thecolab-brand · diff
git:20260619.a20f097 to git:20260619.aa2b19e
29 added, 18 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: thecolab-brand
description: Use when creating TheColab.ai branded outputs: decks, proposals, one-pagers, event collateral, social images, reports, or WhatsApp bot responses that need The Colab's voice, positioning, colours, and visual style.
---
# TheColab.ai Brand Skill
Use this with `pptx` whenever a deck, presentation, workshop pack, pitch deck, proposal, event recap, or client-facing visual should look and sound like The Colab.
## Brand Snapshot
The Colab is a New Zealand AI consultancy and community helping businesses move from AI demos to operational capability.
- **Positioning:** practical AI operators, not ivory-tower consultants.
- **Core promise:** model-agnostic AI strategy + implementation that turns pilots into production workflows.
- **Audience:** NZ business leaders, founders, operators, councils, associations, and technical teams.
- **Founders:** Simon Conroy (strategy/commercial) and Adam Holt (technical/agentic systems).
- **Community:** Claude Code Meetups NZ and hands-on AI education/events.
## Voice
- Direct, useful, sharp, warm.
- Confident without corporate theatre.
- Prefer concrete verbs: build, ship, automate, measure, integrate, operate.
- Use light NZ flavour when appropriate; do not overdo slang.
- Avoid generic AI waffle: "unlock potential", "leverage synergies", "future-proof your business", "cutting-edge solutions".
## Message Pillars
1. **AI that works in the business** — not another strategy PDF that dies in SharePoint.
2. **Humans + agents together** — the practical operating model is collaboration, not magic replacement.
3. **Fast pilots, real constraints** — prove value quickly, with privacy, integrations, and workflow ownership considered early.
4. **Model-agnostic by design** — OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and open-source models are tools, not religions.
5. **Community-backed learning** — meetups, demos, and shared practice keep the work grounded.
## Visual Direction
- Use a modern consultancy/community aesthetic: premium but approachable, useful not sterile.
+ Use the live `thecolab.ai` website as the brand source of truth. The look is editorial, premium, warm, and sparse — not neon SaaS sludge.
- ### Palette
+ ### Site-Derived Palette
Use these as defaults unless a client brand overrides them:
- - **Ink / deep charcoal:** `#1C1917` — title slides, strong text, premium dark sections.
- - **Colab blue-grey:** `#2E4057` — section blocks, trust, depth.
- - **Electric cyan:** `#0EA5E9` — highlights, connectors, progress, active AI/agent cues.
- - **Cyan dark:** `#0284C7` — secondary accent.
- - **Kea orange:** `#C2410C` — sparing emphasis, warnings, key moments.
- - **Warm cream:** `#FBF9F6` — light slide backgrounds.
- - **Stone text:** `#44403C` — body copy.
- - **Muted stone:** `#78716C` — captions, footers.
- - **White:** `#FFFFFF`.
+ - **Ink / near black:** `#171412` — headings, primary CTAs, footer/dark sections.
+ - **Warm off-white:** `#F8F7F4` — main canvas/background.
+ - **White card:** `#FFFFFF` — cards and content panels.
+ - **Deep navy:** `#31465F` — large stat cards and trust/depth blocks.
+ - **Colab blue:** `#1688C7` — headline emphasis, links, metric accents.
+ - **Bright blue:** `#19A7E0` — gradient/high-energy accents.
+ - **Kea orange:** `#C94A0A` — sparing metric emphasis/warnings.
+ - **Charcoal body:** `#4F4943` — paragraph copy.
+ - **Muted stone:** `#6E6861` — captions/supporting text.
+ - **Soft border:** `#DDD8D0` — card outlines.
- Recommended balance: 60–70% ink/cream base, 20–30% blue-grey, 5–10% cyan/orange accents.
+ Recommended balance: 65–75% warm off-white/white, 15–20% ink/navy, 5–10% blue, tiny orange accents.
+ ### Type & Components
+
+ - Headings feel like editorial serif: Georgia / Times-style, heavy, tight tracking.
+ - Body copy is clean sans-serif: Inter/system sans, generous line height.
+ - Primary CTAs are black rounded rectangles with white text.
+ - Cards are rounded white panels with soft borders/shadows.
+ - Metrics use big bold sans numerals with blue/orange accents.
+ - Dark community/event sections use near-black backgrounds with white text and blue accents.
+
## Deck Rules
- When paired with `pptx`:
+ When creating HTML→PDF decks, proposals, or presentation-style outputs:
1. Start with the story: audience, decision, one-line takeaway, slide spine.
- 2. Use a dark title slide, light content slides, and a dark closing/section slide where useful.
- 3. Every slide should have a visual structure: cards, timeline, callout, process flow, comparison, or quote block.
+ 2. Use the thecolab.ai visual system: warm canvas, black serif headlines, blue emphasis, rounded cards, restrained orange.
+ 3. Every slide should have a visual structure: cards, timeline, callout, process flow, comparison, quote block, or metric panel.
4. Keep text tight: one idea per slide, 3–5 bullets max, no paragraph sludge.
5. Include proof/receipts when making claims: metric, example, source, or operational implication.
6. Treat first-pass decks as editable working drafts unless the user asks for polished final art.
## Layout Motifs
- - Dark title slide with a bold left-aligned title and cyan/orange accent block.
- - Cream content slides with rounded white cards and sparse accent dots/lines.
- - Big-number callouts for quantified impact.
+ - Website-style hero: centered editorial serif headline with blue emphasis word.
+ - Cream content slides with rounded white cards and sparse blue accents.
+ - Navy-to-blue metric panels for headline statistics.
- Before/after columns for transformation stories.
- Three-card operating model: **Discover → Build → Operate**.
- Timeline/process flows for pilots and implementation plans.
+ - Dark near-black community/CTA sections with white text and blue CTA accent.
## Slide Copy Patterns
Use these phrases as anchors, not mandatory copy:
- "From demo to operating rhythm"
- "Practical AI capability, built with your team"
- "Pilot fast, integrate deliberately"
- "Agents where they help; humans where judgment matters"
- "The model is not the strategy — the workflow is"
## Clawd / Community Mascot
For community and playful outputs, Clawd is a mischievous kea: curious, clever, occasionally chaotic, stealing unattended API tokens and pecking at bad prompts. Use him for warm humour, not for serious enterprise collateral unless the brief invites it.
## Files & Validation
This is a documentation/brand skill. Use `scripts/cli.py palette --json` for machine-readable colours or `scripts/cli.py skill` for the full guide. The `scripts/smoke_test.py` file validates that the brand guidance remains present for CI.