Sometimes we all need a little push
Need a little push before you can finally commit to a branding project? We’ve heard that hesitation hundreds of times — and it rarely has anything to do with budget. After 20 years and 81 logos, we’ve learned that the thing holding most businesses back isn’t readiness. It’s the wrong idea of what readiness looks like. Sometimes all it takes is someone telling you: you’re closer than you think.
To start something is always hard. Whether you have experience or if this is something new, it takes a lot of effort, strength, courage, and money.
There’s no way of knowing how long the path to success will take, but we all understand one thing—failure is not an option. However, before jumping into something new, there are a few things you should seriously consider. Some people believe that any start is a good start, as long as you begin. But this mindset often means diving into the unknown without proper preparation. I’m not talking about perfection, but being prepared for the challenges we already know are coming. So, the question is: Are you truly ready?
Once your brand is out there, it’s out there—and there’s no second chance to make a first impression. Trust me, that first impression is the most crucial one. Why? Because your first supporters will be your friends and family, and you need to hold on to their love and encouragement. That support has to last.
Here are some common mistakes to avoid:
- Starting too quickly without enough thought or preparation.
- Failing to consult your close friends—those who will likely be your first customers.
- Choosing a team with little branding experience, instead of someone who can help expand your vision.
- Overlooking potential challenges and what could go wrong.
- Underestimating how much time these things actually take.
Surround yourself with talented people who understand your vision and can help you grow it. And always remember: ‘Design is the silent ambassador of your brand.’ – Paul Rand.”
What "Needing a Little Push" Actually Means in a Branding Context
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Passion
Passion in design gets misquoted constantly — treated as fuel when it's closer to weather. We've spent twenty years watching it ignite projects and abandon them halfway through. What keeps work honest isn't feeling, it's the decision to continue when passion has already left the room. That gap between passion in design and actual commitment is where studios either build something or quietly repeat themselves.
The Currency of Respect
Respect as currency is not a metaphor we use lightly — it is the actual unit of exchange in every client relationship we have built since 2004. We have watched projects collapse not over budget or concept, but over the slow withdrawal of basic professional respect. When respect as currency depreciates, no invoice or award recovers the loss.
What is the one positive impact the brand wants to have
Brand positive impact is the question we ask before anything else — before colour, before form, before the first mark on paper. Not what the brand sells, but what shift it causes in the people who encounter it. That single answer, when we find it, becomes the gravitational centre everything else orbits.
We use craft in every project. Not as decoration. Not as nostalgia. As a way of thinking.
Craft in design thinking is how we structure every decision we make — not what it looks like at the end, but how the problem gets interrogated from the start. We've been working this way since 2004. Craft in design thinking means slowing down where other studios speed up, and knowing exactly why.
Have you ever tipped a designer?
Tipping a designer is something almost no client ever considers — and that silence is worth examining. We've delivered work that changed how companies present themselves to the world, and the conversation about money always ends at the invoice. Tipping a designer feels foreign, even absurd, until you ask yourself why.
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.
Good design is for good clients
Good design and good clients arrive together — one rarely exists without the other. After two decades and 128 projects in Ljubljana, we've stopped pretending otherwise. The work only reaches its potential when the relationship is built on honesty, mutual respect, and a shared willingness to sit with the hard decisions.
Redesign
Brand redesign is one of the most misused terms in the industry. Studios pitch full rebuilds when a type adjustment would do; clients request "a refresh" when the underlying system is broken beyond repair. We've worked through both scenarios enough times to know the difference isn't aesthetic — it's structural, and getting it wrong is expensive.