positioning-explorer

# Positioning Explorer Use this skill when the user wants to decide what kind of demand a business should try to own before generating visuals. This is an Explore-stage skill. It does not create final production assets. It turns a business brief into a small set of commercially distinct positioning routes that can feed mood boards, scene exploration, style routes, and asset production. Read `../../references/experience-contract.md` before writing the user-facing handoff. Read `../../references/artifact-contracts.md` before creating, repairing, or reporting artifacts. Read `../../references/codex-exec-image-generation.md` before generating image-led route tiles. Read `../../references/image-building-strategy.md` alongside the Codex exec contract for first-pass imagery rules. ## Role In The Journey Use `positioning-explorer` after `explore` when the user chooses **Positioning**, or whenever the brief needs a sharper business angle before visuals. The skill should answer: - Who are we trying to attract? - What occasion or buying moment are we trying to own? - What business outcome should improve? - What proof makes the route believable? - What should the visuals make the audience believe? - Which next visual path or business asset does the route unlock? This skill should feel like a creative strategy checkpoint for business visuals, not a strategy deck, quality review, research report, or generic marketing plan. ## Intake Gate Run a compact intake before generating routes unless the user has already provided enough information about goal, audience, occasion, proof, and constraints. Use both chat and the widget: - The chat asks the open questions that chips cannot capture. - The widget captures common structured choices quickly. Default chat frame: ```text Before I create positioning routes, I need the hard facts and the growth bet. Use the quick picker for the common choices, and add anything specific in chat: what is already true, what kind of upscale audience you want, and anything I should not invent. ``` Ask at most 2-3 open questions in chat: - What is already true about the business that we should not invent? - What kind of upscale are you aiming for: discreet, romantic, social, culinary, local, corporate, or something else? - What do you already know you do not want? When MCP widgets are available, render `render_moodboard_board_widget` with no images and a positioning-focused `intake` payload. Set `intake.mode` to `positioning` so the shared surface submits back to `positioning-explorer`. Keep this inside the shared inline mood-board surface. The default widget groups are: - "What are you trying to improve?" - "Who are you trying to attract?" - "What occasions should this be known for?" - "What can we credibly build on?" - "What should we avoid or exclude?" Do not include a production-choice group in the intake payload. Production paths belong after routes exist. After rendering the empty mood-board intake surface, stop and wait for the user selection or widget follow-up. Do not generate routes in the same step unless the user explicitly asks to skip intake. When the request is already a widget follow-up such as "Continue with this qualified brief and create positioning routes," treat intake as complete. ## Route Generation Generate 4-6 routes. Each route must combine at least three of these: - audience; - occasion; - business outcome; - believable proof; - visual implication. Strong route names are concrete and commercially legible: - Client Hosting & Private Dining - Grand Date-Night Reservation - Wine-Led Regulars - Premium Business Lunch - City-Center Tastemakers Weak route names are abstract: - Premium Experience - Brand Elevation - Creative Strategy - Upscale Positioning ## Output Shape The main output should be image-led positioning route tiles, not a text-heavy board. Each route tile should include: - one real or generated image that immediately expresses the environment, audience, and occasion; - a short route name; - a one-line commercial promise; - compact chips for audience, occasion, business goal, and proof; - a simple select/approve action. Avoid SVG abstractions, strategy-card illustrations, palette-first visuals, or large text blocks. The user should feel the route before reading the details. The route metadata should include: ```text Selected positioning route: Audience: Occasion: Business goal: Value signal: Proof needed: Visual implications: Assumptions: Watch-outs: Handoff paths: Avoid: ``` Use a comparison table only as a secondary aid when it helps a business user decide. The table should not replace the image-led route tiles. ## Image Rules Each route image should be one plausible environment or moment. It should not be a collage, mood board, grid, strategy diagram, or fake UI. The image prompt must preserve source truth: - Do not invent private rooms, lunch service, awards, press, wine programs, chef reputation, menu items, capacity, or location details. - If a fact is unverified, label it as an assumption or ask before using it. - Avoid fake readable text, logos, awards, or claims. - Avoid generic luxury hotel restaurant visuals unless that is explicitly the desired route. For restaurants, route images should show actual-feeling hospitality moments: a private table, client dinner, candlelit reservation, wine service, daylight lunch, local neighborhood arrival, or dining-room atmosphere. ## Handoff After the user approves one or more routes, hand off to the next Explore or Build skill: - `moodboard-explorer` for broad visual territories around the selected route. - `scene-explorer` for restaurant, product, service, or offer-in-context images. The handoff prompt must preserve the approved route: Use the same lightweight handoff wording as the other explorers: selected direction, preserve, avoid, focused next owner, and artifact path when a route board or generated asset exists. ```text Selected positioning route: Client Hosting & Private Dining Audience: executives, founders, client hosts Occasion: private dinners, board meals, team celebrations Business goal: increase high-value bookings Proof needed: private room, service, wine, prix fixe/event inquiry Visual direction: discreet, polished, low-light, linen, brass, restrained type Avoid: fake awards, discount framing, generic luxury hotel look Next assets: private dining one-pager, LinkedIn ad, reservation card ``` ## Exit Criteria A successful positioning run ends with: - a completed intake or explicit decision to skip intake; - 4-6 commercially distinct route options; - image-led route tiles or a clearly specified image-led route artifact; - assumptions and proof needs called out; - one or more selected routes; - a concrete handoff into mood, scene, style, or asset production.