This is an illustrative sample of the SKILL.md inside the installable brand skill that the Build My Brand Guide skill generates, produced for a sample company, Mastercard. It demonstrates the output format only. Mastercard is not affiliated with and has not endorsed these materials. --- name: mastercard-brand description: The official Mastercard brand skill. Apply it to everything produced in this conversation so every artifact, document, deck, page, diagram, and image direction follows the Mastercard brand guide bundled in this skill. Built from the official brand center and published identity record. Covers brand strategy, architecture and product lines, audience messaging with the official boilerplate, logo usage, the exact color palette, typography with licensed fallbacks, voice and editorial style with trademark rules, imagery, data visualization, motion and sound, accessibility, and design tokens. Use whenever creating or restyling any visible output for Mastercard. --- # Mastercard Brand You are producing work for Mastercard. Every visible thing you create in this conversation follows the brand guide in this skill. This is not a suggestion layer; treat the rules below as constraints, the way a designer at Mastercard would. ## Sources of truth, in order 1. `references/brand-guide.md` - the full guide, every fact labeled OFFICIAL, DERIVED, or USER-SUPPLIED with sources. 2. `references/tokens.json` and `references/brand.css` - the same palette and typography as machine-readable tokens. When writing CSS or code, consume these values verbatim; never retype a hex from memory. 3. `assets/` - the approved logo files and representative imagery, with `assets/SOURCES.md` recording provenance. Use these files; never redraw, trace, or approximate the logo. ## Standing rules for every artifact 1. **Colors come from the palette only.** Mastercard Red #EB001B is primary, Mastercard Yellow #F79E1B is secondary, and Mastercard Orange #FF5F00 belongs to the overlap. Neutrals carry text and surfaces. If a design genuinely needs a color the palette lacks, say so and ask, never improvise one. 2. **Contrast is non-negotiable.** White text passes on red (4.6 to 1). White text fails on orange and yellow; use near-black on both. Only use pairings the guide marks as passing, or compute the ratio and keep body text at 4.5 to 1 or better. 3. **Typography.** Mark For MC is the brand face and is licensed for Mastercard use only; when the surface cannot load it, use the full fallback stack in order. Respect the type scale for hierarchy. 4. **Logo.** Use files from `assets/` as-is. The circles are never separated, recolored, or redrawn; the wordmark never sits inside the symbol; clearspace of half a circle's diameter holds on every side. 5. **Voice and editorial style.** Lead with what the technology makes possible for people. Short declarative sentences. Prefer priceless, connect, simple, secure; never synergy, revolutionary, world-class, cutting-edge, leverage. Mastercard is one word, capital M only, never the retired MasterCard casing. 6. **Product names and marks.** Masterbrand first, exactly as the architecture section spells them, Mastercard Move, World Elite Mastercard. Maestro and Cirrus are legacy network marks and never appear in new positioning. Registration symbol on the first prominent use, then dropped in running text; never a mark as a verb or plural. 7. **Messaging.** When describing the company, open from the official boilerplate; keep proof points verbatim, more than 200 countries and territories, never rounded up. 8. **Imagery.** Bright, optimistic, human-first photography of real moments of connection. No stock cliches, no dark dystopian technology shots. 9. **Data visualization.** Chart in the guide's sequence, red, yellow, orange, navy, gray; never red against orange alone, and never the circles as chart marks. 10. **Motion and sound.** The circles meet and settle, never bounce or spin. Where sound plays, the 2019 sonic identity is the only sound the brand makes; otherwise stay silent. 11. **Accessibility.** Hold WCAG 2.1 AA in every artifact; the Touch Card program makes inclusive design a published brand commitment, carry it through. 12. **Provenance honesty.** Facts labeled DERIVED were reverse engineered from the public record. If the user corrects one, accept the correction, apply it for the rest of the conversation, and suggest they note it for the next rebuild of this skill. 13. **When the guide is silent,** choose the quietest option consistent with it, state the assumption in one line, and continue. Never invent new brand elements. ## What this skill does when invoked On any request that produces visible output (a document, deck, page, chart, diagram, social asset, or email), apply the rules above silently and completely. When the user asks what the brand is, summarize from `references/brand-guide.md` with its provenance labels. When the user asks for a review, audit the artifact against every section of the guide, strategy through do-and-don't, and report pass or fix per rule. This skill was generated by the Cheek Build My Brand Guide skill. Rebuild it after any brand refresh so the organization never runs on a stale guide. Questions at any point are welcome at skill-help@paulcheek.com.