You Can’t Win in It All
Because design decisions are not only a competition of arguments or a checklist of logic. Design is instinct, sensitivity, a kind of quiet intelligence where we see the future. And when it isn’t there, no explanation will ever plant it.
Design client taste mismatch isn’t a failure of process — it’s a structural tension baked into every brief. We’ve sat across the table from enough decision-makers to know that good work and approved work are not the same thing. Understanding where that gap lives, and why, is what separates studios that grow from ones that simply comply.
Sometimes I watch what they choose instead. What they approve. What they celebrate. And I feel that bittersweet moment.
Bitter — because it becomes clear I have not been understood. That the depth, the intention, the craft… never truly reached them.
But sweet, too. Sweet because inside that misunderstanding there is clarity: they were never meant to have it.
And there is a strange comfort in realizing this: if they can walk away from something that would truly work in the long run, then they did not deserve it.
Taste cannot be forced. Sometimes the only victory is leaving with your standards intact and your work still yours.
Someone will love it someday. Someone will have the courage to look at it and say, “Fuck… that’s awesome.”
When Design Client Taste Mismatch Becomes the Real Brief
How we approach brand identity from the first sketchDon’t miss the next essay. Signup for our newsletter
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AI-Generated content should be in the public domain
AI generated content should be in the public domain — and we think most of the debate around this misses the point entirely. The question of AI content copyright ownership isn't just for lawyers; it shapes how designers, studios, and clients think about authorship. We've been watching this closely, and our position is clear: if no human author can be identified, the work belongs to everyone.
Claude is using your computer. Yours, Skynet.
Yes, I let Claude use my computer. Yes, I watched it open files, navigate folders, write code and do things that felt like magic. I gave it a task, leaned back, and watched the machine do the work.
I take it personally
Personal investment in branding is not a policy we adopted — it's the only way we know how to work. Every project that has left this studio since 2004 carries some part of us in it, for better or worse. That personal investment in branding is what separates a mark that lasts from one that simply gets approved.
Definition of a brand
Definition of a brand is where most projects quietly fail — not in execution, but in understanding. A brand is not a logo, not a palette, not a tagline. It is the gap between what a company says it is and what people actually believe. We've spent twenty years closing that gap, and the distance is rarely where clients expect it to be.
I’ve seen inspiration exploding to space
Creative inspiration process isn't something we manage — it's something we survive. The ideas that actually change a project don't arrive through briefs or brainstorms. They detonate. Understanding where ideas come from in design means accepting that the creative inspiration process runs on its own schedule, not yours.
It is not ok to fail
It is not ok to fail — and we've never treated it as an option. Most studios build failure tolerance into their process. We built accountability into ours instead. Twenty years in Ljubljana, 80+ awards, and a working assumption that getting it wrong is not a learning opportunity — it's a broken promise.
Is it sexy?
Is it sexy design? That's the question we ask before anything else leaves the studio. Not as provocation — as a filter. We've built 80+ awarded projects around this single, uncomfortable standard: if you can't feel it, it isn't finished.
Every Comment Can Be Positive – How to Give Constructive Feedback to Designers
Constructive feedback for designers is one of the most underestimated skills in any creative collaboration. Get it wrong and you stall the work; get it right and the next version is better than anything you would have briefed. We've been on the receiving end of both kinds — and after 81 logos and 128 projects, we've learned to tell the difference.