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When I first got into branding and design, every blog, resource, newsletter, and YouTube video told me the same thing:
“Niche down.”
And honestly, I understood the advice. I wasn’t against it. But it never felt natural to me.
I’d hear things like:
“If you’re a designer for everyone, you’re a designer for no one.”
Maybe that works for some people, but I never let it get in my head too much.
I just kept making the kind of work I enjoyed making.
Sports brands.
Church rebrands.
City marks.
Lifestyle brands.
Random concepts at 2am because an idea felt exciting.
Instead of forcing myself into one lane, I focused on getting better, staying curious, and making work that felt authentic to me.
Over time, I realized the common thread was never the industry.
It was the style, the thinking, and the consistency behind the work.
You don’t always have to fit perfectly into the blueprint everyone online tells you to follow.
Sometimes the best thing you can do is keep creating, trust your instincts, and let the work speak for itself.
The network for creativity
Join 1.25M professional creatives like you
Connect with clients, get discovered, and run your business 100% commission-free
Creatives on Contra have earned over $150M and we are just getting started
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Not every coffee moment needs a rush.
Nocaff is my recent brand identity concept, created for people who want the ritual, flavour, and comfort of coffee without the caffeine kick.
Built around a French Vanilla profile and an identity rooted in ease, the brand was designed to feel calm, modern, and distinct on shelf. From the wordmark to the sloth illustration, every detail was made to turn decaf into something memorable, not ordinary.
It was a chance to explore how quiet can still stand out.
View the full project on Behance:
IllustrationBrand StrategyProduct DesignPacdoraAdobe PhotoshopAdobe Illustratorbrandingcoffeepackaging
Amazing work!
Hank from Timelaps came to us with an idea. No name. No positioning. No product framing.
We worked through all of it together.
Started with the name. Then positioning. Then identity. Then the surfaces: website, design and development, pitch deck.
In that order.
Skip a step and the next one inherits the gap. Naming after positioning gives you a name that doesn't mean anything. Identity before positioning means your visuals are decorating air. Surfaces before identity means your site looks like every other company in your category.
Each step is the brief for the next one. The name briefs the positioning. The positioning briefs the identity. The identity briefs the surfaces.
Hank is ready to pitch. Not because the deck is good. Because every piece was built on the one before it.
Superb execution. This kind of design doesn't just inform; it persuades and converts.
Took customer conversations through the whole journey from building out the strategy and positioning to designing and building out the brand and setting brand guidelines to designing their website.
This is standard practice for me and what I want my clients to experience as I always aim to deliver the best.
It's on another level 😉
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