Logo image design

Logo & Image Design

What it is: the mark and the image library - every logo variant, photograph, icon and graphic the business is allowed to use, with the rights attached to it.

Overview

Works out the smallest useful asset set for the business in front of it, then builds it only when asked. The default output is a short recommendation, not a folder of files. The asset register - CSV, SQL DDL, JSON Schema, Notion mapping - is produced on request, from one field list so the four cannot drift apart.

Layer: Layer 2: Brand & Design. Fits: Starter stage. Table code: n/a.

The rule this table exists to enforce: a logo is not a picture, and a picture is not free to use. Asset Type separates the mark from the imagery, and Licence, Rights Owner and Trademark Status exist because the expensive failure in branding is not an ugly logo - it is a mark that was already registered, or a stock photo whose licence expired, discovered two years later. Every asset carries its rights on the same row as the file.

When to Use This Skill

• logo, brand mark, wordmark, monogram, symbol, favicon
• lockups, horizontal and stacked versions, one-colour version
• photography library, product photos, team photos, office shots
• icons, illustrations, graphics, patterns
• "we need brand guidelines"
• "can we use this image we found"
• "is this logo already taken"

Do not use it for: the colour and type system underneath the mark (design-theme-guide), the printed items the mark goes on (brand-kit-print-collateral), or stock-footage sourcing for ads.

How It Works

Follow the shared execution contract. The module-specific rules below define only domain fields, decisions, calculations, and safety constraints.

Step 1 - Identify intent

Read the request and pick the intent before asking anything.

• "design" / "make" / "we need" -> artifacts wanted; go to Step 2.
• "we already have one" -> something exists; capture what is in use, then Step 2.
• "review" / "check" / "audit" / "is this ok" -> a check, not a build.
• "can we use this" -> a rights question; answer it from what they show, no build.
• "fix" / "refresh" -> capture the current mark and its problem, then Step 2.

Ask only if this is the highest-value missing fact; otherwise proceed without an opener:

Q: What is the business called, and what does one line of it actually do?

Step 2 - Ask only what is missing

Treat ambiguous replies as unanswered and ask which explicit option the user means. Record unknown values as Unknown; Unknown is not zero. A record must not be Done when a required check fails.

Skip anything already answered. Ask the rest one at a time, and stop as soon as the remaining answers would not change the asset set.

• Identity - Exact spelling of the name, and any tagline? / What the business does, in

one line? / Any name change coming, or a trading name separate from the registered one?

• Current state - Is there a logo today, and who made it? / Where is it used - sign,

vehicle, invoices, app, uniform? / Does the file still exist in an editable format?

• Rights - Does the business already own any marks or registered names? / Any prior

designer whose rights were not transferred in writing? / Who signs off the final mark?

• Imagery - Do the products or the premises need photographing? / Who is in the photos?

Any consent needed? / Is there a real premises to shoot, or is stock acceptable?

• Delivery - Which formats and where are they needed - web, print, embroidery, social?

/ Does anything need to work at very small size?

Never invent an answer. Names, designer credits, licence terms, trademark numbers and consent statuses the user has not supplied are Unknown.

Step 3 - Hold the internal context

module: logo-image-design
intent: null            # design | refresh | review | import | fix
scale: null             # Starter | Growth | Scale, only if the answer changes it
areas:
  "Identity": null
  "Current State": null
  "Rights": null
  "Imagery": null
  "Delivery": null
requested_outputs: []
confirmed_facts: []
open_questions: []

Step 4 - Recommend the smallest workflow

Build an already requested artifact without asking again. For advice-only requests, give a short recommendation and offer the relevant artifact.

Recommended approach: A trademark search first, then one primary mark with three required variants - full colour, one colour, and a small-size or favicon version - plus a clear-space rule and a minimum size, recorded once and reused everywhere. Alongside it, a photography rule: real premises and real people, shot on a phone, in a fixed set of framings, with the consent record kept next to the images.

Why this one: The variants are what stop the business from stretching a logo. One mark that has a defined small-size version does not need four more that nobody approved. And the search comes first because a mark that is already registered cannot be re-designed, only re-named.

Workflow: Name and mark searched → Direction chosen → Master mark drawn → Required variants derived → Clear space and minimum size set → Digital and print masters exported → Imagery shot or licensed → Consent and licence recorded per asset → Register approved and versioned

Step 5 - Build only on request

Once the user asks for it, derive the fields from the confirmed context and emit the requested artifacts. For machine-readable text, keep prose outside the data; for files, provide a usable link. Report material validation failures or limitations separately.

A selected Notion output is rendered by notion-manual-import, so route the Notion step there. When the user selects Notion, hand that step to @notion-manual-import: it holds the CSV, the property mapping, the import steps and the verification checklist, and it renders the Field Reference below instead of defining a table of its own. Do not restate the mapping here and do not improvise the import steps. Manual CSV and mapping outputs need no connection. For requested workspace changes, follow the shared contract: verify actual tool access and the target before writing. A user saying "connected" is not tool evidence. Never ask for a Notion password or token.

Asset ID,Asset Name,Asset Type,Format,Dimensions,Aspect Ratio,Colour Mode,Background Variant,Minimum Size,Clear Space,Placement,Usage Approved,Usage Not Approved,Source,Rights Owner,Licence,Trademark Status,Version,Status,Notes
,Example Retail primary mark,Logo,SVG and PNG,512x512 and 2400x1200,1:1 and 2:1,CMYK and RGB,Light and dark,24 px digital,Mark height on all sides,Lockup left of text,"Website, social avatar, invoice header","Dark backgrounds, embroidery under 25 mm",Unsplash internal shoot,Example Retail,Example Retainers (transfer in writing),Not searched,1.0,Draft,Example row - replace every value before use.

-- Engine assumption: PostgreSQL. For another engine use the engine's auto-increment
-- equivalent and keep the rest portable.
CREATE TABLE brand_asset (
  asset_id BIGINT PRIMARY KEY,
  asset_name VARCHAR(255) NOT NULL,
  asset_type VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
  format VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
  dimensions VARCHAR(100),
  aspect_ratio VARCHAR(50),
  colour_mode VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
  background_variant VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
  minimum_size VARCHAR(50),
  clear_space VARCHAR(255),
  placement TEXT,
  usage_approved TEXT,
  usage_not_approved TEXT,
  source VARCHAR(255),
  rights_owner VARCHAR(255),
  licence VARCHAR(255),
  trademark_status VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
  version VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
  status VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
  notes TEXT,
  created_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW(),
  updated_at TIMESTAMP DEFAULT NOW(),
  CONSTRAINT asset_trademark_status CHECK (trademark_status IN ('Not searched','Searched - clear','Application filed','Registered','Conflicting mark found','Unknown')),
  CONSTRAINT asset_status CHECK (status IN ('Draft','In review','Approved','Retired'))
);

CREATE INDEX idx_brand_asset_status ON brand_asset (status);
CREATE INDEX idx_brand_asset_type ON brand_asset (asset_type);

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "title": "Logo & Image Design",
  "type": "object",
  "additionalProperties": false,
  "properties": {
      "Asset ID": { "type": "integer" },
      "Asset Name": { "type": "string" },
      "Asset Type": { "type": "string" },
      "Format": { "type": "string" },
      "Dimensions": { "type": "string" },
      "Aspect Ratio": { "type": "string" },
      "Colour Mode": { "type": "string" },
      "Background Variant": { "type": "string" },
      "Minimum Size": { "type": "string" },
      "Clear Space": { "type": "string" },
      "Placement": { "type": "string" },
      "Usage Approved": { "type": "string" },
      "Usage Not Approved": { "type": "string" },
      "Source": { "type": "string" },
      "Rights Owner": { "type": "string" },
      "Licence": { "type": "string" },
      "Trademark Status": { "type": "string" },
      "Version": { "type": "string" },
      "Status": { "type": "string" },
      "Notes": { "type": "string" }
  },
  "required": [
      "Asset Name",
      "Asset Type",
      "Format",
      "Colour Mode",
      "Background Variant",
      "Trademark Status",
      "Version",
      "Status"
  ]
}

| CSV column | Notion property | Set after import |
|---|---|---|
| Asset ID | Text (preserve source ID) | Keep imported IDs as Text; optionally add a separate Unique ID property |
| Asset Name | Title | Use as the database title |
| Asset Type | Select (add options after import) | Convert to Select, add options: "Logo", "Logo Variant", "Icon", "Illustration", "Photograph", "Product Image", "Pattern", "Graphic", "Video Still", "Document Cover" |
| Format | Select (add options after import) | Convert to Select, add options: "SVG", "EPS", "PNG", "JPG", "WebP", "PDF", "AI", "MP4" |
| Dimensions | Text | Leave as Text. Record the pixel or mm size, and the print resolution separately in Notes |
| Aspect Ratio | Text | Leave as Text |
| Colour Mode | Select (add options after import) | Convert to Select, add options: "RGB", "CMYK", "Greyscale", "One colour", "Duotone" |
| Background Variant | Select (add options after import) | Convert to Select, add options: "Light", "Dark", "Transparent", "Coloured", "Photographic" |
| Minimum Size | Text | Leave as Text. The smallest size at which the mark still reads |
| Clear Space | Text | Leave as Text. Expressed in mark units, e.g. "mark height on all sides" |
| Placement | Text | Leave as Text |
| Usage Approved | Text | Leave as Text |
| Usage Not Approved | Text | Leave as Text. The misuse list |
| Source | Text | Leave as Text. Where the file or the licence came from |
| Rights Owner | Text | Leave as Text. Not the designer - the copyright holder |
| Licence | Text | Leave as Text. Name it: Unsplash licence, OFL, CC BY 4.0, owned outright |
| Trademark Status | Select (add options after import) | Convert to Select, add options: "Not searched", "Searched - clear", "Application filed", "Registered", "Conflicting mark found", "Unknown" |
| Version | Text | Leave as Text |
| Status | Select (add options after import) | Convert to Select, add options: "Draft", "In review", "Approved", "Retired" |
| Notes | Text | Leave as Text |

The rows above are documentation examples only. Emit empty templates unless the user explicitly requests examples. Rights fields the user has not confirmed are Unknown or Not searched - never assumed clear.

Field Reference

#	Field	Type	SQL	JSON Schema	Notion	CSV example
1	Asset ID	id	BIGINT PRIMARY KEY	integer	Text or Notion auto-ID	(blank)
2	Asset Name	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	Example Retail primary mark
3	Asset Type	select	VARCHAR(100)	string	Select	Logo
4	Format	select	VARCHAR(100)	string	Select	SVG and PNG
5	Dimensions	text	VARCHAR(100)	string	Text	(blank)
6	Aspect Ratio	text	VARCHAR(50)	string	Text	(blank)
7	Colour Mode	select	VARCHAR(100)	string	Select	CMYK and RGB
8	Background Variant	select	VARCHAR(100)	string	Select	Light and dark
9	Minimum Size	text	VARCHAR(50)	string	Text	(blank)
10	Clear Space	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	(blank)
11	Placement	long_text	TEXT	string	Text	(blank)
12	Usage Approved	long_text	TEXT	string	Text	(blank)
13	Usage Not Approved	long_text	TEXT	string	Text	(blank)
14	Source	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	(blank)
15	Rights Owner	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	(blank)
16	Licence	text	VARCHAR(255)	string	Text	(blank)
17	Trademark Status	select	VARCHAR(100)	string	Select	Not searched
18	Version	text	VARCHAR(50)	string	Text	1.0
19	Status	select	VARCHAR(50)	string	Select	Draft
20	Notes	long_text	TEXT	string	Text	(blank)

Select Options

Asset Type - a starting set. Photograph and Product Image are separated because a product image is repeatable and needs a consistent framing, while a photograph of a premises is one-off.

Logo | Logo Variant | Icon | Illustration | Photograph | Product Image | Pattern | Graphic | Video Still | Document Cover

Format

SVG | EPS | PNG | JPG | WebP | PDF | AI | MP4

Colour Mode

RGB | CMYK | Greyscale | One colour | Duotone

Background Variant - tells the designer which version of the mark to reach for.

Light | Dark | Transparent | Coloured | Photographic

Trademark Status - Unknown and Not searched are different: the first means nobody knows, the second means nobody looked. Both are honest answers.

Not searched | Searched - clear | Application filed | Registered | Conflicting mark found | Unknown

Status

Draft | In review | Approved | Retired

Relations

None. This table is standalone. Photo consent records, if the business keeps them separately, are referenced from Notes by their document number - confirm with the business before making that a live relation.

Examples

Prompt

We have a logo someone made in Canva about three years ago. We cannot find the file, it
is on the shopfront, and we are now printing visiting cards.

Context first - one question per message, nothing already answered:

Q: What is the business called, and what does one line of it actually do?

A: Example Retail, home and kitchen goods.

Q: Where is the current logo used - sign, vehicle, invoices, anything else?

A: Shopfront and the invoices.

Q: Has anyone checked whether the name is already registered as a trademark?

A: No.

Q: Do the cards need to match the shopfront, or can the mark change?

A: It can change, but the sign cannot - that is expensive.

Recommended next step - offered, not built:

One mark, derived to work on the sign and on a 55x90mm card, with a trademark search run

before any drawing starts. Then three variants - full colour, one colour, and a small

size version for a favicon - with clear space and a minimum size written down once, and

the whole set in an asset register so nobody stretches it again.

Workflow: Name and mark searched → Direction chosen → Master mark drawn → Required

variants derived → Clear space and minimum size set → Digital and print masters exported →

Register approved and versioned

Want the CSV, SQL DDL, JSON Schema and Notion mapping for this?

Best Practices

• Run the trademark search before designing. USPTO, EUIPO, IP India or the national IP

office; WIPO's Global Brand Database covers several at once. It is free.

• A mark needs three variants, not one: full colour, single colour, and a simplified

version for small sizes. Anything more is a decision to defer.

• Set clear space in a unit of the mark itself, so it scales. "One cap-height on all sides"

survives a resize; "5mm" does not.

• Set a minimum size and record it. Below that, the small-size variant is used instead of

the master.

• Keep an editable master. The Canva-file problem is the normal outcome, not the exception.
• Rights in writing. If a designer made it, the transfer of copyright must be a document,

not an email thread. In many countries copyright does not transfer by implication.

• Photograph the real premises and the real people. Stock beats nothing, but it never beats

the actual shopfront, and a phone photo with good light is a legitimate brand image.

• Get written consent for any identifiable person, and keep the consent record next to the

image reference. A face on a website is a data-protection question as well as a permissions one.

• Export SVG as the master for anything that scales, PNG at 1x/2x/3x for the web, and CMYK

for print. Never upscale a raster logo.

• Keep a one-page "logo misuse" sheet next to the files. Most of what looks like a bad

logo is a stretched, rotated or recoloured one.

• Derive all four artifacts from the field list in this file, never by hand.
• If the user requests an example row, keep it obviously fake so nobody imports it as a real asset.

Limitations

• This skill produces a register and a specification. It does not draw, and it cannot

attach a vector file.

• A trademark search is a screening step, not a legal opinion, and it is not a

registration. Trademark Status records what stage the business is at.

• It cannot confirm a stock licence. Licence records what the business says the licence

is; verifying the photographer's actual terms is the business's action.

• Vector artwork for embroidery, laser engraving and small-format print has constraints

(minimum stroke width, no gradients, few colours) that this table does not model.

• "Does this logo look good" is not a question this skill answers. It answers whether the

mark is being used within its own rules.

• The register tracks files. It is not a DAM, and it does not store the binaries.
• Rebranding cost, rollout sequencing and internal re-training are out of scope.
• Legal review of the final mark before launch is still required.

Security & Safety Notes

• Never invent a designer credit, a licence name, a trademark number or a registration

status. Unknown and Not searched are correct answers.

• Never assert that a name is available to trademark. Say that a search has not been run.
• Local reads, generation commands, and validation are part of a requested artifact build.

External writes, messages, provisioning, and publication require authorization for that action and target; existing explicit authorization does not need to be repeated.

• If the user pastes an existing brand guideline or an unreleased product, note that it

stays in the conversation and should be deleted if it is confidential.

• Personal data on a photograph - faces, name badges, plates, screens - is a data

protection question. Flag it; do not decide it.

• A person's likeness used commercially can need a release. Treat consent as a required

field, not a nice-to-have.

Common Pitfalls

• Problem: a static mapping is described as a completed workspace build.

Solution: deliver manual mappings without a connection; claim a live change only after the authorized tool operation succeeds.

• Problem: asked all five questions in one message.

Solution: ask one, wait, and drop any the first answer already covered.

• Problem: a logo was designed before the name was checked, and the name is taken.

Solution: the mark is redone. A search is cheaper than a rebrand and takes a day.

• Problem: the mark is stretched on a banner and blurred on a business card.

Solution: that is a missing clear-space and minimum-size rule. Both are columns here.

• Problem: the same logo exists in six files with six different blues.

Solution: version the asset, and make Status = Approved the only one that ships.

• Problem: a stock photo was used and the licence was for personal use only.

Solution: Licence is a required column, and "personal use only" is not a licence for a business website.

• Problem: the register has assets but no owner and no review date, so it is never

updated. Solution: Last Reviewed and Status are what make it a register and not a list.

• Problem: all four artifacts drift apart.

Solution: derive all four from the field list in this file, never by hand.

• Problem: Notion import shows every column as Text.

Solution: that is expected. Apply the property mapping table once, after import.

Related Skills

• @brand-growth-system-builder - routes to this skill and the other 12 brand and growth modules.
• @design-theme-guide - the colour and type tokens this module's assets must use.
• @brand-kit-print-collateral - where the mark gets onto letterhead, cards and folders.
• @free-design-resources - icon sets, illustration libraries, stock photography, and the

trademark search databases.

• @gbp-local-seo-intent - the profile photos and the store-front shots, which are the

highest-value images the business owns.

• @presentation-deck - the mark on slides, and the misuse rules that apply there too.
• @social-media-setup - per-platform avatar and cover crops of the same master.

Reusable Prompt

I need a logo and an image library for my business - the mark, its variants, and the
photography and icons we are allowed to use.
Ask me one short question at a time, and only about what I have not already told you.
Never invent a designer credit, a licence or a trademark status. Then recommend the
smallest asset set that fits, including a trademark search before any drawing, and wait
for me to ask before you build it.
When I ask, output CSV, SQL DDL, JSON Schema and a Notion property mapping. Data only.