Studio note Two identity projects open from January. Briefs are read within three working days.
Send a briefIndependent designer · working solo since 2016
I am Marin Okoye. I build small, durable brand systems — a wordmark, a type and colour set, label artwork and the files your printer will not complain about. One designer on the project from first call to final handover.
Three ways to work
Each lane is quoted as a fixed scope after the first call. If your brief sits between two of them, say so in the form and I will tell you which one is cheaper for you.
01
For a new venture, or an old one that has outgrown a logo made in a hurry. We settle the name treatment, the type and colour set, and the rules that keep it consistent once other people start using it.
Good fit whenNothing is fixed yet, or everything is inconsistent.
02
Label and carton artwork drawn onto your real dielines, with legal copy, barcodes and variant logic handled rather than bolted on at the end. I speak to your printer directly so nothing is lost in forwarding.
Good fit whenYou have a brand and a manufacturing date.
03
A set number of studio days each month for the steady work: seasonal labels, a new size, market signage, a deck that needs to look like the rest of you. Booked in advance, rolled over once if unused.
Good fit whenThe brand exists and the requests keep coming.
Selected work
01 — Kerf & Ash
Role · Identity system, signage drawings, stationery
The workshop was known locally and invisible everywhere else. We built a wordmark cut from a single weight, a two-colour set that survives being routed into timber, and a simple template for the commission sheets they hand to clients.
Difficult part: the mark had to work at 8mm on a brass plate and at two metres on the shutter. The secondary mark exists only because of that.
02 — Salt Ledger
Role · Packaging artwork, variant system, print liaison
Every bag had been designed separately, so nothing scanned as one range on a shelf. We fixed the panel structure once, then let origin colour and a single line of roast detail carry the difference between variants.
Difficult part: the existing printer's dieline did not match the bag being supplied. We caught it at proof stage, which is the cheap place to catch it.
03 — Common Field
Role · Identity system, market kit, handover session
The constraint was not aesthetic, it was practical: members print their own market signage on whatever they have. The system is built from two type sizes and one rule, so it still looks intentional from an office printer.
Difficult part: the first guide was too long and nobody read it. The second one is four pages and it stuck.
Who you're working with
I take three or four projects at a time so the person you brief is the person drawing the artwork. There is no team to hand your files to at week three, and nothing goes to your printer that I have not opened myself.
I say no to work I am wrong for — motion, large web builds, anything that needs a copywriter I do not have. When that happens I will say so in the first reply rather than three weeks in.
Before I design anything I want to see the thing you make, and I would rather read your existing packaging copy than a mood board. Decisions get written down in one shared document so nobody has to reconstruct them from email later.
Studio hours · Monday to Thursday, 09:00–17:00 CET · Friday reserved for production files
How a project runs
You send the form, I reply with either a time to talk or an honest reason I am not the right fit. The call is forty minutes.
From you: what you make, and who has to buy it.
A one-page scope with fixed deliverables, a fixed fee and the dates I will need decisions by. Nothing starts until that is signed.
From you: a single person who can approve.
Two directions, then one chosen direction refined over two rounds. Feedback comes back in one consolidated message per round.
From you: comments within four working days.
Production files, a short usage guide and a walkthrough call. Your printer or manufacturer can be on that call.
From you: printer specs before the final week.
Working together
Send the enquiry form. I read briefs in the order they arrive and reply within three working days with a suggested call time, a question or two, or a clear no. Nothing is billed until a scope is agreed.
Very little: what you make, who buys it, roughly when you need to be in market, and anything that already exists — old artwork, a printer's spec sheet, the copy on your current label. Photographs of the actual product are more useful than references.
Five to seven weeks for a full identity, three to five for packaging artwork on existing dielines. The variable is almost never my side of it — it is how quickly decisions come back after each round.
Two rounds on the chosen direction are in every scope, with each round consolidated into one set of comments. Further rounds are billed by the day at the rate stated in your scope, and I will flag it before the extra work starts, not after.
Print-ready vector artwork, web and screen exports at the sizes you use, editable source files, and a short usage guide. You own the final artwork outright once the invoice is settled — no licence, no renewal.
Yes, and I prefer to. I will ask for their dielines and specs early, supply files in the format they ask for, and stay on email through proofing. Press attendance in person is not something I offer.
Often. If the existing brand has usable bones we keep them and tighten what is inconsistent, which is cheaper than starting over. If it does not, I will tell you that on the first call and you can decide.
Enquiry
Short is fine. Two sentences and a date beats a long document. If the fit is wrong I will say so in the reply rather than leave you waiting.