# Research Methodology

## Data Collection Per Brand

### 1. Financials & Scale (Quick Facts)
Gather from public filings, earnings reports, CrunchBase, investor presentations:
- Revenue (quarterly or annual)
- Operating margin
- Funded accounts / active users
- AUM / AUC
- Average balance per user
- Key growth metrics (YoY user growth, stock price change)
- Founded year

### 2. Positioning Analysis
- Read homepage, about page, and investor materials
- Extract mission statement or positioning line
- Identify stated vs. perceived positioning
- Note any recent positioning pivots
- Find key executive quotes about brand direction

### 3. Brand Evolution Timeline
- Research founding story and original brand identity
- Identify major rebrand moments (with dates)
- Note product pivots that changed brand perception
- Document PR crises or trust events
- Track acquisition strategy as brand signal

### 4. Color Palette Extraction
- Inspect live site CSS: extract primary, secondary, accent, background, and semantic colors (positive/negative)
- Note dark/light mode default
- Document color usage rules (e.g., "green only for CTAs")
- Compare palette to category conventions

### 5. Typography Identification
- Inspect font-family declarations in site CSS
- Identify: primary display, heading, body, and data/monospace faces
- Note: custom vs. commercial vs. Google Fonts
- Document weights used (heading vs. body)
- Assess character: geometric, humanist, editorial, technical

### 6. Layout & UX Patterns
- Visual density: low (editorial), medium (product), high (dashboard)
- Grid structure: full-width vs. contained, symmetric vs. asymmetric
- Theme posture: dark-first, light-first, or mixed
- Interaction patterns: scroll reveals, parallax, hover states
- Mobile behavior: responsive, app-redirect, or both

### 7. Brand Personality Assessment
- Archetype identification (Sage, Hero, Explorer, Outlaw, etc.)
- Voice characterization (3-4 adjective tags)
- Target audience signal: who does the visual language speak to?
- Photography style: stock, editorial, product-hero, abstract, people-forward

### 8. Strategic Assessment
For each dimension, write one sentence:
- What works (strengths to acknowledge)
- What doesn't (weaknesses to exploit)
- What to borrow (applicable to our client)
- What to reject (anti-patterns to avoid)
- What to watch (emerging threats or moves)
- Threat level: Low / Medium / High + reasoning

### 9. Head-to-Head Comparison
Build comparison table against the client brand across:
- Revenue, users, AUM
- Core differentiator
- Social/community features
- Global reach
- Brand posture
- Key risk

## Source Priority
1. Live site inspection (CSS, rendered pages)
2. Public financial filings (10-K, 10-Q, investor decks)
3. Brand press releases and rebrand announcements
4. Industry coverage (brand-innovators.com, it's nice that, underconsideration.com)
5. web_search for recent moves (last 90 days)
6. Existing project research files