Form follows feeling✳
Projects shipped across 19 countries
Of practice, still arguing about kerning
A small room,
a long argument.
We are eleven people who believe a grid is an argument, white space is a decision, and a brand is not a logo but a set of promises kept consistently over time. We work slowly, in public, with clients who would rather be precise than loud.
Founded in 2014 above a print shop in the Jordaan. Still independent, still self-funded, still setting type by hand when the moment calls for it. We take on twelve projects a year — no more — so that each one gets the whole room.
Slow by
design
Twelve projects a year. Depth over throughput.
Systems,
not skins
Rules that survive the people who wrote them.
Type is
the voice
Every identity starts with a typeface, or becomes one.
Built to
be handed off
Documentation as a deliverable, not an afterthought.
Things we madeon purpose.
Two weeks of reading, interviewing and arguing before a single mark is drawn. We come back with a written position, not a moodboard.
Interrogate
Three directions, each pushed far enough to be dangerous. No safe middle option designed to be chosen by default.
Diverge
The chosen route gets a typeface, a grid, a colour logic and a tone of voice. Everything is drawn to a rule you can explain out loud.
Systemise
Applied across forty real artefacts before launch — not three hero mockups. If it breaks, it breaks here.
Stress-test
Guidelines, tokens, files and a half-day workshop. We leave when your team can do it without us.
Hand over
What you canhire us for.
Brand Identity
Naming, marks, typographic systems, colour logic and the written rules that hold them together. Delivered as a living system your team can extend without calling us.
- Naming
- Logotype
- Type system
- Guidelines
- Rollout
Editorial & Print
Books, reports, specimens and magazines. Grid-first layout, paper stock selection, press supervision. We still go to the printer at 6am.
- Book design
- Annual reports
- Specimens
- Press
Digital Product
Interface systems, design tokens and front-end prototypes. We build the component library alongside the design so the handoff is a merge, not a translation.
- Design systems
- UI/UX
- Prototyping
- Front-end
Motion & Sound
Identity in movement — logo behaviour, transition grammar, title sequences and sonic marks. Every easing curve documented like a typeface.
- Motion identity
- Title design
- Sonic branding
studio@kernandco.comstudio@kernandco.com