On a method for finding what was already there
There is a distinction I keep returning to: most language we encounter in branding has been created. Little of it has been originated.
Created language is assembled — gathered from references, competitive scans, category conventions. At best it is well-made. At worst it is wallpaper, applied to the surface of a brand and forgotten.
Originated language is found. It was already present — in the work, the decisions, the silences — and someone with the patience to look long enough recognized it, traced its edges, and gave it a holdable shape. Originated language doesn't have to be invented. It only has to be revealed.
This is the claim underneath everything I do: a brand is a truth given form. The truth is found; the form is shaped. Origination locates; craft renders. Confuse the two and you spend your life decorating surfaces. Keep them distinct and the work becomes recognition.
Most studios produce both. The interesting ones know the difference.
I think of the work in three movements. Each is a stance more than a step; they often happen at once, and the order is fluid.