AI.

Purpose. Concept images that show leadership happening, used only where a real TFI photograph does not exist yet. Real events always use real photographs.

People. Young Africans aged about 18 to 30, mostly darker skin, natural hair, their own dress, varied builds and real expressions, mid-action (speaking, listening, writing, organising), nobody posing for the camera.

Setting. A real kind of place with real details: a classroom with plastic chairs and a ceiling fan, a community hall, a campus courtyard, a co-working space. Name the city.

Camera and light. Documentary feel: a 35 mm lens, eye level, natural window or daylight, true skin tones and white balance, a little film grain, shallow but not blurry depth.

Framing. Clear headroom above every head, eyes on the top third, no cropped joints, a calm area for the logo.

Honesty. It is a concept image: label it "Illustration" if it could be mistaken for a real TFI event.

Avoid. Plastic skin, identical faces, warped hands, stock poses (handshakes, pointing at laptops, glass offices), poverty or charity imagery, text or logos in the picture.

Skeleton. [n] people doing [action] in [place, city] · [light] · eye level · logo space at [position] · labelled Illustration.

Purpose. Speaker cards, Keeper and Facilitator profiles, cut-outs. Concept use only; real people are always photographed, never generated.

Framing. Head and shoulders or waist up, eyes on the top third, clear headroom, shoulders turned slightly, face toward the light.

Background. Plain and even: a light grey wall, a white wall or a soft dark backdrop, so the person can be cut out cleanly. Nothing growing out of the head.

Light. One large soft source from the side (a window or softbox), gentle fill, true skin tones, a natural catchlight in the eyes.

Expression. Calm confidence or a real half-smile, mid-thought; never a forced grin or a stock pose with crossed arms.

Dress. Their own: smart, traditional or both. Natural hair, real jewellery.

Avoid. Retouched plastic skin, heavy makeup filters, busy offices, glass walls, harsh flash.

Skeleton. Portrait of a [role] in [dress] · [light / dark] plain background · window light from [side] · [head and shoulders / waist up].

Purpose. The energy of a TFI event: a speaker mid-sentence, a panel, an award moment, an audience reacting. Concepts only; real events use real photos.

Moment. Peak action: a gesture, a laugh, a hand raised with the mic, applause. Never the frozen pose before or after.

Light. Stage light with a deep red curtain or dark background; skin correctly exposed; red light allowed on the set, never on faces as a colour cast.

Composition. Speaker on a third, looking into the frame, with space in front of them; podium edge or a mic stand for context; the audience as soft shapes in the foreground for depth.

Avoid. Empty stages, blurred faces, branded banners with readable text, purple and blue concert lighting.

Skeleton. [speaker / panel / award] moment at [event] · [gesture] · red curtain stage light · space at [side].

Purpose. Quiet supporting images and B-roll: hands writing in a notebook, a mic in a hand, a certificate held, books on a table, a phone with notes.

Framing. Close and tight, shallow depth, one clear subject, a calm background.

Light. Soft daylight, warm but true; natural skin texture on hands.

Colour. Let one red element appear in the frame where it fits (a pen, a lanyard, a book cover), never forced.

Avoid. Stock laptops and coffee cups, readable brand names, perfect manicures.

Skeleton. Close-up of [hands doing / object] on [surface] · soft daylight · one red element: [item].

Purpose. Openers and backgrounds that set the scene: a classroom before a Fort meets, a campus walkway, a community hall, a city street at first light.

Mood. Calm and hopeful; early or late daylight; real details of the place (plastic chairs, a whiteboard, a ceiling fan, bougainvillea, a market canopy).

Composition. Strong lines leading into the frame, one calm area for text, straight verticals.

Avoid. Ruins, rubbish, poverty framing, empty luxury interiors that are not ours.

Skeleton. [place, city] at [time] · real details: [list] · calm area at [position].

Purpose. Unify mixed photos for a campaign or a cover.

Treatment. Convert the photo to a duotone: Ink #212529 for shadows mapped to Fort Red #E70023 for highlights, or Ember #38040E to White for a quieter version. Keep faces readable; lift shadows if skin goes too dark.

Use. Campaign heroes and story series only. Never on an individual celebration, never on wellbeing content.

Skeleton. Apply [Ink to Fort Red / Ember to White] duotone to [photo] · keep faces readable.

Purpose. Make one finding obvious.

Headline. State the finding as a sentence ("Most Fortifiers lead in their own community"), not a label ("Results").

Form. Bars for comparing, lines for change over time, a table when people need exact values. No pies, no 3D, no dual axes.

Colour. One highlight in Fort Red; everything else in greys. Never a rainbow.

Type. General Sans, tabular figures, text left, numbers right, labels on the bars instead of a legend where possible.

Truth. A source line always. Never add, round up or estimate a number; use [number] where data is missing.

Skeleton. Data [paste] · finding to highlight [x] · form [bar / line / table].

Purpose. One argument, told one idea per slide.

Structure. Cover, agenda, content slides, one key-number slide, one quote slide, a closing slide with the next step.

Slides. A headline of no more than 8 words that states the point; body of no more than 40 words; one visual (photo frame, chart or Fort Symbol).

Layout. 1920 x 1080, 12 columns, 96 px margins, 24 px gutters. White by default; one Fort Red divider.

Notes. 60 to 100 words of speaker notes per slide in the TFI voice.

Avoid. Bullet walls, stock icons, every slide looking the same, the logo as a slide's main image.

Skeleton. [n]-slide deck on [topic] for [audience] · key number [x] · next step [y].

Purpose. A session a Facilitator can run with a Fort of 8 to 12 people.

Structure. Cover, overview, numbered parts, an activity (timing, steps, materials), a reflection with three open questions, a conclusion, resources.

Content. Each concept explained in plain English with one example from African life; jargon explained in one line.

Format. Teaching lock-up A, B or C. French titles follow French punctuation.

Skeleton. Module [n]: [title] · [n] parts · activity on [topic] · lock-up [A / B / C].

Purpose. Stop the scroll with one idea, then give one action.

Hero. One only: a word, a number, a photo or a woven motif.

Layout. 1080 x 1350, 6 columns, 8 rows, 64 px margins. White on Fort Red, or Fort Red on White.

Words. A headline of no more than 6 words; one supporting line; date and link in the footer. Caption under 60 words, one call to action, #LeadingDifferently.

Skeleton. Post for [purpose] · hero [type] · mode [red / white] · action [x].

Purpose. Be understood with the sound off.

Captions. Two lines at most, about 30 characters a line, broken at natural pauses. At most one keyword per video may sit on a Fort Red plate. Optional.

Style. White General Sans Medium on an Ink plate with 12 px rounded corners, sitting on the bottom safe line: nothing in the top 220 px (11% of the height), the bottom 400 px (21%) or the right 140 px (13% of the width). The logo sits alone, top left, below the 220 px line, white over footage, with no plate behind it.

Skeleton. Captions for [transcript] · two lines at most, broken at natural pauses · [optional: one keyword for the whole video on a Fort Red plate].

Purpose. A new woven motif that sits beside our twelve Fort Motifs (Fort, Book, Fortifier, Leader, Community, Wisdom, Patience, Forward, Gate, Sunrise, Eban, Journey) as if woven on the same loom. Motifs are for bands, borders, merch and small marks, never for interface icons.

The grid. A weave grid of 10 x 10 square cells. Every cell is either filled or empty: no half cells, no curves, no diagonals, no outlines. A cell is the only unit; the smallest gap or line is one cell wide.

Build. Draw the idea as a woven figure, like a pattern in a mat or a strip of kente: the outer edge of the motif touches the edge of the grid on at least two sides, solid areas are at least two cells thick, and openings are at least one cell wide so the motif reads at small sizes. Most motifs mirror left to right; use asymmetry only when the meaning needs movement (Forward, Journey).

Meaning first. One idea per motif, said in one word (protection, patience, unity). Start from a concrete thing that carries it, African where it fits (a fence, a gate, a stool, a drum, a doorway, steps, people holding hands), and reduce it until it survives on 100 cells.

Colour. One colour on one ground: Fort Red #E70023 on White every day, Fort Red on Ember #38040E for big moments, White on Fort Red or White on Ember for bands. Never two colours inside one motif.

Finish. Perfectly square cells with sharp edges (no anti-aliased blur, no rounded corners), flat colour, exported as SVG with each filled cell a square.

Check. Fill the grid on paper first; count the cells. Still clear at 24 px; reads as a sibling of the twelve; does not resemble a national crest, a religious sign, a swastika-like hooked cross or any other organisation's mark.

Avoid. Pixel-art characters with faces, game sprites, curves faked with stair steps, gradients, shadows, 3D, letters or numbers inside the grid.

Skeleton. Fort Motif for [meaning] · from [concrete reference] · 10 x 10 weave grid, cells filled or empty · [mirrored / directional] · [colourway] · square cells, sharp edges.

Example. A Fort Motif for "mentorship": on a 10 x 10 weave grid, a tall figure two cells wide beside a shorter figure, the tall one's arm a one-cell bar resting on the short one's shoulder, both standing on a two-cell base that runs the full width. Fort Red on White, square cells, sharp edges.

Purpose. Narrow woven strips made of Fort Motifs, used on one edge of a layout: certificates, invitations, programmes, letters, lanyards, book spines, slide edges, stage banners.

The grid. The band is measured in motif cells. A vertical band is 14 cells wide: a 10-cell motif with a 2-cell margin each side. Motifs sit centred, at least 2 cells apart, spaced evenly from end to end with a 2-cell margin at each end. A horizontal band is the same, turned on its side: 14 cells tall.

Order. Use 5 to 9 different motifs per band, never the same motif twice in a row. Open with the Fort or the Book; place motifs that face a direction (Forward, Journey) so they point into the page.

Colour. The band is one solid ground with one motif colour: Fort Red on Ember, White on Fort Red, Fort Red on White, White on Oxblood #780000 or White on Ember. One band per layout, on one edge only.

Fit. On an A4 page or a 1920 x 1080 slide, the band is 8 to 12% of the short side wide; on a lanyard or spine it fills the full width. It always runs edge to edge, bleeding off the page; it never floats in the middle, never sits behind body text and never meets the logo.

Avoid. Mixing Fort Symbols into a band, tilting a band, two bands on one layout, motifs of different sizes in one band, gaps that vary along the band.

Skeleton. Mat Band, [vertical / horizontal], on the [left / top] edge of a [format] · [n] motifs: [list in order] · [colourway] · 14 cells wide, 2-cell margins, even spacing.

Example. A vertical Mat Band on the left edge of an A5 invitation, 14 cells wide, bleeding top and bottom: Fort, Book, Fortifier, Leader, Community, Wisdom, Gate in that order, Fort Red on Ember, motifs centred with 2-cell margins and even spacing.

Purpose. A new bold, flat symbol that sits beside our ten Fort Symbols (Battlement, Open book, Steps, Eban, Wisdom knot, Circle, Gate, Sunrise, Chevrons, Chain link) on screens, campaigns, explainers (5.3) and merch.

The grid. A 100 x 100 construction grid with lines every 10 units. Keep the symbol inside the live area from 10 to 90 (a 10-unit margin all round) so every symbol has the same optical size. Build from squares, rectangles, circles, half and quarter circles and right angles; snap every edge and centre to the grid.

Build. One solid shape or a few solid shapes. Detail is cut out of the solid (even-odd), never drawn as an outline. Strokes, bars and cut-outs are at least 8 units wide; gaps between parts are 8 units, the same as in the existing set. Centre the symbol optically, not only by measurement.

Meaning first. One idea per symbol in one word. Start from a concrete reference that carries it, African where it fits (Adinkra forms, a fort wall, a gate, a stool, a calabash, a book), then reduce it to its simplest geometry.

Colour. One colour on one ground: Fort Red on White, Fort Red on Ember, White on Fort Red or White on Ember.

Check. Clear at 24 px and from across a room; one colour only; looks like a sibling of the ten; resembles no crest, religious sign or other organisation's logo; never used in place of the TFI logo.

Avoid. Outlines, thin hairlines, rounded app-icon corners, 3D, gloss, gradients, shadows, faces, letters, crowns, swords, fists, flags, fire, stars.

Skeleton. Fort Symbol for [meaning] · from [concrete reference] · 100 x 100 grid, live area 10 to 90, 8-unit bars and gaps · solid with cut-outs · [colourway].

Example. A Fort Symbol for "mentorship": on a 100 x 100 grid, a large solid square from 10 to 62 and a smaller solid square stepping up and to the right from 54 to 90, joined by an 8-unit bridge, like a hand lifting someone onto a step. Fort Red on White, flat, clear at 24 px.