Belief-Shift Visual System — Advisory OS Skin

Charcoal #1a1a1a · Gold #b79d64 · Cream #f5f4f0 · Cormorant Garamond + Inter · 1080×1350px (4:5) · Dark Authority

How to use these templates. Six repeatable card layouts, one focal point each, readable at thumbnail. Preview cards (small) show layout + design notes. Full-size cards (1080×1350) at the bottom are the screenshot targets.

Production path (validated): screenshot the full-size cards below and combine to a PDF for a LinkedIn document post, or export a single card as a standalone image. This is the owned path — no external tool required, brand styling is guaranteed because the CSS is ours. See the visual-system spec for the MAL evaluation and why we landed here.

Card 7 (belief-4 "behind the build") is HELD pending Reid's DFY/DIY/advisory rebalance. Placeholder only.

1 · Math Post carousel

One escalating number per slide, building to a total cost. Each slide holds a single figure in gold serif; a running total accrues at the base. The final slide names the full number and the reframe. Positioning-agnostic — the arithmetic carries it.

The Real Math
Every week
6 hrs
in your head, not the system.
Running total · slide 1 of 5
Slide type A — single figure One number, gold, dead center. The number IS the focal point. Body line names what it measures in plain terms. Running-total footer signals the sequence is accumulating. Repeat this layout for each escalating figure (6 hrs → per week → per year → 5 years).
5/5
The total
That's 1,560 hours
Five years of the same work living in one person's head. One deployed system changes the math.
Slide type B — the total (final slide) The accumulated number lands. Gold on the total. Body delivers the reframe and the soft bridge to the offer. No hard CTA on the card — the caption carries that.

2 · Old Way vs New Way split

Two columns. Old column always carries more rows (complexity); new column fewer (simplicity). Adapted off the source's red/green coach aesthetic but muted for Dark Authority: muted red (#c45a4a) marks the old, muted green (#5a9a6a) marks the new. Never bright. Old = × markers, New = → markers.

Old way
More moving parts
  • Everything through you
  • Answers in your inbox
  • Re-explaining the same steps
  • Nothing written down
  • Work stalls when you're out
New way
Fewer, deployed
  • The system answers
  • Documented once, runs itself
Old-vs-new split Old column intentionally longer — the visual weight IS the argument (complexity vs simplicity). Muted red/green, never saturated. Marker glyphs do the color-coding so it reads at thumbnail without relying on hue alone. Keep old at 4-6 rows, new at 2-3.

3 · Pattern-reveal card — "You think X. Actually Y."

Two stacked panels. Top: what they believe (muted, gray tag). Bottom: what's true (gold tag, the reveal). Use sparingly — this is the sharpest instrument in the set and loses force if overused.

You think
The bottleneck is
not enough hours.
Actually
The bottleneck is
everything routing
through you.
Two-panel reveal Divider line between panels marks the pivot. Belief on top in cream, truth below in gold. The eye travels down into the reveal. One idea only — no third panel. Reserve for genuine reframes.

4 · Proof card — testimonial + named number

A restrained testimonial with one named figure in a gold callout box. Gold appears once, in the callout — that's the whole point. Real attribution, real number. No stacking of claims.

"The work that used to live in my head now runs without me."
40%
fee increase
— Managing Partner, advisory firm
Proof card One quote, one number, one attribution. Gold callout is the single focal point — everything else is cream/gray. Attribution stays real but role-anonymized unless Kathryn has explicit named-use permission. Never combine two numbers on one card.

5 · Origin / peer card — headshot + one-line philosophy

Kathryn's headshot with a single line of philosophy. Editorial and spare on AOS — the restraint is the register. Real photo drops into the headshot slot (placeholder shown).

Kathryn
headshot
"Consultants create
dependency.
I build capability."
Kathryn Brown
Advisory OS
Origin / peer card Real headshot, circular, thin gold ring. One line of philosophy in serif, gold on the turn. Name + brand line below. This is the "who's behind this" card — used to anchor a sequence in a real person, not illustration. Keep it to one sentence.

6 · Cost-of-inaction card — arithmetic of waiting

The math of not acting. Amber (#c49a4a) marks the waiting state — deliberately NOT alarm-red. Each line adds a period of delay; the total is what waiting costs. Steady, not hyped.

The cost of waiting
Wait one quarter · $18K
Wait two · $36K
Wait a year · $72K
$72,000
The constraint doesn't pause while you decide.
Cost-of-inaction card Amber, never red — this is arithmetic, not alarm. Escalating lines, then the total in large amber serif. Closing line states the fact plainly, no hype, no urgency theater. The number does the work.

7 · Behind-the-build card — HELD

Held pending Reid's rebalance of how belief 4 resolves across the three business lines (DFY / DIY / advisory) after Kathryn's "don't center everything on DFY" note. Content isn't settled, so the card isn't built. Placeholder below.

On hold
Belief-4
"behind the build" card
Pending Reid's DFY / DIY / advisory rebalance.
Layout will follow the system once the resolution is locked.
Placeholder Do not build until the belief-4 resolution is settled. When it is, this card slots into the same system (likely a Math Post or Old-vs-New variant depending on how the three lines resolve).

Full-size cards (1080×1350px) — screenshot targets

Each card below renders at exact LinkedIn carousel dimensions. Screenshot individually, combine to a PDF, upload as a Document post. Or export one card as a standalone image.

The Real Math
Every week
6 hrs
in your head, not the system.
Running total · slide 1 of 5
5/5
The total
That's 1,560 hours
Five years of the same work living in one person's head.
One deployed system changes the math.
Old way
More moving parts
  • Everything through you
  • Answers in your inbox
  • Re-explaining the same steps
  • Nothing written down
  • Work stalls when you're out
New way
Fewer, deployed
  • The system answers
  • Documented once, runs itself
You think
The bottleneck is
not enough hours.
Actually
The bottleneck is
everything routing
through you.
"The work that used to
live in my head
now runs without me."
40%
fee increase
— Managing Partner, advisory firm
Kathryn
headshot
"Consultants create dependency.
I build capability."
Kathryn Brown
Advisory OS
The cost of waiting
Wait one quarter · $18K
Wait two · $36K
Wait a year · $72K
$72,000
The constraint doesn't pause while you decide.
On hold
Belief-4 "behind the build" card
Pending Reid's DFY / DIY / advisory rebalance.
Layout follows the system once the resolution is locked.