(Journal) Studio notes

Notes from the studio floor.

How we work, what we got wrong and the small decisions that make a brand recognisable. Written by the people who did the work.

Process

6 min

Why we start every brand with one sentence

Before any sketch, we write the sentence the whole company can repeat. Here is how we find it, and why it saves weeks later.

Identity

5 min

A logo spends most of its life tiny: a favicon, a lid, an app icon. We design the smallest version first.

Identity

7 min

Palettes are not decoration. A good colour system tells people what kind of thing they are looking at before they read a word.

Websites

8 min

A website is only finished when the client can edit it without calling us. This is the checklist we run before every handover.

Campaigns

4 min

A launch that happens in one day is over in one day. We plan four weeks of reasons to talk about a new brand.

Studio

5 min

We take on six to eight projects a year. Here is why a small studio doing fewer things does them better.