Thinking, in writing.

Founders
Our new website is live
Our new website is live: a sharper look, a clearer voice and a broader offering. Why we rebuilt it, what our last business taught us about moving faster, and an honest take on using AI well.
17 June 2026
Insights
The Forgotten Part of Sales Training: Why Listening Beats Logic
Sales training often focuses on persuasion; the perfect pitch, the confident close. But there’s a quieter, far more powerful skill that’s rarely taught properly. Listening.
5 June 2026
Founders
What failure taught me about building a business
The honest version of my business story: building a creative agency with Dave, closing it in December 2023, and the five things it taught me.
4 June 2026
Insights
Your audience doesn't need the whole story, they need the right brand messaging
Most owners can explain everything they do. The trouble is it does not all matter first. How to translate complex business thinking into brand messaging people understand, remember and act on.
28 May 2026
Founders
Everyone wants growth. Hardly anyone builds the conditions for it.
Growth is far more sensitive to the conditions people work in than the effort they put in. On why clarity beats activity, and the conditions that make growth repeatable rather than down to luck.
5 February 2026
Insights
The cost of inconsistent branding
Inconsistent branding is rarely a design problem. It is a clarity problem, and it costs you in three places.
16 November 2025
Insights
Rebrand your business with a strong branding strategy
Most businesses reach a point where the brand no longer matches the business they have become. Here is when a rebrand is the right call, what it actually involves, and why strategy has to come first.
1 September 2025
Insights
Beyond the logo: what brand strategy means for scaling
Most businesses start with a logo. The ones that scale start with strategy. Here is what brand strategy actually covers, the five pillars we build on, and why it matters more as you grow.
14 July 2025
Insights
Why SMEs need brand strategy more, not less
Brand strategy gets bumped down the SME priority list for the same reason it shouldn't. Here's where the absence bites, what changes when you fix it, and how to do the work on a small-business budget.
13 November 2024
Insights
Brand Strategy vs Marketing Strategy: the long game and the short game
Brand strategy shapes who you are over the long term. Marketing strategy converts that brand into pipeline. Here's how the two work together.
15 March 2024
Insights
A practical guide to designing a brand identity that holds up
Brand identity is the visible, audible and emotional surface of your strategy. Built well, it makes you recognisable, gives your team a shared language, and earns trust before the sales call.
15 March 2024
Insights
Brand identity vs brand image: the gap is the work
Brand identity is what you set. Brand image is what people perceive. The gap between them is the actual branding work, and most marketing problems are gap problems in disguise.
3 February 2024
Insights
Quality over cost: the smart investment in animated explainer videos
An animated explainer is a positioning call, not a budget call. The cheap version usually costs more by the end of its (short) life.
15 November 2023
Insights
5 Brand Strategy Exercises You Can Do for Free
Simplify your messaging and align your team with 5 brand strategy exercises you can do for free in-house or chaos to clarity, no agency required.
17 October 2023
Insights
Your Logo Cheat Sheet: How To Use Logo File Formats
AI, EPS, PDF, JPG, PNG, SVG: what each logo file format actually does and which one to use where. The cheat sheet for everyone who isn't a designer.
13 October 2023
Insights
Five reasons no one will read your annual report
Annual reports get a bad rap, and not without reason. Long, dense, built for an audience that was already going to read them. Here's how to fix the five things that stop everyone else from engaging.
2 October 2023
Insights
What a brand discovery workshop actually does
A brand discovery workshop is the working session that should happen before any design. Get the leadership team in a room, pressure-test what the brand stands for, and leave with answers.
16 July 2023
Insights
5 examples of tech firms killing it with brand-driven animated storytelling
Humans are hard-wired for storytelling. Five tech brands, Slack, Headspace, Pendo, Spline and Eero, that get it absolutely right with animated content that puts the customer at the heart of the story.
2 June 2023
Insights
Ten 2D animation styles (with examples) and why they work
Ten 2D animation styles we use most often: kinetic typography, vibrant nostalgia, motion graphics, monochrome, character, explainer, isometric, pixel art, vector and mix-and-match.
23 March 2023
Insights
The 10 Best Brand Storytelling Examples
Ten brands, Airbnb, Renold, Starbucks, Toms, Headspace, Ben & Jerry's, Visit Wales, Etsy, Honda, Sport England, that get brand storytelling right, plus the principles you can borrow.
25 October 2022
Insights
5 reasons brand identity guidelines are so important
You've inherited a brand and the only asset is an elderly JPG of the logo. This is the case for brand identity guidelines that nobody talks about: the work is mostly invisible until it isn't there.
22 September 2022
Insights
The Tom Channon safety campaign: Stay Aware, Stay Safe, Stay Together
In June 2022 we launched Stay Aware, Stay Safe, Stay Together: the animated education pack made with the Channon family to help young people on their first independent trips look out for each other.
13 June 2022
Team
Why dogs are the best office companions
A guest post from Ruby Morgan, Head of Sleep and Snacks at Alchemy: why office dogs make better colleagues than most humans, and how to tell if your studio is ready for one.
20 May 2022
Insights
How style frames keep your animation project on schedule
Most animation projects that slip do so because the visual direction wasn't pinned down before animation began. Style frames are the stage where that gets fixed, and the deadline gets saved.
5 April 2022