Manifesto
Boring Is the Only Unforgivable Brand Mistake
Bad taste can be fixed. Being forgettable cannot. This is the one test that decides whether your brand gets remembered or ignored.
The Google Business Profile Report Nobody Checks (And Should)
Buried inside your Google Business Profile is a list of the exact words customers typed to find you, and almost every local business owner ignores it.
Know, Go, Do, Buy: The Four Searches Your Brand Content Ignores
Google mapped every search into four intents a decade ago, and most brands still only write for one of them.
Where AI Actually Looks Before It Recommends Your Brand
AI assistants recommend brands based on what Reddit, G2 and "best X" roundups say about you, not what your own website says about yourself.
Page Speed Is a Trust Signal, Not a Tech Metric
A slow website does not just annoy visitors, it reads as untrustworthy, and Google now measures exactly how much that costs you.
Bold or boring?
One verdict, every weekBlends into the category
Safe, expected, the same template as three competitors. Nobody's fault. Nobody's favourite. Forgotten by next week.
Could only be you
Takes a position. Recognisable with the logo removed. The one people remember, and the one your competition quietly resents.
Verdicts
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Verdicts
The Fake-Urgency Popup: The Verdict
"Only 2 left!" resets on refresh, so we ran the fake-urgency popup through the Genuine Test to see what's left standing.
Verdicts
The AI-Generated Blog Post: The Verdict
1,500 words, zero point of view, and a hyphen problem: we run the AI-generated blog post through the Genuine Test.
Verdicts
"We Used AI" Is Not a Marketing Campaign. It's an Admission You Have Nothing Else.
When the entire campaign idea is "look, we used AI," we ask what's actually being sold, and what the audience actually hears.
Verdicts
"Innovative Solutions For A Connected World" Means Nothing. That's the Point.
A tagline built entirely from words that survived a committee: we run the buzzword tagline through The Genuine Test and find out what it's actually hiding.
Teardowns
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Teardowns
Teardown: The Portfolio That Buries the Work
A breakdown of the designer or agency site that hides its own best asset, the work, behind a loader animation and an ego-driven about page.
Teardowns
Teardown: The Restaurant Site That Hides the Menu
A breakdown of the restaurant website that autoplays a video, buries its hours, and makes you download a PDF just to see what's for dinner.
Teardowns
Teardown: The AI Startup Landing Page
An anatomy of the gradient-and-buzzword landing page that raises the round but never explains what the product does.
Teardowns
Teardown: The Generic Local Business Website
A walkthrough of the template-built dentist-or-plumber site that looks finished but converts nobody, and what a genuine version does instead.
AI & Craft
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AI & Craft
The Tells That Give Away AI Writing (And How to Edit Them Out)
Em dashes, false contrasts, and listicle rhythm are the fingerprints AI leaves behind, and every one of them is fixable in a single editing pass.
AI & Craft
How a Small Studio Actually Uses AI
Here's an honest map of where AI speeds up the work at a small studio, and where a human keeps the final say, no exceptions.
AI & Craft
AI Images vs. Real Photography
AI imagery is genuinely useful for mood and concept work, and genuinely dangerous the moment it stands in for a real person, product or result.
AI & Craft
The Editing Pass AI Cannot Do
An AI draft gets you 80% of the way there. The other 20% is taste, cuts and one specific true detail, and it's the only part that actually matters.
Web
More Web →
Web
The Google Business Profile Report Nobody Checks (And Should)
Buried inside your Google Business Profile is a list of the exact words customers typed to find you, and almost every local business owner ignores it.
Web
Page Speed Is a Trust Signal, Not a Tech Metric
A slow website does not just annoy visitors, it reads as untrustworthy, and Google now measures exactly how much that costs you.
Web
Your Contact Form Is Losing You Leads
Every extra field, missing trust signal, and vague submit button on your contact form is a visitor deciding it is not worth it.
Web
The 5 Second Test Every Homepage Fails
Give a stranger five seconds on your homepage. If they cannot say what you do, who it is for, and what to do next, you have already lost them.
Branding
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Branding
When to Rebrand, and When Not To
A rebrand should follow a real business signal, not boredom, and most brands need a refresh long before they need a full rebuild.
Branding
Color With Intent
A brand color only becomes shorthand for your company when you choose it on purpose, not because everyone else in your category already did.
Branding
The Tyranny of the Geometric Sans-Serif Logo
Every startup logo has converged on the same clean geometric sans, and a genuine wordmark is now the thing that actually stands out.
Branding
How to Name a Brand (Without a Generator)
A genuine brand name is built from meaning, sound, and ownability, not assembled by an algorithm hunting for an available domain.
Marketing
More Marketing →
Marketing
Know, Go, Do, Buy: The Four Searches Your Brand Content Ignores
Google mapped every search into four intents a decade ago, and most brands still only write for one of them.
Marketing
Where AI Actually Looks Before It Recommends Your Brand
AI assistants recommend brands based on what Reddit, G2 and "best X" roundups say about you, not what your own website says about yourself.
Marketing
How to Write a Case Study That Sells
A case study that sells has one real problem, one real number, and a client quote that sounds human.
Marketing
Social Proof That Is Not Fake
Manufactured reviews and vague praise cost brands more trust than having no testimonials at all.
Impossible to ignore. Once a week.
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