Should brands be beautiful, or impossible to ignore?

When I designed the identity for Sandwich, an advertising agency, I quickly realized that a polished, predictable brand would be the wrong answer.

Inspired by the tight structure of a sandwich, I knew the identity had to feel bold, loud, and unapologetic. The logo and overall identity needed to grab attention.

That is what I find interesting about Neo Brutalism. It strips away the filters and lets the message hit harder with high contrast type and bold colors.

As it's hard to replicate with AI, do you think Neo Brutalism is a lasting design direction?

Neat!

I joined the Config Makeathon.  Our challenge was to design and build something that makes a difference, to use Figma's new tools and test them out.  I built Trail Scope - a community-powered, mobile-first web app that lets outdoor enthusiasts in Puerto Rico check and report trail conditions in seconds — no group chat required. It took a week o design and develop this app using Figma + Figma Make.  Overview

Problem statement: Outdoor enthusiasts in Puerto Rico — trail builders, mountain bikers, hikers, and runners — have no centralized way to know the current conditions of our local trails. Unpredictable tropical weather forces community members to contact multiple social media groups to get a trail status update which may take hours or days. This uncertainty leads to plans being changed or canceled last minute, and in more serious cases, exposes users to hazardous or impassable trail conditions.

Opportunity: By creating a community-powered, mobile-first trail condition reporting app, Trail Scope can become the single source of truth for trail status in Puerto Rico — with the foundation to scale globally. Reducing friction in getting and sharing real-time trail information increases safety, improves the outdoor experience, and strengthens the local trail community. Users & audience

Primary persona — the active outdoor enthusiast Mountain bikers, hikers, trail runners, and trail builders based in Puerto Rico. They are mobile-first, active on social media, and currently rely on WhatsApp groups or Facebook to get trail updates. Their biggest pain points are uncertainty before heading out and wasted trips due to poor conditions.

Secondary persona — the trail steward Trail builders and maintainers who want to alert the community about hazards, closures, or recent work done on a trail. They are proactive contributors who care about trail safety and community trust. Link to live prototype: https://sans-party-16392973.figma.site Link to Figma Make file: https://www.figma.com/make/lwCzP7lQkPJYDkuNtwtcJ5/Config-Makeathon?t=7WjJvLBOnb98rMZ4-1

Trail Scope is a genuinely useful idea. The problem you're solving is real, hikers getting stuck with outdated info from scattered WhatsApp groups is a safety issue, not just an inconvenience. The nature illustration style fits the outdoor context really well too.