# AI Performance Training — Banned Terms

Honor these on every generated asset. They keep the brand on the elite training facility × AI lab × special forces line and off the startup-guru / AI-transformation-theater line.

## Visual — never

- gradients, color blends, glossy 3D, chrome, bevels
- drop shadows or any shadow (the brand ships **no shadows, ever**)
- neon, glow, bloom, lens flare, cyberpunk
- filled or 3D icons; cartoon icons; any illustration or drawn figure work
- stock-photo smiling teams; conference-room photography; handshakes; group shots
- any second saturated color competing with Exit Yellow
- Exit Yellow covering more than a small fraction of the frame
- circuit boards, glowing AI brains, robots, sci-fi UI clichés
- rounded "friendly startup" blobs; playful mascots
- vendor logos, product screenshots, single-tool branding
- the emoji lightning bolt — always use the engineered geometric Lightning Bolt mark

## Voice — never

- unlock, supercharge, synergy, leverage (as filler), revolutionary, game-changer, paradigm, disrupt, innovate
- "AI transformation" (transformation theater)
- "bootcamp" as a descriptor for APT programs
- "transformational operational excellence" and any buzzword stack
- "10x your team", hustle / grind / motivational-poster cadence
- SaaS-landing cadence ("the all-in-one platform for…")
- consultant / agency throat-clearing
- AI hype OR AI doom framing
- vendor-specific cheerleading or single-tool evangelism
- em dashes

## Always

- dark canonical ground; flat matte finish; 1px steel borders
- Exit Yellow at exactly one value moment per composition
- numbers in IBM Plex Mono; headlines uppercase grotesk
- photography is athlete-alone / industrial / B&W
- vendor-neutral framing in all copy
- stamp the real wordmark on finished assets; never let the model draw the wordmark from scratch
- the Lightning Bolt is the engineered geometric form, not the emoji