founding-creative-design

Step 1 — Fetch the live design system

Before doing anything else, read the following files directly from the canonical repository at github.com/foundingadmin/DesignSystem-Founding (default branch: main). Do not rely on any locally bundled or cached copy.

Read in this order:

1. README.md — brand voice, visual rules, component patterns, do/don't
2. CLAUDE.md — architecture notes, token conventions, branching workflow
3. DECK.md — presentation design standard: canvas, fonts, type scale, colour, layouts, and component patterns for every Founding deck
4. css/tokens.css — every design token as a CSS custom property
5. css/components.css — all reusable component classes
6. index.html — living reference showing tokens and components in use

If any file has changed since a previous session, the fetched version is authoritative. Discard any prior knowledge of values that conflict.

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Step 2 — Understand the brand at a glance

After reading the source files, internalise these non-negotiables:

Voice Confident craftsperson. Plain English, no jargon. "We" for the agency, "you" for the reader. Sentence case everywhere. One italic mint phrase per headline, never two. No emoji in any shipped surface.

Palette

• Canvas: --n-black (#000000)
• Primary accent: --mint (#7EF893) — used for eyebrows, links, buttons, italic emphasis, focus glow
• Holographic spectrum (--holo-cyan, --holo-mint, --holo-lavender): hero backgrounds and SiteLaunch cards only — never general UI chrome
• Deep anchors (--deep-navy, --deep-teal, --deep-plum): SiteLaunch card backgrounds only

Typography

• Display / voice: Gelica Medium 500 (serif). Italic + mint for emphasis.
• Body / UI: Manrope variable (sans). 400 body, 600 UI, 700 eyebrows.
• Eyebrows: 12px Manrope 700, letter-spacing: 0.16em, text-transform: uppercase, mint colour.

Key classes .btn, .btn--primary, .btn--secondary, .btn--link, .btn--small .chip, .chip--mint/cyan/holo-mint/lavender, .chip--dot, .chip__icon .chip--link, .chip--hover-fill/glow/lift/underline .navbar, .navbar__nav, .navbar__actions, .navbar__burger .card, .card--case, .card--interactive, .card--hover-lift/zoom/glow/reveal/tint .holo-bg (requires four children: __grad, __waves, __veil, __fade)

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Step 3 — Choose an output mode

Prototypes / mocks / decks / throwaway artifacts

• Link css/tokens.css and css/components.css from the repo (or copy inline) and build a self-contained static HTML file.
• Use gradient placeholders where real photography would sit.
• No build tools, no bundler — plain HTML + CSS + vanilla JS only.

Production code

• Apply the exact token names and class names from the system.
• Do not invent new color values or font stacks — always resolve to a token.
• Follow the branching workflow in CLAUDE.md: new branch → PR → merge.

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Step 4 — Stay current

This skill has no expiry and no bundled snapshot. Every session starts with a fresh fetch from main. If you are told the repo has been updated, re-read the affected files before continuing. The repository is the single source of truth — not this file, not any prior conversation.

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Usage

Decks

DECK.md is the canonical specification for every Founding Creative presentation. It was extracted from the gold-standard BrandForge Gauntlet deck (May 2026) and covers canvas sizing, font stack, type scale, colour palette, layout patterns, and slide-component conventions. Any session generating a Founding deck must read DECK.md before writing a single line of HTML.

What it governs

• 16:9 canvas at 1280 × 720px logical size, responsive via aspect-ratio: 16/9
• Font stack: Gelasio (display), Manrope (body/UI), Roboto Mono (code accent), loaded via Google Fonts CDN
• Full type scale converted from PPT point sizes to HTML px at the 1280px canvas
• Brand colour application: when to use --mint, holographic spectrum, deep anchors, and neutral greys
• Named slide layouts (Title, Section Break, Two-Column, Full-Bleed Image, Stats, Timeline, etc.)
• Reusable slide components: eyebrow labels, stat blocks, timeline rails, image frames, and the holographic gradient treatment

Relationship to the live deck Each deck that ships should be logged in studio.foundingcreative.com as a project entry. That entry links to two things: the live deck URL and the raw DECK.md file on GitHub. This pairing makes DECK.md the master record — a team member opening the GTM deck entry sees both the rendered output and the specification that produced it. If the deck is regenerated or handed off to a new session, reading DECK.md is sufficient to reproduce the design intent exactly.

When to use Use DECK.md (not the general brand guidelines alone) whenever the output is a slide deck, pitch, or presentation — whether built as a standalone HTML file, a Keynote export, or a PowerPoint. The general design tokens in tokens.css still apply for colour and spacing, but DECK.md overrides or extends them wherever presentation-specific conventions differ.