[ Archive // Notes ]
Short observations, not blog posts. What the studio has learned from the work, filed by subject. It started as the Tiny Design School; the lessons are still here.
It is what people feel when they hear your name. Branding is the sum of every impression: how you look, how you sound, how buying from you feels. A logo is the shortcut people use to recall all of that.
On your projectWe define what your company should make people feel before we design a single thing.
A box is the first thing a customer touches and the last thing they throw away. Every product in a line has to hold its own on the shelf while reading, unmistakably, as one family.
From Daily Concepts →The first Daily Concepts box direction was set aside. Rethinking the structure, not the graphics, led to the sustainable molded-pulp clamshell that shipped. Start with what the object is made of.
From Daily Concepts →The same sentence set in a different typeface says something different. Size and weight create hierarchy and guide the eye to what matters first. Good typography is invisible; you just find yourself trusting the page.
On your projectWe choose type that sounds like you, license it properly, and set rules so it stays consistent.
On the Rekia & Joséphine storefront the typography is set quiet on purpose, like the filament the pearls are strung on. Every eye stays on the pearls and the hair they float across.
From Rekia & Joséphine →People recall colour before they recall names. A palette is not a favourite colour; it is a system of roles: a lead colour for recognition, support tones for calm, functional colours for clarity. Contrast decides whether everyone can read you.
On your projectYour palette comes with usage rules and accessibility checks, so it works in the real world.
The OB.COT system keeps three colours and nothing decorative survives. Restraint is what lets an identity age gracefully instead of chasing whatever is trending this season.
From OB.COT →Three years of retail production for a retailer with 800+ stores: weekly email, programmatic banners in every size, seasonal campaigns. Tight timelines never excused an off-brand pixel. Volume teaches systems before you ever write a guideline.
From Party City →A dieline is a promise the factory has to keep. The Daily Concepts packaging went from production files to printed boxes displayed with the product on the Expo floor, and that last mile is where most packaging quietly fails.
From Daily Concepts →When elements line up, the brain reads order and trusts the message. When they do not, things feel off even if no one can say why. The same logic flows from poster to website, which is how a brand scales.
On your projectEverything we ship sits on a grid, which is why it still looks composed when you edit it later.
Space around an element is what makes it visible. Cramming everything in makes nothing important. White space is the difference between a market stall and a gallery.
On your projectIf a layout feels too empty at first, that is usually the design doing its job.
Every curve of the ELEVO mark had to survive one question: would you wire money to this? Institutional credibility and technological optimism have to sit in the same shape.
From ELEVO →Commerce does not have to shout. When the product is the point, the interface steps back: product-forward pages, collections, cart, checkout, in that order on purpose.
From Rekia & Joséphine →This site once had a signature capsule navigation. Real visitors found it unfamiliar, so it was retired for one continuous scroll. A brand signature is only worth keeping if people can use it.
From Karmadema.com →An identity system is the full kit: logo variations, colour, type, photography style, and the rules for combining them. It is what keeps a brand recognisable on a business card, a billboard, and a phone screen at once.
On your projectYou receive a system that works everywhere, not one file that only looks good in one place.
Strategy is the thinking layer under every visual choice. Positioning, audience, and personality decide whether the design should whisper or shout, and to whom. Design without strategy is just taste.
On your projectExpect questions about your customers and competitors before you see any visuals.
A brand system packages the logic, assets, templates, and guidelines so anyone who touches the brand keeps it coherent. Consistency compounds: every touchpoint that matches makes the next one more familiar.
On your projectYou end the project owning a system your team can actually use, not a PDF that gathers dust.
The Tuft & Needle card game is the mattress box in miniature. Scale changes; values should not. If the brand is still recognisable in the palm of a hand, the system is working.
From Tuft & Needle →The Avram Miller composite was made without a brief. He later published it himself, in a post about life in its third act. That was the real shipped moment.
From Reflections: Avram Miller →[ The everything wall ]
School work, shelved directions, production assets, experiments. Everything that shaped the studio, in one glance. Unfiltered on purpose.
Open the wall →Not ready to start a project?
Take The Tiny Design School instead — a free two-minute branding lesson, plus the one-page guide by email. No pitch, no noise.