Joined April 2012
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- Following 347
- Followers 2,308
- Likes 8,477
909 Photos and videos
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Jan 1
2025 Project Recap, a quick glimpse at some of the projects we shipped last year.
Massive thanks to everyone who trusted us to make their stuff look cool.
Here's to making more cool things in 2026!
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Sky Valley are building infrastructure to support adaptive software, keeping software alive for users after its shipped.
The logo is built around the idea of a seed.
Something that works beneath the surface before anything is visible. Infrastructure you don't see until it blooms.
Same as the product.
A lot of the inspiration for the identity came from nature itself, and how things adapt individually to their own environment.
We wanted that middle ground between organic and tech. Vast landscapes and wildflower meadows but with a hint of something cosmic.
Warm and alive but full of wonder.
Jun 13
We've been sitting on this brand for a few weeks now.
Sky Valley.
@NoamTenne and @iristenteije asked us to take a look at the branding for Sky Valley ready for the launch of their first product Differ, an adaptive software tool.
Going to take a deep dive into this project and how it came to life over the next week or so.
Sick to see it finally live ๐ฑ
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Jun 13
We've been sitting on this brand for a few weeks now.
Sky Valley.
@NoamTenne and @iristenteije asked us to take a look at the branding for Sky Valley ready for the launch of their first product Differ, an adaptive software tool.
Going to take a deep dive into this project and how it came to life over the next week or so.
Sick to see it finally live ๐ฑ
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Jun 12
Asking "how do you want your brand to feel?" makes founders panic.
Flip the question to this:
If your brand was a person, how would you describe them?
Our recent client said it like this:
"Tour de France cyclist from the 70s. Cigarette, glass of wine, old bike, two gears. Completely unassuming, but capable of super human feats"
That unlocked: vintage, nostalgic, depth, soul, character.
Everyone can describe a person, but not everyone can describe a feeling.
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Jun 11
How we make logos and illustrations feel hand-drawn and organic.
In Illustrator go to:
Effect โ Distort & Transform โ Roughen
Play around with these settings but for the below size to 1%, detail to 7/in worked. Don't forget to select 'Smooth'.
After click on Object โ 'Expand Appearance'
Select 'Path' โ 'Smooth' (for this logo it was 33%).
The goal is to take the crispiness out of it without making it look like mess.
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Jun 9
Historically, a branding project with no budget meant no photography, no product mockups, no brand ecosystem.
Now with all the new tools available, you can help build these foundations ready for the client.
Here's some of the tools we're using:
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Jun 9
Flora, a new studio staple
We've recently been using it to bring static Midjourney images to life, but the Nano Banana feature for building custom mockups is genuinely sick.
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Jun 9
Krea 2
On my to-explore list.
Already love the idea that it understands mood and visual feel not just what you describe, but how it should feel.
For brand work where consistency across a whole direction matters, you can get 10 images fast that look the same.
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Jun 8
The client brief is often our main source for brand ideas.
That's why our questionnaire has so many questions, it's not admin it's raw inspiration.
Every concept we present traces back to something the client wrote in it:
- The way they described their mission
- How they want the brand to feel
- The problem they're solving with their product
The more they put in, the more we've got to work with. It's exactly how you end up with something that actually feels like theirs.
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Jun 7
New console for me then I guess
How it started vs how itโs going | #XBOXShowcase
ALT Photo of the OG Xbox in translucent green
ALT Photo of the XBOX Series X25 Limited Edition console in translucent green
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Jun 7
We don't usually ask clients if they like the logo, it doesn't give you the answers you need.
What we ask:
"If we shipped the logo tomorrow, which one would you stand behind?"
The framing changes perspective. They stop thinking about whether they subjectively like it and start thinking about whether they believe in it. Can they explain the thinking, what it means, and if it's the right choice for their brand.
That's when you know it's the right choice.
Do your research, run through the presentation, and this question does all the heavy lifting.
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Jun 6
One of the more important questions we ask in our questionnaire:
What brands do you admire visually? Why?
Ask a tech founder for brand inspo and they name other tech brands. You end up designing the 40th navy blue SaaS logo.
Ask who they admire and the pool opens up completely.
It also helps condition them to push their boundaries. When you show them something that looks nothing like their competitors, it's not scary anymore.
Because they've already been thinking outside of the industry.
That's how you create something genuinely different.
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Jun 5
3 things a brand needs to properly function:
1. A full logo suite
2. A considered color palette (holds up in print and meets accessibility standards)
3. Guidelines document
Without all three, it's not really a proper brand.
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Luke retweeted
Jun 3
Mascot/Logomark exploration for a ongoing project in the legal space.
Most brands in this space feel stark and cold, we're aiming in the opposite direction. Lots of texture, imperfect edges, that hand-crafted feel.
Friendly and approachable, which is exactly what this brand is about.
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Jun 4
Even though we've made tons of brand guidelines now, I used to hate it.
When I was working in a traditional agency, I'd spend two weeks exploring one idea on one specific side of the brand.
For example, I'd get so obsessed with stickers, fall in love with a completely different direction that didn't work with the whole brand. Then I'd be trying to kid myself into thinking it fits, when it didn't.
I spent too much time in isolation and overthinking, that's what made it so hard.
But now with the startup 'ship fast' mentality, there's no time to overthink. I just go in and do it. Which has made the proccess much more enjoyable.
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Jun 3
The Sky Valley team are building something genuinely industry changing.
So excited to see them continue to grow the ambient computing space.
Their branding isnโt too bad either ๐
Jun 3
Back in 2008, I was a fresh-faced kid, really just happy to finally get a job in software, when the founders of @jfrog took a bet on me.
Too young and inexperienced to have any opinions of my own, I helped build one of the seminal companies in the CI/CD/DevOps movement. CI wasn't my idea, I got it secondhand from the visionary founders. Borrowed conviction that wasn't mine until it was.
But here's one that is mine: the software and its entire state machine will rebuild itself per person. No matter how much we try to convince ourselves, the way we built software until today was driven by technological and budget constraints, not by the best experience. rather than taste.
We now finally have the opportunity to move from the least-worst version for everyone to the best version for anyone.
When I pitched this to @gdibner , he immediately knew that this wasn't going to be easy, but he batted for us in the firm. With support from @betaworks , @RafaelCorrales , Rule 30, and angels, @AngularVentures has led a $2M pre-seed round for Sky Valley Ambient Computing to build Adaptive Software, starting with @getdiffer.
In 5 years, shipping single-version software will feel like shipping without CI.
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