Why I start every identity with one letter

Every identity I draw starts the same way: before names, colours or moodboards, I pick one letter and draw it fifty times.

Why one letter

A letter is the smallest thing a brand has to carry everywhere. It sits on a favicon, a stamp and the side of a van. If it works at sixteen pixels and at three metres, most of the hard decisions are already made.

What the fifty drawings are for

The first ten are always too clever. The next twenty find the right weight. The last twenty are about the space around the letter, which is where most marks fail.

What the client sees

Clients never see fifty drawings. They see three, each with a reason, and the one we choose comes with the sketches that led to it, so the team knows why it looks the way it does.