From aesthetics-and-emotion-principles
Use this skill when designing narrative content — landing pages, case studies, onboarding flows, marketing campaigns, sales decks, ad arcs. Trigger when picking how to frame a customer story, when writing a launch campaign, or when the user mentions "this campaign feels flat" or "we need a better narrative." Sub-aspect of `archetypes`; read that first.
How this skill is triggered — by the user, by Claude, or both
Slash command
/aesthetics-and-emotion-principles:archetypes-storytelling-arcsThe summary Claude sees in its skill listing — used to decide when to auto-load this skill
Stories are the most efficient way to convey emotional truth. A list of features is forgotten; a story of a user transformed by a product is remembered. Archetypes structure stories — the hero's journey is the most-cited template — and using them deliberately makes marketing, onboarding, and case studies dramatically more effective.
Stories are the most efficient way to convey emotional truth. A list of features is forgotten; a story of a user transformed by a product is remembered. Archetypes structure stories — the hero's journey is the most-cited template — and using them deliberately makes marketing, onboarding, and case studies dramatically more effective.
Joseph Campbell distilled cross-cultural mythology into a single recurring pattern. The full version has 17 stages; the simplified product-narrative version has roughly 8:
This arc structures most successful marketing campaigns, customer case studies, and product launches.
A typical case study before applying the arc:
"Acme Corp uses our product. They report 40% productivity improvement."
Same case study with the arc:
"Acme Corp's marketing team was spending 4 days a week on reports — too much manual work, too little strategy. They tried our product as an experiment. After two weeks of integration, they automated 70% of their reporting workflow. Today, the team spends those reclaimed days on campaigns that have driven a 30% increase in qualified leads."
The arc gives the data emotional shape: pain → adventure → mentor → trials → reward.
Onboarding can follow the arc:
Landing pages often follow a compressed arc:
A multi-touch campaign can play out across emails, ads, and content over weeks:
In product narratives, who is the hero? Three typical positionings:
The user's transformation is the story; the product enables it. Most user-facing marketing positions this way. The user sees themselves in the story; the product is the magical artifact.
Less common in modern marketing; more common in early advertising. The product itself is presented as the protagonist conquering the user's problem. Can feel inflated in modern contexts.
Case studies often position a specific named customer as the hero. Their transformation is the story.
The user-as-hero positioning is generally most effective because it lets the prospect insert themselves into the story.
The hero's journey isn't the only arc:
Each is a structured way to give content emotional shape.
archetypes (parent).archetypes-brand-voice — voice consistency reinforces narrative.storytelling (cognition) — narrative as memory aid.framing (cognition) — how the story is framed affects user judgment.npx claudepluginhub hdeibler/universal-design-principles --plugin aesthetics-and-emotion-principlesProvides UI/UX resources: 50+ styles, color palettes, font pairings, guidelines, charts for web/mobile across React, Next.js, Vue, Svelte, Tailwind, React Native, Flutter. Aids planning, building, reviewing interfaces.
Fetches up-to-date documentation from Context7 for libraries and frameworks like React, Next.js, Prisma. Use for setup questions, API references, and code examples.