Process
Design process methodology, as we practice it, is not a straight line from brief to delivery. It loops — deliberately, productively, sometimes uncomfortably. That looping is where the real work happens, and understanding our design process methodology is the clearest way to know whether we’re the right studio for what you’re building.
I love my process above all. Not just because it is familiar and directs my mind, but mostly because of what I learn about the product, the business, or the production.
I do this with every project, no matter how big or small it is; there are no shortcuts on the path you have to walk with your client. The only difference is the time it takes. If you skip the process, you could fail to realize the product’s potential.
The process has a few simple loops:
1. Coffee first: define the project (what to do, the expectations, and the scope of it) with your client.
2. Research on both sides (client and yours)—this gives better clarity; sometimes we do workshops to align the direction.
3. Discuss the direction. We don’t like surprises; we want to be on the same page with the client all the time.
4. Prepare the first sketches and stay within the direction frame.
5. Mockups: test if it works.
6. Deciding the solution is one of the most demanding steps. The only thing that helps is the experience we have.
7. Rethink and improve. Your mind should be open; make the loops if necessary.
8. Finalization: make sure you are on top of everything: all the executions and all the production people involved.
The sketches we made on the computer are only halfway done. As you can see, I don’t like to call it design; most of the time, the sketch will change and adapt through the process. I listen to the craftspeople I meet along the way and make changes to improve the solution. The experience I gather with every project comes from craftsmen who know more than me.
Here is what I learned from the process:
A good process will give you satisfaction.
The looped process will give you experience.
The failed process will teach you lessons.
The finished process will give you the best projects.
Why Our Design Process Methodology Runs in Loops, Not Phases
See how our process shapes our branding workDon’t miss the next essay. Signup for our newsletter
⸻ Newsletter signup
Trends burn bright, but they burn fast.
Trends burn fast — that's not a warning, it's a design principle we've worked from since 2004. Every identity we've built across 128 projects starts from the same question: what survives the cycle? Trends burn fast, but a mark built on meaning doesn't need a refresh every eighteen months.
Ai killed the lorem ipsum
AI killed lorem ipsum quietly, somewhere between the first GPT prompt and the moment clients started sending actual copy on day one. We noticed it not as a loss but as a correction — design built around real words is harder, more honest, and significantly better. That's the shift AI killed lorem ipsum protecting us from confronting for decades.
Deadlines
Design project deadlines are not the enemy of good work — they are the condition that makes good work possible. We've delivered over 128 projects across two decades, and the deadline has never once been optional. What changes is how seriously you treat it as a design constraint rather than an administrative inconvenience.
12 Proverbs
Design wisdom proverbs don't come from books. They come from the gap between what a client asked for and what they actually needed — a gap we've been navigating since 2004. These twelve distillations aren't motivational. They're diagnostic, drawn from real projects where design wisdom proverbs were the only honest way to say what went wrong, or right.
Art is Provocation: Raising Questions, without Giving Answers
Art is provocation — and that alone makes it fundamentally different from design. Where design resolves, art destabilises. We've spent two decades navigating that tension, and art is provocation precisely because it refuses the comfort of conclusions.
Every Element Has a Job
Every element has a job — or it doesn't belong on the page. That's the single discipline that has shaped our work since 2004. When purposeful graphic design is the standard, nothing survives by accident: not the weight of a comma, not the gap between two blocks of colour. Every element has a job, and we've spent two decades making sure each one earns it.
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.
Branding Agency vs Logo Designer: Understanding the Difference
Branding agency vs logo designer — the confusion is real, and it costs clients money. Most briefs we receive conflate the two, assuming a mark is a brand. It isn't. A branding agency vs logo designer comparison isn't about prestige; it's about scope, process, and what problem you're actually trying to solve.