A new identity & can design system for Philly’s first and only fair chance brewery. Buckle up–it’s a long one. — When Triple Bottom came to us, they weren’t looking for a rebrand. Their primary ask was for us to redesign their beer can system. They release new brews all the time, and for each one, they commission original artwork from an illustrator or artist. They wanted that artwork to…

Helping out some friends who are doing cool stuff — The year is 2010, I’m a senior in college. I’m awful at design but I think I’m untouchable. Every Friday and Saturday night I drive myself into Philly listening to Taking Back Sunday getting amped up to go to some art shows. See some art, drink free beer, rinse and…

Small batch skincare branding and packaging for Sabbatical Beauty — Chara’s First Case Study For seven years now, Mike has written all of our Smith & Diction case studies. Yes, technically I (I being Chara. It’s me, Hi) am the copywriter around here, but back when we started this company, I was holding down a full-time gig on the side, so I only…

Honoring heritage and passion with color and concept. — You know when you’re like, “Man, I just want to work for good people.” Thu & Raymond over at Càphê are the definition of good people, and this project is a testament to the notion that great work comes from great relationships. Their passion and dedication to their values and…

REPUBLISHED: I’m reposting this case study because we actually got a ton of stuff made. Whenever we do a brand concept we usually present a bunch of ideas and if the client makes just one of them we’re happy–but this client went all in: Letterpressed business cards and letterhead, carpenter…

Redesigning the Rail Park site to be everything to everyone. — Hello and welcome to Part I of my Rail Park ramblings. If you came here to read about the branding side of this project and learn about the evolution of logos and typography over the past few years, then GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE! STOP LOOKING. THIS ISN’T FOR…

Creating an ever-evolving visual identity for the Rail Park. — It’s been a long time since I wrote the original Rail Park case study. Almost six years to be exact, and a lot has happened since then. A game show host became our president, a pandemic ruined almost every aspect of life as we know it, a bunch of idiots…

A new visual identity for a storytelling company. — This project started where all great things start—my twitter DMs. I fully expect anyone that follows me on twitter to completely hate me, so this was a pleasant surprise. Luke Beard and I have followed each other since who knows when and have always joked back and forth about working…

Today, Chara is joining Smith & Diction full time! — Some folks already knew this, but Chara has had a full time job outside of S&D since we started the business. She’s the reason we could build a studio that we truly believed in with a client list of people we trust. We never had to sacrifice design quality to…