Journal

Notes on brand, web, and getting noticed

Practical thinking from the studio, written for people running a business — not other designers.

Landing Pages✦Web Design✦Brand Identity✦Digital Modernization✦Logo Design✦Art Direction✦Landing Pages✦Web Design✦Brand Identity✦Digital Modernization✦Logo Design✦Art Direction✦
Web Design
Aug 11, 2026 · 8 min read

Your Landing Page Has 8 Seconds. Are You Using Them?

Most landing pages try to say everything at once. The ones that convert say one thing, clearly, before the visitor's thumb moves. Here's what the research actually says about attention, and how to design for it.

Web Design
Aug 2, 2026 · 5 min read

The One CTA Rule Nobody Follows

Every button on your page is competing with every other button. Most pages have too many to win any of them — here's why one goal outperforms five, every time.

Web Design
Jul 24, 2026 · 5 min read

Above The Fold Is Not Where People Decide

The hero section gets all the design attention and budget. The scroll after it is usually where the actual decision gets made — here's why, and what that means for how you build a page.

Web Design
Jul 15, 2026 · 5 min read

Stock Photos Are Costing You Customers

The handshake photo, the diverse-team-laughing-at-a-laptop photo — visitors have seen them a thousand times, on a thousand other sites, and their brains have learned to discount them.

Web Design
Jun 18, 2026 · 5 min read

Mobile-First Isn't Optional Anymore, It's the Default

Most visitors will never see your site on a desktop. Designing for one first and squeezing it onto a phone second has the order backwards — and it shows in how the page actually performs.

Branding
Jun 9, 2026 · 7 min read

Your Logo Is Not Your Brand

It's the part everyone asks for first and the smallest part of what actually makes a business memorable. Here's what actually does the heavy lifting, and why the logo conversation usually starts in the wrong place.

Branding
May 31, 2026 · 7 min read

Why "Professional" Is the Wrong Goal for Your Brand

It's the word almost every client uses in the first meeting. It's also the fastest way to end up looking exactly like everyone else in your industry.

Branding
May 22, 2026 · 5 min read

The Color You Avoid Might Be Your Biggest Opportunity

Most businesses in the same industry reach for the same two or three colors, following an unspoken convention nobody ever actually wrote down. That's exactly why one of the others is sitting there, unclaimed.

Branding
May 13, 2026 · 4 min read

What Makes a Brand Feel Expensive (It's Not the Price)

Two businesses can charge the same amount and feel completely different in the mind of a customer. The gap almost never comes down to money — it comes down to something far more controllable.