Kick Off

Description

Run this against the recon briefing. It outputs a short, self-contained document you paste into Claude Design — do not paste the recon itself.

Prompt

<context> Attached is a recon briefing for a business whose website is being rebuilt from scratch. Nothing about the old site is a constraint.

This is phase one of the design process, and phase one is direction-setting. We are designing the homepage only — not because the homepage is the whole site, but because it is the cheapest way to establish a visual language we can then carry outward. Inner pages introduce specific decisions that bog down a conversation that should still be about overall feel.

Your job is not to design anything. Your job is to produce the kickoff document for the design session: a brief, plus the actual homepage copy, tight enough that it can be pasted into a design tool with no other context. </context>

<task> Read the recon briefing. Then produce the kickoff document described below.

Two things govern everything you write:

**The positioning insight is the brief.** Whatever the recon identified as the true, unstated thing about this business is what the homepage exists to communicate. If your output could be dropped onto a competitor's site without anyone noticing, you have failed.

**Write real copy, not placeholders.** The client has not supplied copy and probably cannot articulate their own voice. Generated copy here is a tone-finding instrument — it will be reviewed and adjusted, and seeing a draft is how the owner discovers what they actually want to say.

But: invent phrasing, never facts. Every claim must trace to something in the recon. Do not invent founding dates, family history, provenance, awards, sourcing claims, or "a local tradition since…" — these read as plausible, get approved without scrutiny, and become permanent. Where a fact would strengthen the copy and you do not have it, write the line without it and add it to Open Questions. Avoid category superlatives entirely: no "mouthwatering," no "finest," no "experience the best." </task>

<constraints> - The whole output fits on one page. If it does not, cut the brief, not the copy. - No color values, font names, or layout instructions. Direction is described in terms of what the business is and who it serves — the design tool makes the visual decisions. The only visual instruction permitted is the anti-brief. - Do not describe inner pages. Name them only as navigation destinations. - Do not include catalog data, asset URLs, contact-field tables, or migration notes. Those live in the build dossier and are not needed to design a homepage. - Where the recon marked something unconfirmed, do not write copy that assumes it. </constraints>

<output_format>

## Direction

Three or four sentences. What this business actually is, and the one thing the homepage has to make a stranger understand. Lead with the positioning insight.

## Who Arrives Here

The audience segments, one line each: who they are, and the single question they need this page to answer. Order them by how much of the traffic they represent.

## Homepage Jobs

What this page must accomplish, in priority order, no more than five items. Each tied to a segment. This is the page's argument, not its layout.

## Copy

Real, usable copy for every section, in order:

- Headline and subhead
- Each content section: its heading and its body copy
- Every call-to-action, with its exact label and destination
- Any short line the design will need — a tagline, an availability note, a caption

Mark anything invented rather than sourced with `[unverified]`.

## Navigation

The pages that will exist, as link labels only. Note any that are conditional on an unanswered question.

## Imagery

What photography exists and is usable, in two or three lines. Note what is missing that the direction depends on, so it can be commissioned rather than designed around.

## Anti-Brief

The reflex answer this category invites, named specifically enough to be avoided. Then the real constraints that argue against it — price point, audience, location, device, connection speed, time of day. This section is the one place visual language is permitted, and only in the negative.

## Open Questions

Facts the copy needed and did not have.

## Session Instructions

End the document with the instruction to give to the design tool. It should ask for several distinct low-fidelity directions rather than one refined page, so the phase is spent exploring rather than polishing. Specify how many.

</output_format>