Brand Operating System Starter Kit
A starter file system for founders whose brand decisions, evidence, messaging, and assets are scattered across docs, chats, drives, and decks. 12 top-level folders that mirror the chain of command — evidence, patterns, insights, rules, canon — with assets sitting where they belong: downstream.
The same scaffold we run at Brandhorse. Fork it, populate it, make it yours. MIT licensed.
prefer github? the repo is public — but the guided download includes setup notes, updates, and the follow-up walkthrough. fork on github →
Want the worldview first? Read the companion article →
Get the Starter Kit
Free. Drop your email below and we'll send the download and a few follow-up notes on operating the scaffold well.
prefer to self-serve? the repo is public — fork it on github →
What's inside
Everything the scaffold ships with — folders, READMEs, walkthrough, license.
- The scaffold — 12 top-level folders and 39 subfolders, each named in the language of brand governance, not asset management.
- Setup & Adoption Guide — five-step walkthrough from empty scaffold to a populated brand OS.
- Folder READMEs — every top-level folder has a one-paragraph README explaining what belongs there, why, and how it relates to the rest of the chain.
- Brandhorse populated example — a public fork reference showing the scaffold filled in for a live brand.
- MIT license — internal use, client work, and commercial adaptation.
WHAT THE STRUCTURE LOOKS LIKE
12 top-level folders ordered by the chain of command.
The non-negotiables. Decision rights, charter docs, and the rules of engagement that govern every downstream choice.
Raw signals — quotes, observations, competitive proof, market data. Where the chain of command starts.
What the evidence reveals. Patterns are observed; insights are decisions about what those patterns mean.
Who you serve, who you don't, who you used to. Audience definition precedes positioning, messaging, and voice.
Governed positioning, message map, claims library. The strategic spine every brief inherits.
How the brand speaks — and the things it can never say. Voice without anti-voice is only half the rule.
The rule library that compliance runs against. Do/don't patterns, must-include phrases, regulatory constraints.
The frameworks the brand has committed to. Governed, versioned, and the things that don't change without a charter-level decision.
Briefs anchor every campaign. Templates anchor every recurring artifact. Both inherit governance from the layers above.
Shipped work. Where logos, fonts, colors, and templates live — explicitly downstream of governance, not above it.
Experiments, performance reviews, and the decisions log. The feedback loop that keeps the OS honest.
Deprecated — kept, not deleted. Archive teaches as much as canon: what we tried, why it stopped working, why we stopped.
The shape is the pitch.
Why the folders are ordered this way.
Most brand asset libraries start with Logos / Fonts / Colors / Templates at the top. That order teaches the wrong thing — it implies that assets are the product of brand work, when they're the downstream artifact of decisions made earlier in the chain.
This scaffold inverts that. The top-level folders mirror the chain of command. Logos and fonts are still here — they live under 09_execution/assets/ where they belong: downstream of the decisions that make them defensible.
Once you populate this scaffold, every artifact in your brand has a home, and every home has an obvious answer to what does this depend on? That's the operating system difference. Folder structure won't solve brand chaos on its own — but it will make the chaos legible, and that's the prerequisite for fixing it.
the natural next step
You've got the structure. The workbook teaches you to fill it.
The scaffold answers where does this live? The r.a.c.e.s.™ methodology workbook answers how do I run the work that fills it? Five modules, 30+ worksheets, real examples, anti-patterns library. Notion-native. Lifetime access.
r.a.c.e.s.™ Methodology Workbook
The complete five-phase methodology with 30+ worksheets and a Notion companion. $79, lifetime access.
Brand Self-Audit
Score yourself first. A 5–10-minute diagnostic across all five r.a.c.e.s.™ phases. Free.
When you need more than structure
Four paths from the free scaffold to a fully governed brand operating system.
Brand Self-Audit · Free
5–10-minute diagnostic that scores your brand across all five r.a.c.e.s.™ phases.
Run the auditMethodology Workbook · $79
The complete r.a.c.e.s.™ methodology in a single workbook + Notion companion.
Open the workbookBrandhorse OS · Membership
The governed brand operating system. Run r.a.c.e.s.™ end-to-end with traceable evidence and approved canon.
See the OSAssisted Installation · Enterprise
We install and run the OS inside your team. Hands-on rollout for B2B and DTC operators.
Request access