A Markdown brand guidelines template for AI agents

What you’re making

A line that says “use our logo” leaves an agent two jobs: find the right file and work out where it belongs. A useful brand guide answers both.

Markdown gives you headings, tables and links in a file you can read and edit without a design tool. It works well for instructions. The logo, font and product photograph still need to be actual files the agent can open.

The result is a small package: brand.md and its linked assets. Below is a complete example you can copy, followed by guidance on replacing its contents. It is an ordinary Markdown template, not an implementation of a particular brand-file specification.

Copy the template

Save this as brand.md. Keep the asset paths relative to that file, or replace them with accessible links.

---
brand: Acme
version: 3
updated: 2026-10-05
contact: brand@acme.example
---

# Acme brand guidelines

## How to use this file

Read the sections relevant to your task.

- Keep product names, sourced claims and original
  logo artwork exact.
- Treat voice and composition guidance as defaults
  unless a section gives a specific restriction.
- Campaign instructions apply only to their named
  work and between their dates.
- If a required fact or asset is missing, identify
  it. Do not invent a claim or recreate an asset.

## Identity

Acme makes design software for product designers.
Atlas Pro helps teams prepare interface layouts
and collect feedback beside the work.

Explain the design task a feature helps with.
Avoid status, luxury and "creative genius" language.

## Voice

- Use plain words and direct sentences. People
  often read our messages between other tasks.
- Start with the situation, then the feature.
  Give the reader a reason to care.
- Address the reader as "you".
- Avoid hype, exclamation marks and inflated
  promises.

Approved:
"Ready for feedback? Share the layout with your
team and keep the comments beside the work."

Rejected:
"Experience next-level design with the
revolutionary Atlas Pro!"

Why: hype and no specific design task.

## Words and claims

| Write         | Do not write                      |
| ------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Atlas Pro     | Atlas, AtlasPro, ATLAS PRO        |
| Acme          | ACME, Acme Inc. in marketing copy |
| design review | automated approval                |

Atlas is the retired product name.

Supported claims:

- "Export layouts as PDF."
- "Collect comments from invited team members."
  Keep "invited" in this claim.

Evidence:
[Feature sheet v2](assets/docs/atlas-pro-spec-v2.pdf)

Do not claim guaranteed approval, accessibility
compliance, or superiority to a competitor.
Do not add a product feature from inference.

## Colour

| Name               | Hex     | Use                         |
| ------------------ | ------- | --------------------------- |
| Acme Yellow        | #F2C94C | Grounds and highlights      |
| Ink                | #1A1A1A | Text, logo and dark grounds |
| White              | #FFFFFF | Grounds and text on dark    |
| Atlas Pro Burgundy | #6D1A36 | Atlas Pro materials only    |

Text pairings:

- Ink on White or Acme Yellow.
- White on Ink or Atlas Pro Burgundy.
- Do not use Acme Yellow text on White.

Retired: yellow #FFD600, replaced in v3.

Gradient: #F2C94C to #FF8A3D, left to right,
for Atlas Pro graphics. Use Ink for text.

## Typography

Family: Inter.
Licence: SIL Open Font License 1.1.
Keep the licence with the font files.

- [Upright weights](assets/fonts/InterVariable.woff2)
- [Italic weights](assets/fonts/InterVariable-Italic.woff2)

Headlines: weight 600, sentence case.
Body: weight 400, at least 16 px on screens.
Small labels: at least 12 px on a quiet ground.
Fallback for working previews: system-ui, sans-serif.

If Inter is unavailable for the final output,
report the missing font rather than silently
substituting another family.

## Logo

- Ink wordmark on White or Yellow:
  [SVG](assets/logo/acme-wordmark-ink.svg)
- White wordmark on Ink or Burgundy:
  [SVG](assets/logo/acme-wordmark-white.svg)
- Symbol for avatars:
  [SVG](assets/logo/acme-symbol.svg)

Wordmark minimum height: 24 px on screen.
Clear space: the height of its "A" on every side.

Place the supplied artwork unchanged. Do not
stretch, rotate, recolour or redraw it.
Do not type the wordmark in the body font.

For image generation, make the scene separately,
then place the original logo in the layout.

## Imagery

Use each reference for its stated purpose:

- [Desk, morning](assets/images/desk-morning.jpg)
  Style: warm light from the left and open space.
- [Atlas Pro interface](assets/images/atlas-pro-ui.png)
  Product: the actual interface and its text.
- [Design studio](assets/images/design-studio.jpg)
  Setting: ordinary desks at a believable scale.

Show people working rather than posing.
Keep one clear piece of design work in view.
Avoid neon lighting and floating product renders.

Place the supplied interface screenshot when
showing Atlas Pro. Do not invent controls.

## Other application rules

- Keep other companies' logos out of product
  scenes unless the task establishes a partnership.
  Use unbranded devices otherwise.
- Link to the current pricing page in lasting
  copy. Prices vary by country and can change.
- Write alt text describing the useful image
  content, rather than repeating the slogan.

## Campaigns

### Atlas Pro launch: 2026-10-29 to 2026-12-31

Applies to Atlas Pro launch materials.

Headline: "Atlas Pro is here."
Call to action: "Explore Atlas Pro"

Additional images:
[Launch folder](assets/images/launch/)

Adds those images and the exact launch copy.
Does not change the core palette or product claims.

After 2026-12-31, stop applying this section.
Remove it from the next maintained version.

## Changelog

- v3, 2026-10-05: Renamed Atlas to Atlas Pro.
  Replaced #FFD600 with #F2C94C. Added
  Atlas Pro Burgundy and the launch campaign.
- v2, 2026-06-12: Added sourced product claims.
- v1, 2026-02-02: First version.

Replace the examples with decisions you can support

The header identifies the brand and revision, with a contact for unresolved questions. Version and date help distinguish two files with the same name. They do not make a stale copy refresh itself.

The identity section should help with choices the rest of the file cannot anticipate. Say what the business makes, who it serves and what the product helps them do. “Innovative and customer-centric” gives an agent little basis for choosing one headline over another.

The voice section turns that identity into writing instructions. Pair each rule with a reason, then show what it sounds like. Anthropic’s prompting guidance recommends explaining the purpose behind instructions and giving relevant examples. Choose samples from your own work that you would still use today. Include a rejected sample with an explanation, so the agent can recognize a failure rather than imitate every example indiscriminately.

The words and claims section has a different job. Product spelling is exact; a factual promise needs evidence. Link the current feature sheet or other source and retain qualifiers such as “invited”. If a source does not support a claim, leave it unresolved instead of giving it the same status as the established facts.

If your starting point is a PDF, use an agent to prepare the file without filling in its gaps:

Draft brand.md from the attached brand guide using this template. Preserve exact product names, values, claim wording and file names. Link each product claim to its source in the supplied material. Write TODO where the sources do not answer a question, and list those gaps at the end. Keep any suggested new wording separate from the sourced guidance.

Review the draft and its TODOs. Writing a brand voice guide goes further into rules and examples if that is where most of your gaps lie.

Put the files beside the rules

The colour section needs values and roles. A palette tells an agent which colours exist; roles explain which belong in a headline, a background or one product’s campaign. List retired values where old work might otherwise reintroduce them.

For text, name usable foreground and background combinations. Check the actual pairings against WCAG’s contrast guidance: the minimum is generally 4.5:1 for normal text and 3:1 for large text. A font size in a brand guide does not establish accessibility on its own, and a gradient needs checking where the text actually sits.

The typography and logo sections should resolve to usable files. For fonts, include available weights, usage rules, fallback behavior and the relevant licence. The example uses Inter, distributed under the SIL Open Font License; replace that information if your font has different terms. For logos, connect each variant to its background and minimum size. An instruction to place the supplied artwork is more useful than a description of what a newly drawn version should resemble.

The imagery section gives each reference a role. A screenshot can establish the product interface, while a photograph establishes lighting or composition. Say what may carry over from each. This helps prevent a reference product’s details from becoming invented details of your own.

An illustrative folder for the template would be:

acme-brand/
├── brand.md
└── assets/
    ├── docs/atlas-pro-spec-v2.pdf
    ├── fonts/
    │   ├── InterVariable.woff2
    │   ├── InterVariable-Italic.woff2
    │   └── LICENSE.txt
    ├── logo/
    │   ├── acme-wordmark-ink.svg
    │   ├── acme-wordmark-white.svg
    │   └── acme-symbol.svg
    └── images/
        ├── desk-morning.jpg
        ├── atlas-pro-ui.png
        ├── design-studio.jpg
        └── launch/

Those paths are examples, not bundled Acme files. A local path works only for an agent with access to that folder. An agent elsewhere needs accessible URLs or uploaded files. Check access from the environment where the work will happen.

For a package you can inspect now, download the TANNIN Brand Skill, a folder of brand instructions, references and assets. TANNIN is a tea-room concept by Anna Kuziuk.

Its SKILL.md directs agents to specialist references and assets/manifest.json. The download includes source images, editable SVG reconstructions, font substitutes and previews. Its generation guidance separates making artwork from composing exact type and labels. Keep ATTRIBUTION.md with the folder: the working palette is reconstructed, and the bundled fonts do not establish the original identity’s typefaces. That distinction is useful in your own package too. Label an approximation as an approximation.

Try it on a familiar task

Choose a recent piece of work whose brand decisions you understand. Ask an agent to use the package and identify the rule or file behind its choices.

Use brand.md and its linked assets to draft our next product launch image. Before making it, list the relevant product facts, voice rules, colour roles, logo file and imagery references. Identify missing files or unsupported details. After making it, compare the result with those instructions and report specific differences.

Check the output and which rules and files the agent used. A substituted font may mean the link did not open. A repeated generic headline may mean the voice section needs a better example. A misapplied colour may mean the rule is clear and the output needs correction. Change the guidance when it is wrong or incomplete; correct the work when it failed to follow an adequate rule.

The campaigns section deserves a separate check. Confirm that its instructions name the work they apply to, what they add or override, and when they expire. Temporary launch copy should not become the default for every later email.

Before sharing the package, make sure its linked files open, claims have supporting sources, example-only content has been replaced, and the header and changelog describe the same revision.

Keep the next task on the current guidance

Keep a maintained source with version history. In a repository, an agent instruction file such as AGENTS.md can point to it. This avoids repeating the same rules in several instruction files.

If the guide grows, the Agent Skills format provides a folder structure with a SKILL.md entry point and optional references and assets. Compatible agents load the instructions when the task calls for them, then read other files as needed. Packaging helps organize the context; a downloaded folder still needs refreshing after a change. Brand guideline formats for AI covers those format choices.

Recurring work across agents creates another need: getting the relevant current rules and files to each task. Rainbrand maintains shared brand context for that job. You can add a brand from Markdown, other brand sources and the actual assets, then have agents request a Brief. A Brief selects guidance and assets for the described task. Your own product or service can use the same capabilities through MCP or the API.

When the guidance changes, Rainbrand prepares an update for review before you apply it. Request a new Brief after applying it. A Brand Skill export gives tools that need local files a complete, versioned snapshot; exported copies remain snapshots.

Start by filling the sections your next task needs and opening every linked asset from the agent’s environment. The template becomes useful when those instructions and files are specific enough to make the work.