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Craft
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4 min read
Why every identity starts on paper
Before a single pixel, we fill a sketchbook. Here is why the pencil still wins the first week of every identity project.
Arjun Mehta
Design lead
The first week of every identity happens in sketchbooks. No screens, no fonts, no colour pickers.
Speed over polish
A pencil is faster than any tool we own. Fifty rough marks in an hour tell us more than five polished ones in a day, and nobody falls in love with a sketch too early.
Ideas, not styles
On paper you cannot hide a weak idea behind a nice gradient. If a mark works as three lines in biro, it will work on a billboard.
Number | What it covers | How it moves |
|---|---|---|
Scope | Everything that exists on handover, listed plainly | Only by agreement |
Calendar | Weeks, with the two dates that matter | Fixed up front |
Fee | One figure, no hourly line under it | Agreed before we draw |
If it does not work small and black, it does not work.
Only when one idea survives the sketchbook do we open a screen.
A detail from a recent project.
Key takeaway
Fifty rough marks in an hour beat five polished ones in a day.
Identity · Sketching · Process
Written by
Arjun Mehta
Arjun runs the design team day to day and keeps every system honest, from the logo grid to the last social template.
