Our Studio Morning Routine, Honestly
Nobody in the studio opens email before ten. It started as an experiment and turned into the one rule we never break.
Reading work aloud is the cheapest editing tool there is. Your ear catches rhythm problems that your eye skips over, especially in long sentences.
We try to write for one specific reader. When a paragraph confuses that imaginary person, it usually confuses everyone else too.
What we would do again
The finished piece rarely looks like the plan. That is fine; the plan was only there to get us started.
Reading work aloud is the cheapest editing tool there is. Your ear catches rhythm problems that your eye skips over, especially in long sentences.
Feedback lands better when it describes the effect rather than the fix. “I lost track here” is more useful than “move this paragraph”.
- Write the ending before the middle
- Cut the first paragraph and see if anything is lost
- Read it aloud once, slowly
- Sleep on it before you publish
Typography exists to honor content.
Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style
Constraints are underrated. A fixed word count, a single typeface, or a two-colour palette forces decisions that an open brief lets you postpone forever.
Every studio accumulates habits it never chose. Once a year we list them and ask whether each one still earns its place.
Related posts
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You sent in photos of where you work. Here are our favourites.
Inside the New Studio, Before the Paint Dried
A look around the room where the next year of work will happen.
The Tools on Our Desk This Year
Pens, notebooks, and one keyboard we refuse to replace.
Comments · 10
The photos in this one are gorgeous. What film were you shooting?
Thank you for including the code. I adapted it for our docs site in about ten minutes.
I watched the film again after reading this and noticed so many details I had missed.
Good question. We will cover that in a follow-up soon.
I tried this on a client project last month and it saved us at least two review rounds.
Bookmarked. I keep coming back to your posts whenever I get stuck.
Thanks so much! Let us know how it goes.
Portra 400 for most of them, and one roll of HP5 for the evening shots.
Small typo in the third paragraph, but otherwise a perfect read with my morning coffee.
Do you have a recommendation for someone just starting out? Everything I find assumes years of experience.