Workflow step 6. A structure is the skeleton of what you say, the pattern the message is organised in. It is not the medium (that's Format, step 7) and it is not the topic (that's the pillar).
Every piece is one structure + one format. They're independent: a story can be a video or a carousel; a breakdown can be a talking-head or slides. Pick the structure here, the format in docs/foundation/formats.md.
The structures
| Structure | What it is | Detail lives in |
|---|---|---|
| Story | Events in time, told as a narrative with an arc. | Story-Structures.md (the six arcs) |
| Breakdown | Take apart a real example (a campaign, an app, a scene) and show how it works. | Breakdown-Framework-Shareable.md |
| Take | One sharp opinion, stated up front and defended. Short. | here |
| Explainer | Teach one idea, model, or framework. Insight, not a tutorial. | here |
Two of these have full frameworks of their own (Story, Breakdown) because they carry the most weight. The other two are simple enough to define here:
Take
One belief, stated plainly, then backed. The pattern interrupt is the calm confidence, not volume. The hook is the claim itself. Example: "Brand guidelines as a PDF are already dead." A quote you were given, reacted to, is a Take. Ends on a verdict, never a hedge.
Explainer
Teach a single concept so the right person feels it click. Not how-to (that attracts people who want to do it themselves), but the lens, the why, the model. A mental model drawn simply is an Explainer. "Design the outcome, not the prompt" is an Explainer. One idea per piece.
When it's none of these
If the idea is genuinely a list of points, that's a structure too, add it when it earns its place. If you can't name the structure, the idea probably isn't ready: it's a topic, not a piece yet. Send it back to the inbox.
Cross-references
- Step 7, the format it ships in:
docs/foundation/formats.md. - The full workflow:
02 Skills/Content-Pipeline.md. - Every structure still obeys the Hook Engine for its first line and the Performance Playbook for its mechanics.