Brand.yml vs Describe Design

Brand.yml

By Posit

Define your brand colors, fonts, and logos once, use them everywhere in Shiny and Quarto.

Describe Design

By Posit

Create visual design documentation for websites and apps with typography, color, and layout details.

Brand.yml

• Creates a single YAML file that stores your brand colors, fonts, and logo files
• Automatically applies your branding to Shiny web apps and Quarto documents
• Supports light and dark mode variants for colors and logos
• Integrates with Google Fonts and custom typography
• Works across HTML reports, dashboards, slides, and PDFs

Describe Design

• Analyzes website or app designs to identify typography systems and font choices
• Documents color palettes and how colors are used across components
• Describes layout patterns, spacing, and visual hierarchy
• Captures the overall design vibe and aesthetic direction
• Produces markdown documentation with visual references

Reach for Brand.yml when…

• You're setting up brand guidelines for a team's reports and dashboards
• You need consistent colors and fonts across multiple documents without manual styling
• You're creating Shiny apps or Quarto reports and want them to match your brand
• You want to update your brand palette once and have it apply everywhere

Reach for Describe Design when…

• You're creating brand guidelines or a design system document
• You need to hand off design specifications to a team or contractor
• You're reverse-engineering a competitor's visual language for inspiration
• You want to audit design consistency across your product