This week’s issue leans into growth. Sharpening your creative instincts, strengthening your business foundations, and giving you fresh ways to think about the work you put into the world. Whether you’re designing, strategizing, or building your own brand as a creator, there’s something here to push your craft a little further.
In this issue:
Look at this!: 12 proven strategies to get new clients without cold calling
Brand of the Week: a cultural icon making the daily coffee run feel remarkable
Designer Insights: “the best brands are those being built within a world that allows its audiences to become a part of it..”
Design Brief: Submission deadline is approaching for the Wildpress brief! ↓
12 proven strategies to get new clients without cold calling
This week, I’m sharing something special: a free digital copy of the Brand Designer Client Acquisition Playbook. A guide packed with 12 proven strategies to attract new clients.
If you’ve been wanting more clarity, more consistency, and more yeses in your inbox, this playbook will help you do exactly that. These are the same strategies top freelancers and studios use to get fully booked (minus the burnout).
Download it, save it, use it, steal every strategy inside.
It’s yours.
Adding a spark to the coffee run.
When Blank Street opened its first coffee cart in Williamsburg in 2020, the world was shutting down. Born as a lean operational model – small footprints, efficient machines, quick service – Blank Street carved out space for connection when coffee drinkers needed it most.
Fast-forward a few years: dozens of locations across multiple cities, a devoted following, and a business that had started to take on a life of its own. But as Blank Street began to shed its scrappy beginnings and expand, its identity struggled to keep pace. The brand tropes that worked for a challenger started to feel too small for what Blank Street was becoming – and where it wanted to go next.
The inflection point was clear: evolve from startup challenger to generational cultural icon. Shift the daily coffee run from transactional blur into an experience people want to be a part of. Take the opportunity to make the ordinary feel remarkable.
It was a case of amplifying what was already there; a brand that understood the power of small, elevated moments. The insight was simple but potent: life happens in the everyday moments. The coffee you grab before a meeting. The afternoon pick-me-up that resets your mood. Those tiny, ordinary rituals that punctuate the day.
The idea “Regularly remarkable” became the creative north star. It reflects the tension that makes Blank Street interesting. It’s high and low. AM and PM. Classics and specials. It’s that routine thing you do every day but somehow makes the day a little extra.
At the heart of Blank Street’s new identity is a thoughtful exploration of dualities: function meets form, utility balances indulgence, and sophistication plays alongside playfulness. These dynamic tensions have been consciously woven into every aspect of the design system, influencing everything from the colour palette and typography to the smallest details.
The team at Wolff Olins created a visual and verbal identity that plays on these tensions. The logo system nods to the original cart's rectangular window – a blank space where connection happens. The colour palette moves through the day like light across a storefront (6 AM Green to 6 PM Green). Typography balances “Regular Sans” (everyday, 70% of the time) with “Remarkable Sans” (special moments, 30% of the time). The voice ranges from “enviably at ease” to “naturally friendly,” like the barista who knows their craft and knows your name.
The most distinctive shift was in art direction. Wolf Olins created a photography style that feels more Vogue than coffee-shop-stock-photo, drawing inspiration from the world of fashion and vintage editorial. Products are shot with the attention you'd give a new sneaker drop.
Visual Identity / Brand Strategy / Verbal Identity / Culture Strategy & EVP
"19.69 million people watched the Oscars last year.
But you know how many people tuned into the game awards?
over 171 million viewers were on the edge of their seats to see who won Game of the Year — that’s 50M more than those who watched this year’s Super Bowl.
So it’s safe to say that the industry is huge, and it’s a fandom to be reckoned with. But what does that have to do with branding and brand design? Let’s break it down👩🏻💻
The old saying goes like this; good design is all about storytelling. But as the market evolves and brands continue to present themselves in more engaging spaces, a good brand revolves around worldbuilding.
The term world-building first appeared in Eddington's Space Time and Gravitation: An Outline of the General Relativity Theory circa 1920 to literally describe the idea of hypothetical worlds which was commonly used in sci-fi and fantasy stories. Now, this idea of secondary-worlds has plugged itself into the branding world.
So what makes a good world in the life of a brand?
Setting the scene: Take The Sims (my favorite!) Although it called itself a literal “sim-ulation” it didn’t quite copy the real world. Instead, it built its own, and allowed us to easily immerse ourselves in it, through its tone, visuals, and rules that feel alive. Strong brands don’t necessarily copy the real world, instead they build their own. Allowing us, the audience, to want to be a part of it, with rules that help it stay consistent.
Strong visual cues are key, but visual cues don’t just mean your logo, rather, every visual detail that helps bring your brand universe together, making it memorable, unique, and easy to recognize even without your logo. A good example is none other than last year’s Game of the Year; Expedition 33: Clair Obscur. The red petals, the omnipresent number 33, the painterly textures, even the music score. Nothing explains itself, yet everything makes you feel part of the world they painted.
Now finally, the magic word; community. In the gaming world though we call it a fandom, and I like fandom much better. Your fans are your loyal following who will happily become an extension of your brand. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim comes to mind here. Every aspect of the game lives on today; “I took an arrow to the knee.” became the meme du jour in the 2010’s, the cinnamon rolls became the internet’s favorite recipe, and the dragonborne helmet was the dream fashion item to own. Mundane lines that became cultural anchors. The fandom continues to grow almost a decade later.
At the end of the day, the best brands are those being built within a world that allows its audiences to become a part of it, turning us to fans, and not just consumers."
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Wildpress Brief Deadline Is Almost Here!
If you’ve been thinking about jumping into the Wildpress Coffee Design Brief Challenge… consider this your sign. The deadline is just around the corner: February 26, 2026 at 8 AM PST.
This is your chance to bring Wildpress to life. Bold, earthy, textured, and full of character. We’ve already seen designers sketching concepts, experimenting with packaging, and building worlds around this adventurous coffee brand, and we cannot wait to see what you create.
Whether you’re putting the final touches on your entry or you haven’t started yet, there’s still time to craft something you’re proud of. Remember:
How to submit:
• Post your design on LinkedIn
• Tag Beautiful Branding
• Use the hashtags #beautifulbranding and #wildpressbrief
• Post before Feb 26 at 8 AM PST to be eligible for the poll
What you can win:
🥇 Any 5 mockup scenes from Creatoom
🥈 Any 3 mockup scenes from Creatoom
🥉 Any 2 mockup scenes from Creatoom
Our judges will select four finalists, and then the community will vote for the top three winners.
And if you finish after the deadline, don’t stress. You can still share your work to build your portfolio and get your designs in front of our community. Just make sure you tag us so we see it.
That’s a wrap on this week’s issue. Thanks for being here and for making the Beautiful Branding community what it is. Every read, share, submission, and message helps shape where we take this newsletter next, and we’re grateful to build this space with you.
If something in today’s issue stood out (the playbook, the Blank Street breakdown, or the reminder to build worlds your audience can step into) hit reply and tell us what resonated.
We love hearing what inspires you and what you want more of.
Until next week!