journal
the journal
notes from a brand company run by builders. one argument, made from different angles: the better-told brand wins, and being better-told is a craft you can buy, learn, or steal from these pages. no filler, no funnels, no five trends for 2026. if a post would not change what you do on monday, we do not publish it.
filter
- deciding who you are, then making it visible
- what happens after people notice you
- earning attention instead of renting it
- how brands talk, and the words they should ban
brand + identity · 22 jul 2026design systems for small teams: how much is enough?small teams either have no design system or one borrowed from a company a hundred times their size. the right answer is smaller and more boring than you think.
studio · 22 jul 2026one team vs five agencies: the real cost of handoffsa branding agency, a web agency, a pr agency, a marketing agency, and you in the middle translating. the handoffs are where the brand quietly dies.
growth · 15 jul 2026landing page ux: you have five seconds, spend them wellmost landing pages lose the visitor before the first scroll. the fixes are unglamorous: hierarchy, speed, one job per page.growth · 15 jul 2026seo for new brands: rank for what you sell, not what you blognew brands burn months blogging about everything and ranking for nothing. the faster route: build authority around the exact problem you solve.
pr + comms · 8 jul 2026thought leadership without the cringethe phrase is embarrassing but the asset is real: a founder with a known point of view makes every other channel cheaper. here is how to do it without becoming a linkedin caricature.voice + messaging · 8 jul 2026ux writing is brand voice at the smallest scalebuttons, error messages, empty states: the smallest words in your product carry the brand more often than your homepage ever will.pr + comms · 1 jul 2026the product launch pr checklist (what to do six weeks out)launch coverage is won in the six weeks before launch day, not on it. here is the working checklist, week by week.voice + messaging · 1 jul 2026website copywriting that converts: clarity is the whole gamevisitors do not bounce because your design is bad. they bounce because they cannot work out what you do. website copywriting is a clarity discipline.brand + identity · 24 jun 2026brand guidelines nobody reads are not guidelines.the 80-page brand book is where consistency goes to die. here is how to build brand guidelines that people actually open, use and obey.voice + messaging · 24 jun 2026how to build a messaging framework (that sales will actually use)a messaging framework is the difference between a company that says one thing and a company that says everything. here is the structure that works.brand + identity · 17 jun 2026brand identity for startups: what to buy first, what to skipearly-stage budgets are finite. here is the honest order to buy brand identity in, and the expensive things you can safely skip until later.voice + messaging · 17 jun 2026tone of voice: the most underpriced asset in brandingcompanies spend fortunes on how they look and almost nothing on how they sound. that gap is the cheapest competitive advantage left.brand + identity · 10 jun 2026how to choose a rebrand agency (questions that expose the weak ones)a rebrand is a business decision with a creative output. here are the questions that separate agencies who understand that from agencies selling you a new logo.pr + comms · 10 jun 2026startup pr: how to get press without a retaineryou do not need a monthly retainer to get covered. you need an angle a journalist actually wants, and the discipline to pitch like a human.growth · 3 jun 2026you cannot performance-market your way out of a weak brand.paid acquisition gets more expensive every year. a brand people already trust is the only cost that goes down. growth starts with the brand, not the channel.brand + identity · 3 jun 2026what a brand strategy agency actually does (and when you need one)brand strategy is the most misused phrase in the industry. here is what a brand strategy agency should actually deliver, and the signs you are ready for one.brand + identity · 27 may 2026a rebrand is a business decision, not a paint job.most rebrands fail because they change the look and nothing else. a real rebrand changes what the business can charge, sell, and say no to.voice + messaging · 21 may 2026the words we will not let your brand say.every brand has a banned list, whether it writes one down or not. ours exists so your product never sounds like everyone else's.optional: explore posts by connection, not chronology.
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