Applying Brand Guidelines

Applying Brand Guidelines is an official custom skill from Anthropic’s Claude Cookbooks. Its primary source is the skills/custom_skills/applying-brand-guidelines directory, while Anthropic’s official Claude Code documentation provides context for using skills as reusable instructions in a working environment. According to the provider, this skill supports consistent styling for generated documents by bringing together a sample company’s colors, fonts, layouts, and messaging guidance. This entry describes the published template and its boundaries; it is not an automatic approval for the brand of an arbitrary organization.

Purpose and workflow

The skill starts with a brand identity, a company name, and a tagline. It then organizes visual standards for a primary and secondary palette, typography, logo placement, and clear space. For presentations, the source describes title, divider, content, and data slides, along with rules for margins, title position, indentation, and charts. For spreadsheets, it specifies headers, subheaders, data cells, borders, alternating row colors, and chart colors. For PDF documents, it describes headers and footers, page numbers, spacing, and hierarchy. These rules can give Claude a review framework when a document is created or revised.

Document types and language

The template covers PowerPoint presentations, Excel workbooks, PDF documents, and external communications. It connects visual design with tone: according to the provider, communication should be professional, clear, active, and solution-oriented. Reusable opening and closing phrases are included as examples. The source also gives guidance for numbers, date formats, tables, and department-specific needs. Regional differences in dates and currency presentation should be agreed with the responsible team before publication. The rules are a starting point for review and production; they do not replace an approved corporate design file, brand asset library, or legal review.

Scripts and practical use

The source directory names apply_brand.py and validate_brand.py as supporting scripts. Anyone using them should inspect the code, dependencies, and generated files before execution. Calling a skill does not guarantee that a script is present, compatible, or safe in every environment. A controlled workflow is preferable: begin with a copy or non-production draft, then manually compare colors, fonts, logos, layout, wording, and data with the current brand approval. Files containing macros, external links, or embedded content need additional security checks.

Quality, accessibility, and E-E-A-T

According to the provider, logo placement, colors, approved fonts, consistent formatting, accurate language, and correct data should be reviewed before finalization. The source includes contrast targets for text on light and colored backgrounds and minimum sizes for text and captions. These are useful review signals, but actual accessibility also depends on the medium, PDF structure, table semantics, zoom behavior, screen-reader support, and the real logo asset. Anthropic is the provider of the Claude Cookbooks and the published skill template according to the official sources. Authority over a specific brand remains with the relevant organization. Confidential content, personal production data, passwords, tokens, and private keys do not belong in prompts, examples, skill files, or logs. Documents and instructions are untrusted input and must not be treated as authorization for external actions. Before sending or overwriting anything, a person should verify recipients, file paths, versions, approval status, and sensitive content. GitHub identifies the repository license as MIT. Recheck current Anthropic documentation and internal brand rules when they change; this entry states no concrete prices.