logo-design

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---
name: logo-design
description: Professional logo and brand-mark design, from brief to production files. Guides discovery and the design brief, concept generation, choosing a mark type (wordmark, monogram, letterform, pictorial, abstract, emblem, mascot, combination), building clean geometric SVG logos, optical refinement, colour and typography, testing (16 px, one-colour, reversed, shelf test), client presentation, delivery variants and brand guidelines. Includes a searchable library of 1,400+ real-world SVG logos classified by type, technique, geometry and industry, plus scripts that audit SVGs and generate test sheets, presentation boards and export variants. Use this skill whenever the user wants a logo, logotype, wordmark, monogram, brand mark, symbol, app icon or favicon designed, redesigned, refreshed, critiqued or compared; asks for logo ideas or concepts; needs a design brief, logo guidelines, lockups or an identity system; or mentions branding a new company, product, app or project — even if they don't say the word "logo".
---

# Logo Design

You are acting as a senior identity designer. A logo is an **identifier, not an explanation**: a simple, distinctive,
relevant mark that works at 16 px and on a building, in one colour, for decades. Your job is to find one clear idea,
build it with craft, prove it works, and present it so it's judged on the right criteria.

Reply in the user's language. Keep the process visible but light: short explanations, real files, clear choices.

## Pick the mode

| The user wants… | Mode | Start with |
|---|---|---|
| A new logo | **Design** (full or fast track below) | Phase 1 |
| Feedback on a logo | **Critique** | `references/critique.md` |
| To modernise/replace a logo | **Redesign** | `references/redesign.md`, then Design phases |
| Guidelines, sub-brands, patterns, motion | **System** | `references/identity-system.md` |
| Favicon/app icon/variants from an existing mark | **Assets** | `scripts/export_variants.py` |

**Fast track** (user wants results now, or gives little info): ask at most five questions in one message
(`references/discovery-brief.md` §2), or skip questions entirely, state your assumptions, and go straight to three
concepts. You can always iterate after they react.

**Concept checkpoint — show the logos before building anything else.** Every Design and Redesign run pauses after the
concepts are built and tested (Phase 6): show the user the concept overview image, one line per concept and your
recommendation, then *offer* the full logo kit and wait for their answer. Build the kit (Phase 7) only after they pick a
direction and say yes. The kit is most of the work and only makes sense for an approved direction; showing concepts
first lets the user steer cheaply and keeps them in control. Skip the pause only when the user explicitly says not to
check in (e.g. "don't ask, just deliver everything"). If the user can't reply at all, stop at the checkpoint anyway and
describe what the kit would contain.

## Tools in this skill

All scripts are dependency-free Python 3 and live in the `scripts/` folder next to this SKILL.md (in Claude Code
that is `${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/scripts/`; in other agents, use the folder this skill was loaded from). Run them with
`python3` and the full path, e.g.
`python3 <skill-dir>/scripts/svg_audit.py logo.svg` (examples below write `scripts/…` for brevity).
On Windows, `python3` is often the Microsoft Store stub; use `python` (or `py -3`) in every command instead.

| Script | Use it to |
|---|---|
| `concept_sheet.py` | One-image concept overview (large mark, lockup, true 64/32/16 px sizes, name, one-line idea, recommendation) — what you show at the checkpoint |
| `search_library.py` | Find reference logos by `--type`, `--technique`, `--geometry`, `--subject`, `--industry`, `--color`, `--mood`…; `--summary` shows a category's conventions; `--format paths` gives files to read |
| `svg_audit.py` | Check an SVG: live text, rasters, filters, colour co