A brand book sized for a category with no incumbents to imitate.

Winky operates in a category with no clear incumbent worth imitating, which is the most useful kind of brand brief and also the riskiest.

Client: Winky
Year: 2024
Scope: Identity · Type · Color · Tone
Role: Brand partner
Team: 2 designers
Duration: 8 weeks

The engagement

Context, approach, and the decisions that mattered.

The brief was an identity system that would not flinch in a category that has not yet decided what it looks like. We anchored the system on a custom wordmark, a single typographic voice, a constrained palette, and a photography direction that did not borrow from any adjacent segment. The deliverable is a 26-spread brand book — short enough to be read, long enough to be operated — and a small set of working files that the team applies without supervision.

A wordmark with intent

The wordmark was custom-drawn against the type system, not selected from a foundry. Every curve carries a reason that the team can defend in front of a partner.

Photography direction over photography

We delivered a direction document, not a stock library. The team commissions photography against the direction, which keeps the visual library specific rather than generic.

A book the team will actually open

The brand book is short, structured, and operationally direct. There are no inspirational spreads. Every spread answers a question the team will have on a Tuesday.

Selected artifacts