Studio Hours
A weekly half hour from the Northwind studio floor: one project, one decision, and what we would do differently. Watch it, listen to it as a podcast, or read the notes.
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- 01PublishedMay 1, 2026
First principles for a small brand
What a brand system has to do before it can look like anything.
- 02PublishedMay 15, 2026
The logo is the last thing
Why we leave the mark until the end of a project, and what goes first.
- 03PublishedMay 29, 2026
Briefing a photographer
How a two-page brief got a bakery better pictures for less money.
- 04PublishedJune 12, 2026
A menu is a product
Designing a menu that reads at a glance and sells the dish the kitchen wants to sell.
- 05PublishedJune 26, 2026
When to say no to a font
The typeface the client loved, and why we talked them out of it.
- 06PublishedJuly 10, 2026
Shipping a website in a month
Scope, content and a hard launch date: what we cut and what we kept.
- 07PublishedJuly 24, 2026
A rebrand in six weeks
How a regional bakery went from a hand-drawn logo to a system their whole team can use.
- 08PublishedJuly 31, 2026
The packaging that almost shipped
The box looked right on screen and wrong on the shelf. What we changed after the first print run.
- 09PublishedAugust 7, 2026
Naming is a design problem
Three hundred names, eleven finalists, one that survived legal.
- 10PublishedAugust 14, 2026
Designing for the second visit
A product page that converts on the first visit and keeps working on the fifth.
- 11PublishedAugust 21, 2026
The brief we turned down
Why we said no to a good client, and what a better brief would have looked like.
- 12PublishedAugust 28, 2026
Type that scales
Choosing a typeface that works on a billboard, a badge and a phone screen.
- 13PublishedSeptember 4, 2026
Colour in the real world
The brand teal that turned green under shop lighting, and the fix.
- 14PublishedSeptember 11, 2026
Handover without heartbreak
What a design system handover should include so the work survives the next hire.
- 15PublishedSeptember 18, 2026
Signage on a shoestring
Wayfinding for a community hall with a budget of one weekend and a vinyl cutter.
- 16PublishedSeptember 25, 2026
Icons that explain themselves
Drawing a set of forty icons that a first-time visitor understands without labels.
- 17PublishedOctober 2, 2026
The annual report nobody skipped
Turning a charity annual report into the thing their donors actually read.
- 18PublishedOctober 9, 2026
A brand for two founders
When the founders disagree about the brand, design the decision, not the logo.
- 19PublishedOctober 16, 2026
Motion on a budget
Three animation rules that make a small brand feel expensive.
- 20Coming soonOctober 23, 2026
Pricing a brand project
Fixed fee, day rate or retainer: how we price, and what each one asks of the client.
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