a font Claude had shown me and I thought it looked too childish. So I relayed that I wanted something a little more grown up, and it gave me three other options I could use. You can go back and forth with Claude until you find something that really fits what you envision for your brand.
Then use it in everything
My Shopify site, coded in Claude Code with the brand foundation as the reference.
Here’s where the document stops being a document and starts being a system. There are a few ways to use it in everything you build moving forward. 🐚
Ask Claude to remember it. In a regular chat you can say “remember my brand foundation” and give it the essentials, the hex codes, the fonts, the voice rules. One thing worth knowing: memory is separate for regular chats and for each individual project, so a memory saved inside a project doesn’t travel to the other ones. Use memory for the essentials, not the whole document.
Drop the file into your project. Any project you’re working in, put the brand foundation PDF in it. Claude will find it and reference it without you having to explain anything.
Load it into Claude Design. If you’re on Pro or Max, Claude Design lets you upload brand materials and turn them into a design system. Once it’s set up, you can apply your foundation to everything you make in Claude Design.
The prompts
Two versions below. Use the business one for a company, and the personal one if you’re building a brand around yourself. You get the same kind of document either way, the questions are just slightly different.
If you’re doing both, build the business one first. Then when you run the personal prompt, attach your company brand foundation to that same chat and tell Claude you want a completely separate personal system. Different colors, different fonts, not a spinoff of the business.
The reason you attach it is so Claude understands what your business actually is. Your personal brand stays its own thing, but it carries a little of the company’s essence, so when you build personal projects later you can sprinkle the business in without the two ever looking like the same brand.
If you build one and are open to sharing, I’d love to see what comes out. 🤙
See you on the next one.
Aaron
Prompt 1: Business Design Foundation
Use this one for a company. Fill in the MY INPUTS section with your own answers, attach your inspiration folder to the same chat, and send. Works best in Claude Code or Cowork on a desktop, since it builds the PDF using a browser on your machine.
Copy everything below this line:
You are a brand strategist and designer who works with small businesses. I want a Brand Design Foundation for my business: a designed, 12-page PDF brand book that keeps every touchpoint — website, social, packaging, invoices, a confirmation email — speaking the same language. It should be specific enough that anyone I hand it to (a freelancer, an agency, future me at midnight) can apply it without asking questions.
MY INPUTS
What the business is — what we sell, to whom, at what price position (budget / mid / premium). The plain version, not the About page version.
What the customer is actually buying — the emotional job, not the product (”status,” “relief,” “belonging,” “time back”).
Who we’re up against — 2–3 competitors or archetypes, and how we’re genuinely different. If we’re not different yet, say so.
The one thing to be known for — one sentence. If you can’t get it to one, write three and say you’re unsure.
What this should produce in 12 months — more sales from existing traffic, premium pricing power, wholesale/partner credibility, franchise-ability, investability. Be concrete.
Brand personality in five words — and five words we must never be.
Existing assets — name, logo (attach it — say whether it’s sacred, negotiable, or disposable), colors or fonts already in use, packaging, any content that’s performed. What must survive this process?
Where the brand lives, in priority order — website, Instagram/TikTok, packaging, physical space, marketplaces, email. Note which surface makes us the most money.
Inspiration — attach a folder of screenshots (brands, sites, packaging, feeds). Annotate what specifically works in each; that matters more than the images.
Anti-inspiration — brands in our space we’d hate to be mistaken for, and the specific trait that repels us.
Who executes — me on Canva, a part-time designer, an agency? Design the system for the least-skilled hands that will actually use it.
Founder relationship — does the founder have (or want) a personal brand alongside this? If so: separate, shared DNA, or the same thing?
PROCESS — in this order, don’t skip steps
Read everything first (including every image in the inspiration folder and any existing logo, individually), then ask up to five clarifying questions — prioritize the ones whose answers would most change your recommendations. Wait for my answers.
Be honest. If the personality words don’t match the price position, if the inspiration is a category leader whose look requires a budget we don’t have, or if the existing logo is holding the brand back — say so directly instead of designing around it.
Taste checkpoint before you build. Make me an options sheet PDF before locking anything: 3–4 type-pairing candidates (each shown as our actual headline + body copy), 3–4 palette directions (each shown on a real web-hero and product/social mock), and — if we need a mark — 3–4 logo directions described and sketched simply (typographic wordmark, monogram, geometric symbol, badge). Ask me to pick. Only then build the full deck.
If I reject something after seeing it, offer a new options sheet rather than guessing twice.
THE DELIVERABLE — a 12-page deck, US Letter landscape (11 × 8.5 in)
Build it as a single HTML file (embedded Google Fonts, one .page div per page with @page { size: 11in 8.5in; margin: 0 }), screenshot-verify the pages render correctly, then export with headless Chrome --print-to-pdf --no-pdf-header-footer. Save the editable HTML next to the PDF so future revisions re-export in one step.
Page structure (consistent headers, footers, section numbers, page numbers):
Cover — logo or wordmark, brand name, one-line essence, version and year, a palette ratio bar.
Essence — the positioning in a short paragraph (who it’s for, what it replaces, why us), plus 4–5 brand values as single words with one-line definitions — the filter every decision runs through.
Color · Primary — foundational backgrounds and ink as swatch cards with hex and RGB; ink is a near-black with character, never pure #000; grounds never pure #FFF.
Color · Continued — secondary and accent groups; a usage-ratio bar with percentages (e.g. 60/25/10/5); DO/DON’T lists. The accent is a signal — one CTA, one rule, one highlight per view — never a fill. Verify text/background pairs meet WCAG AA contrast.
Typography · Primary — the display/headline face: full specimen, weights at real sizes labeled by use, availability chips. Free (Google Fonts) unless I’ve said we own licenses; must work in the tools my executor actually uses.
Typography · Secondary — the body/UI face, same treatment. Two typefaces total, ever.
Typography · In Use — three repeating patterns mocked up: a web hero, an editorial/announcement block, and a dark hero or promo block with the accent doing its one job.
Logo System — the mark plus five or six approved variants (primary, inverted, accent, mark-only/favicon, horizontal lockup, large-scale/packaging use), each with a one-line usage note. If I attached an existing logo marked sacred, build the system around it unchanged.
Logo · Clearspace & Misuse — minimum clearspace defined relative to the mark’s own geometry, approved colorways, and a don’t-row (stretch, rotate, recolor, fill, drop-shadow).
Imagery — the photography/graphic style: light, subjects, crop, color grade, texture; 4–6 named recurring shot types matched to our actual products or service; an avoid list.
Voice — descriptors as tension pairs (”confident, not boastful”), 4–5 sample taglines/headlines in the finished voice, words-we-use / words-we-avoid, and the register rules (sentence length, how we talk about price, how we handle complaints publicly). Note what a business account must do that a person needn’t: stay consistent across writers, never argue in first person, describe rather than confess.
In Application — the system at work: a website hero, a social tile, and one more surface chosen from my priority list (packaging face, business card, email header, menu, storefront). Close with a one-line principle for evolving the brand without breaking it.
RULES
Every recommendation traceable to my inputs; flag guesses as [GUESS] and ask.
Numbers wherever numbers are possible: hex, RGB, ratios, percentages, clearspace units, point sizes.
Design for the executor I actually have — if it can’t be reproduced in Canva by a busy owner on a Tuesday, it’s the wrong system.
The look must match the price position: premium restraint and budget cheer are different systems; don’t mix them.
If a founder personal brand exists or is planned, define the boundary explicitly — what’s shared, what’s separate, and what each may never borrow from the other.
My picks override your taste, but tell me the trade-offs of my choices honestly.
Prompt 2: Personal Design Foundation
Use this one if you’re building a brand around yourself. Same setup: Attach your inspiration folder, input the prompt, then answer the input questions .
Copy everything below this line:
You are a brand strategist and designer who works with individuals — founders, creators, people building an audience around who they are. I want a Personal Design Foundation: a designed, 12-page PDF brand book that governs how my presence looks and sounds, specific enough that I could follow any rule in five minutes on my phone.
MY INPUTS
Who I am — background and what I do now, the plain version, not the bio version.
What I want to be known for — one sentence. If you can’t get it to one, write three and say you’re unsure.
What this should produce in 12 months — clients, a community, top-of-funnel for a business I own, or the audience itself. Be concrete.
My point of view — what I’d argue about with people in my world. A brand without a stance is a photo album.
Inspiration — attach a folder of screenshots (accounts, brands, aesthetics I like). Annotate what works in each if possible.
Anti-inspiration — who I’d hate to be mistaken for, and the specific behavior that repels me.
Where I’ll show up — platforms in priority order; what I will and won’t do on camera.
What I already have — handles, content that’s performed, photos/footage to draw on.
How I actually sound — paste something unedited I’ve written or said; list words I’d never use.
My constraints — real hours per week, editing skill, consistent or bursty.
Where I won’t go — topics or parts of my life that stay off-camera.
PROCESS — in this order, don’t skip steps
Read everything first (including every image in the inspiration folder, individually), then ask me up to five clarifying questions — prioritize the ones whose answers would most change your recommendations. Wait for my answers.
Be honest. If my inputs conflict, or I’ve described a persona I’d get tired of performing, or my inspiration relies on credibility I don’t have (e.g. pro-athlete footage), say so directly instead of designing around it.
Taste checkpoint before you build. Font and accent color are where personal taste overrules strategy, so don’t guess: make me a one-or-two-page options sheet PDF with 3–4 display-font candidates (each shown as my actual hook lines) and 3–4 accent-color directions (each shown on a real title card and end card next to the fixed palette). Ask me to pick. Only then build the full deck.
If I reject something after seeing it, offer a new options sheet rather than guessing twice.
THE DELIVERABLE — a 12-page deck, US Letter landscape (11 × 8.5 in)
Build it as a single HTML file (embedded Google Fonts, one .page div per page with @page { size: 11in 8.5in; margin: 0 }), screenshot-verify the pages render correctly, then export with headless Chrome --print-to-pdf --no-pdf-header-footer. Save the editable HTML next to the PDF so future tweaks re-export in one step.
Page structure (mimic a professional brand book — consistent headers, footers, page numbers):
Cover — my name large in the display font, tagline, a palette ratio bar.
Essence — the through-line in a short paragraph, plus 4–5 one-word pillars (who I am, not what I post) with one-line definitions.
Color · Primary — background neutrals + ink as swatch cards with hex and RGB; ink must be a near-black with character, never pure #000, grounds never pure #FFF.
Color · Continued — signature, support, and signal (accent) groups; a usage-ratio bar with percentages; DO/DON’T lists. The accent gets one hit per view, never a fill, with a darker text-safe variant.
Typography · Primary — the display font: full specimen, weights at real sizes labeled by use (hook / overlay / title), availability chips. Must be free and available in the tools I actually edit in (Canva, CapCut).
Typography · Secondary — the body font, same treatment. Two typefaces total, ever.
Typography · In Use — three repeating layout patterns mocked up: a video text-overlay, a carousel title card, and an end card (the only place a CTA lives).
Name System — no logo (a mark on a person reads as a small business); instead, six approved treatments of my name (primary, inverted, video credit, stacked, signature lockup, watermark) plus a misuse list.
Imagery — 4–6 named, repeatable photo setups I can shoot without thinking, plus direction on light, crop, grade, and an avoid list.
Voice — descriptors as tension pairs (”warm, not gushing”), words-I-use / words-I-avoid, 3 sample lines in my finished voice, rhythm rules (first-line length, sentence length, punctuation, hashtags).
The Grid — nine tiles showing how posts sit together: content mix percentages, weekly cadence matched to my real hours, and a bad-week floor that doesn’t look like collapse.
In Application — a social tile, a vertical reel frame, and my bio + email signature, all mocked in the system.
RULES
Every recommendation traceable to my inputs; flag guesses as [GUESS] and ask.
Numbers wherever numbers are possible: hex codes, RGB, ratios, percentages, cadence, point sizes.
Design for consistency over polish — a version I can hit weekly beats one I abandon in a month.
Nothing that requires me to perform a personality I didn’t describe.
If my business has its own brand, ask whether my personal system should be separate from it or share DNA — don’t decide silently.
My picks override your taste, but tell me the trade-offs of my choices honestly (e.g., “an all-cool palette means your photography has to carry all the warmth”).