Brand1 brand identity · Client zero Brand1
Our own studio identity, made with the same care we give clients.
Client zero is the Brand1 brand identity: a wordmark, one crimson disc and a paper-and-ink system, designed by Brand1, a brand and creative studio, as its own first project.
Client zero · Our own brand · 2026
- Client
- Brand1 (ourselves)
- Year
- 2026
- Disciplines
- Identity, Typography, Stationery, Signage, Digital
- Team roles
- Founder, Strategy lead, Design lead, Brand editor
A studio’s own brand is its first piece of work. We treated ours as a client project, brief and all.
The identity is deliberately quiet: paper and ink, a confident sans for headlines, and one crimson disc that marks the moment something matters. The work we show carries the colour; the studio frames it.
We wrote the rules down as we went, so every page, deck and sign is set from the same source.
Client zero. Before we asked anyone to trust us with their brand, we made our own the same way.
Wordmark design
The wordmark is set in lowercase and spaced by hand, so it reads as one word at any size. The disc rests off the shoulder of the 1 on a 50-degree bearing, once per page. Both were drawn by the studio’s designers; AI was not used to make the mark.
Typography: big type, small type
Headlines are set big, bold and tight. Everything else is small and exact. The contrast does the work that decoration usually does.
If we would not sign it off for a client, we do not ship it for ourselves.
A minimal visual identity, made to be used
An identity is only as good as the hundredth thing made with it. So the paper and ink identity system is small on purpose: few parts, clear rules, and room for the work to be loud.
Brands that hold together.
What we promise every client, and ourselves.
The identity system
Paper, ink and one crimson disc.
- Ink#0A1320
- Paper#FBFAF7
- Crimson#9B2C3B
- Bone#F2EDE6
- Rose#DA6B72
Credits
- Founder
- Brand1 studio
- Strategy lead
- Brand1 studio
- Design lead
- Brand1 studio
- Brand editor
- Brand1 studio
Reference photographs are licensed and credited in place.
Questions about our own brand
What is Brand1's own identity?
Brand1's identity is a lowercase wordmark, a single crimson disc and a paper-and-ink system. Headlines are set big and tight in a confident sans; everything else is small and exact. Colour is kept for the work the studio shows. The full rules, from logo spacing to tone of voice, are published in the Brand1 brand guidelines at brand1.ai/brand.
Why is Brand1 its own first client?
A studio’s own brand is its first piece of work, so Brand1, a brand and creative studio, ran it as a client project: a written brief, strategy, identity, applications and guidelines, signed off at each step. It proved the method on ourselves before asking anyone else to trust it, and it means every page, deck and sign is set from one source.
Who designed the Brand1 wordmark?
The Brand1 wordmark and disc were drawn and finished by the studio’s own designers, with the exploration kept on record. In line with Brand1's authorship policy, AI tools were not used to draw the mark; they are used to multiply the identity across formats, with a named person signing off every piece before it ships.