You know the framework now. The shape is the same as Cycle 1, but the standard is higher and the scaffolding is thinner. There is still no kickoff — the workbook handles structured intake. Your lead responds to your self-critique rather than initiating it. Vague strategy gets sent back, not coached through.
Before presenting strategy, write out your answers to the three core questions (value, difference, loss) and defend them to yourself before you bring them to your lead. If you cannot write it clearly, you have not found it yet.
Cycle 2 timeline: Cycle 2 work runs Mon Aug 31 through Sun Oct 11. Closing Experience and public showcase Sat Oct 17.
Deliver the workbook on Monday with a return-by date. Tighten the orientation note based on what you learned in Cycle 1. There is no kickoff meeting.
Branding-Skills / branding-discoveryYou have done this before. Industry, competitors, market context. Sharper, faster, more confident than Cycle 1. Identify the white space without waiting on confirmation.
Visit competitor websites, social media, and public materials. Study visual presence (logo, color, typography, photography) and verbal presence (tone, messaging). Identify the white space faster and with more confidence than Cycle 1.
The client returns the completed workbook by end of week. Read it through once on receipt to confirm completeness. Synthesis with the research happens on Monday in Week 8.
Document Cycle 2's discovery. What is different about a paying engagement? What did you sharpen in your research approach from Cycle 1?
The team meets Monday with both the completed Discovery Workbook and the Week 7 research dossier. Faster, more focused review than Cycle 1. You know what to look for: surprises, contradictions, gaps, places where the client's self-perception diverges from the evidence.
Branding-Skills / branding-discoveryFeed Claude the completed workbook and your Week 7 research. Your prompts should be more specific this time. Direct the tool toward the strategic decisions you are about to make.
Branding-Skills / branding-strategyBefore presenting anything, answer the three core strategy questions in writing: value, difference, loss. If you cannot write it clearly, you have not found it yet. This is new in Cycle 2. Do this before you go to your lead.
Same thinking exercise as Cycle 1. What are the gaps? What makes this organization unique? Your answers should be sharper, more specific, and more defensible than Cycle 1.
Same process as Cycle 1 but sharper. Tell Claude your decisions about gaps, positioning, brand elements, and audience. Your reasoning should be more specific and defensible. Claude builds the Google Slides presentation to support your thinking with evidence. The standard is higher than Cycle 1.
Branding-Skills / branding-strategy Google Slides ConnectorClaude reviews the presentation critically. Is every claim grounded in real research? Is the positioning defensible? Any weak assertions? You should be catching more of these yourself by now, but the audit is still a safety net.
Drop your strategy draft in your team channel. Your lead reviews and responds asynchronously. Sharpen before Friday.
Friday QC review. Your lead asks fewer questions this time. You should be anticipating them and answering proactively. If you are not, that is the coaching note.
Strategy approved and locked. Move immediately into exploration. No waiting. The constraint of the timeline is part of the training.
Document the strategy lock. How is your strategy thinking different from Cycle 1?
Color decisions driven by strategy. You have done this before. Move faster and with more intention. Know what you are looking for before you open the tool. Generate multiple distinct directions, not variations on one idea.
Google Font pairings that serve the strategy. Your typographic instincts should be sharper from Cycle 1. Evaluate pairings against brand personality with more confidence.
Your prompts should be more precise. Fewer iterations to reach your vision. If you are still reacting to output rather than directing it, that is the gap to close.
Mid-week sync with your Interactive and Motion teammates. Make sure the creative direction is unified before convergence. You are the brand director. Coherence is your responsibility.
Cohort-wide presentation of divergent color, type, and logo directions. Your role is to articulate why each direction is different, not to pre-converge.
Document the exploration. How is your divergence different in Cycle 2?
Primary logo, secondary mark, icon, and lockup variations. Full suite, all scales, all contexts. Cycle 2 standard: this should look portfolio-grade, not student-grade.
Primary, secondary, accent, and neutral tones. Hex values defined. Rationale documented and traceable to strategy.
Typefaces, type system, heading styles, body copy, sizes, weights, spacing. All locked.
Feed Claude your finalized logo, fonts, and colors. The brand implementation skill generates starting-point versions of core deliverables. You know the process from Cycle 1. Move faster. Push past the defaults sooner.
Skill needed: brand-implementationBefore presenting to your lead, critique your own work using the visual first principles framework. What is the hierarchy? Is the contrast intentional? What is repeating, and why? Write your self-critique down. Your lead responds to your analysis, not just your work.
A brief touchpoint with the client to confirm strategic direction before final development. You prepare and lead this. Your lead is not present.
Document the convergence. What got cut and why?
Take the AI-generated starting points and push them further. Business cards, letterhead, social templates, presentation slides, plus the social media visual framework. The full system, extended into practical use. Your creative vision, not just best practices.
Full guidelines: logo usage, color specs, typography standards, spacing, layout, do/don't examples. Professional-grade.
Skill needed: branding-guidelinesYou self-critique first. Your lead responds to your analysis, not just the work. If you missed something in your own critique, that is the coaching note.
How specifically are you prompting now? How many iterations to your vision compared to Cycle 1? What have you learned about directing AI tools that you did not know in Cycle 1?
Final internal pass at portfolio standard. Logos reproducing correctly across formats, color match across digital and print specs, type rendering as specified, no typos in guidelines, no missing assets.
Full rehearsal. This time you should anticipate the hard questions before they are asked.
Document the production. What is at portfolio standard now that was not in Cycle 1?
Build the presentation deck. Tell the story of the brand system. The "why" behind every decision.
Skill needed: branding-client-presentationYou lead entirely. Your orientation lead is an observer. Own the room. Defend your decisions. Handle pushback with confidence grounded in strategy.
Use the brand-logo-production skill. EPS source logos + brand colors in, organized file package out.
brand-logo-productionClean, client-ready folder. Logos (all formats/variants), color specs, typography, guidelines PDF, templates, social framework. Walk the client through it.
Within a few days of delivery, capture client reactions and any early signals. This becomes part of the showcase narrative on Oct 17.
Harder questions this time: How did the client respond? Where did the creative rationale hold? Where did you get challenged and how did you handle it?
Start preparing your case study presentation for the public showcase on Sat Oct 17. Two engagements, the growth in your thinking, the live brand systems. The showcase is your monetization springboard.
Same format as Cycle 1. One page. Compare to your Cycle 1 reflection: is there growth in how you think, not just what you produce?
Final cycle vlog. Document the delivery and the arc from Week 1 to here.